Car owners complain about high prices, insurance companies seek change, and the 100-billion-yuan new energy vehicle insurance market may be approaching an inflection point.

On October 13th, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released the latest market data. In terms of retail sales, 2.241 million passenger cars were retailed nationwide in September, a year - on - year increase of 6.3% and a month - on - month increase of 11.0%. Since the beginning of this year, the cumulative retail sales have reached 17.005 million, a year - on - year increase of 9.2%.

Against the backdrop of the overall improvement in the passenger car market, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles has further increased. Since March this year, its market penetration rate has exceeded 50% for seven consecutive months. In September, the domestic retail penetration rate rose to 57.8%, which means that for every two cars sold, more than one is a new energy vehicle.

With the increase in the number of new energy vehicles, the topic of "excessively high insurance premiums for new energy vehicles" has once again become a hot topic among consumers.

Searching for "new energy vehicle insurance" on social platforms, "Why is new energy vehicle insurance so expensive" ranks first in the search results. Meanwhile, topics related to price and insurance purchase strategies, such as "How to buy new energy vehicle insurance cost - effectively", "Must - buy items for new energy vehicle insurance", and "Increase in new energy vehicle insurance premiums", follow closely and become the focus of users' attention. Many consumers even label it as a "stealthy insurance premium spiker".

△ Screenshots of topics related to new energy vehicle insurance on social platforms by a reporter from Time Weekly

In the field of new energy vehicle insurance, it's not only consumers who are complaining. Insurance companies are also under considerable pressure. Currently, new energy vehicle insurance shows the prominent feature of co - existing "high growth" and "high claims", which directly puts the insurance industry in an awkward position when underwriting new energy vehicle - related businesses.

A car worth 150,000 yuan with an insurance premium of 6,500 yuan

For new cars at the same price level, the fact that new energy vehicle insurance is more expensive than fuel vehicle insurance has become a major concern for many car owners.

In July 2025, Mr. Jia, who bought a new energy vehicle, told a reporter from Time Weekly, "The first - year insurance premium for my car is 6,500 yuan."

By checking the insurance quote sent by Mr. Jia, the reporter from Time Weekly found that for this new energy vehicle with a transaction price of less than 150,000 yuan, in addition to compulsory traffic insurance and driver - passenger insurance, the 6,500 - yuan premium also includes some basic commercial insurance items such as vehicle damage insurance, third - party liability insurance, and on - board personnel liability insurance.

Mr. Jia mentioned that when buying the car, the 4S store told him that he could only buy insurance in the store. "If I could choose the insurance company independently, the premium should be relatively cheaper."

An insurance industry employee told the Time Weekly reporter that taking models in the 250,000 - yuan price range, which attract high market attention, as a reference, in terms of the premium amount, for fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles in this price range, when insuring regular insurance types, the annual premium is generally in the range of 6,000 - 7,000 yuan, and there is not much difference in the premium amount.

"It should be noted that fuel vehicles need to pay vehicle and vessel tax according to relevant national regulations. According to the current policy, new energy vehicles can enjoy the vehicle and vessel tax exemption policy. That is to say, when the total premium amount seems to have no obvious difference, new energy vehicle insurance can only barely match the cost of fuel vehicle insurance on the premise of tax exemption." The above - mentioned insurance industry employee further mentioned.

Behind the relatively high premium of new energy vehicle insurance, on the one hand, the accident rate of new energy vehicles is much higher than that of fuel vehicles.

Zhang Jian, also an insurance industry employee, told the Time Weekly reporter that the accident rate of new energy vehicles is 10 - 15 percentage points higher than that of fuel vehicles. Previously, data showed that in the vehicle damage insurance for family cars, the accident rate of new energy vehicles is 30%, while that of fuel vehicles is 19%.

On the other hand, the maintenance cost of new energy vehicles is significantly higher than that of fuel vehicles. This is closely related to factors such as the high cost of the "three - electric" (battery, motor, electronic control) system, complex maintenance technology, and a shortage of professional technicians.

Zhang Jian explained that consumers have a core misunderstanding about the high premium of new energy vehicle insurance - they are used to comparing the premiums of fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles from the single dimension of "vehicle price", but the core consideration for insurance companies in pricing is actually "vehicle maintenance cost", that is, the parts - to - whole ratio.

"Now many new energy vehicles use an integrated die - cast body and are equipped with many expensive intelligent driving sensors (such as lidar and high - definition cameras). Even a seemingly minor rear - end collision of this type of vehicle may require replacing the entire rear body assembly or multiple sensors, and the maintenance cost can easily reach tens of thousands of yuan."

Meanwhile, Zhang Jian said that the maintenance of new energy vehicles highly depends on the brand - authorized official maintenance centers. Especially for the maintenance involving the "three - electric" system, third - party repair shops can hardly get involved. The lack of market competition directly leads to the increase in maintenance prices.

