The insurance companies are not necessarily spoiled this year either: “Climate-wise, 2022 is a catastrophic year”, announces Macif’s CEO. Since January 1, the mutual has already paid three times more compensation than a normal year.
In this context, the government gathered the insurance companies at the beginning of September. The aim was to achieve the promise that rates would not rise more than inflation by 2023. They committed to this and even indicated that they would give “a €100 discount on the car insurance contract for young people looking for work”. The comparator Assurland thus predicts an average price increase of “2.5% to 3%”.
The price of technology
The insurance companies have therefore agreed to eat part of their hat. Thus, the managing director of Macif admits that the amount of premiums charged should be lower than the compensation paid.
Because in addition to the climatic damage, an expense item is growing dangerously: the price of spare parts due to technological development. At Bosch France we specify: “The more technology there is, the more expensive it is. A mirror now has a sensor and an electric motor. This has nothing to do with what we knew 10 years ago! … Everything has changed, including the price”.
In addition to the greater technical nature of the parts, the geopolitical turbulence in 2022 also has a direct consequence on the development in the price of spare parts: Covid, supply difficulties from China, war in Ukraine.
La Cora, a company specialized in the distribution of body parts, mentions the increase in energy prices: “For example. window manufacturers use a lot of energy to make glass. They are very affected by the increase. They have raised their prices and will continue to do so. And as if on purpose, glass is ubiquitous on today’s cars: “A Peugeot 208 has 20% more glass surface compared to a 206”.
No more accidents, but more compensation
More expensive mechanical parts and windows, repeated climatic events, all the ingredients seem to be in place for the price of insurance to increase. However, the accident rate has not changed compared to last year. In 2022 we observe +0.4% over 1 year. But despite this stagnation, the cost of bodily injury claims is rising by 5 to 7% each year, according to France Assureurs.
The only solution to try to slow the spiral of increases is now to repair the elements instead of changing them, to use used parts rather than new ones. French law stipulates that a repair solution with so-called recycled parts must be offered to the motorist. Despite this, only “13 to 14%” of repairs involve recycled elements, according to Macif.
There is still a long way to go, and the availability of used parts is arguably the biggest obstacle to development. Equipment manufacturers are working to offer an alternative to new parts. Tomorrow is definitely about going further and getting mechanics to want to do “real” mechanics rather than changing systematically.
This section is produced in collaboration with the consumer defense association UFC-Que Choisir de Pau, which you can contact at 16, rue du Capitaine Guynemer or by phone: 05 59 90 12 67. Mail: contact@pau.ufcquechoisir. Fr.