Can the premium still increase even if the car owner has no accidents?

Generally speaking, a high accident rate will have a positive impact on the premium. However, in reality, there are situations where some car owners' "new energy vehicle premiums increase even without accidents".

Ms. Liu bought a new energy vehicle of a certain brand at the end of 2021. She told the Time Weekly reporter that in 2024, without any accidents, the premium of her car increased by more than 1,000 yuan compared with 2023.

Another netizen who bought a popular new energy vehicle brand in 2024 also found that without any accidents in the first year, the premium in the second year reached more than 10,000 yuan. "Previously, an insurance company quoted a price of 6,800 yuan, but when it came to the actual operation, they told me they couldn't issue the policy."

In response, Jiao Yingjun, the person - in - charge of the vehicle insurance department of Zhongan Insurance, explained to the Time Weekly reporter that the factors affecting the price of new energy vehicle insurance are relatively more complex and cannot be simply judged from the single dimension of "whether there are accidents".

"Insurance companies will regularly recalibrate the 'risk coefficient' of a certain model based on the claim data of all the same - model vehicles. For example, if the data shows that a certain model has generally had high - frequency maintenance and high maintenance costs in the past year, the insurance company will increase the benchmark premium of this model as a whole when renewing the insurance. A good record of an individual car owner cannot completely offset the impact of the increase in the model coefficient."

Jiao Yingjun added that in addition, the overall traffic accident rate in the city or region where the car owner is located and the increase in claims cases due to natural disasters (such as heavy rain and floods) will also lead to an increase in the premium coefficient in that area, thus affecting all car owners of this model.

The increase in premiums makes car owners have to spend more energy to "shop around" when insuring new energy vehicles. At this time, some car owners find that the quotes given by different insurance companies vary greatly.

On social platforms, some netizens complained, "For the same insurance company, the quote at the beginning of the month was 5,800 yuan, but when consulting again at the end of the month, the premium increased to 7,225 yuan. When asking another insurance company for a quote, they directly gave a high price of 11,300 yuan."

Regarding the premium difference between different insurance companies, Jiao Yingjun analyzed for the Time Weekly reporter, "This is mainly due to the different risk preferences and risk assessment models of insurance companies."

"Some conservative insurance companies, based on the data they have, judge that the claim rate of a certain new energy vehicle model is too high and the maintenance cost is too large, and classify it as a 'loss - making model'. Such companies will give a relatively high 'deterrent price', such as 11,300 yuan. Of course, if consumers are willing to accept this price, conservative companies are also willing to bear the corresponding risks at the cost of high profits." Jiao Yingjun explained in detail.

"On the contrary, aggressive insurance companies may, in order to expand their market share or have more confidence in their own risk - control models, choose to attract customers with lower premium prices. Even for the same insurance company, due to the adjustment of its own business development strategy and changes in regulatory requirements, there will be certain differences in premium pricing."

The industry experiences both "growing pains" and "dawn"

Against the backdrop of the continuous increase in the number of new energy vehicles, the high accident rate and high maintenance cost of new energy vehicle insurance not only make car owners label it as a "stealthy insurance premium spiker", but also bring significant pressure to the insurance industry.

According to data from the Actuarial Association and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission Information Technology Company, in 2024, the insurance industry in China underwrote 31.05 million new energy vehicles, with a premium income of 140.9 billion yuan and a risk protection amount of 106 trillion yuan, resulting in an underwriting loss of 5.7 billion yuan.

Data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration shows that in 2023, the insurance industry suffered a loss of 6.7 billion yuan in underwriting new energy vehicles, showing continuous losses.

Jiao Yingjun told the Time Weekly reporter that generally speaking, new energy vehicle insurance is currently at a critical turning point where "growing pains" and "dawn" co - exist. "The industry as a whole is under pressure due to the high - risk characteristics of the vehicles themselves, but through strict supervision, the application of technology, and the coordination of the industrial chain, some companies have found a profitable path."

Strong policy support is an important driving force for the industry to move towards the "dawn". In January 2025, four departments including the National Financial Regulatory Administration jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reforms, Strengthening Supervision, and Promoting the High - quality Development of New Energy Vehicle Insurance", which promotes the improvement of the industry's quality and efficiency in many aspects such as data sharing, maintenance standards, rate setting, and industrial coordination.

△ "Guiding Opinions on Deepening Reforms, Strengthening Supervision, and Promoting the High - quality Development of New Energy Vehicle Insurance". Source: Website of the National Financial Regulatory Administration

Guided by policies, major insurance companies have taken quick actions to explore the profit model of new energy vehicle insurance business based on their own advantages.

China Ping An pointed out in its 2025 mid - year financial report that it focuses on new energy risk reduction services, cooperates with car manufacturers to explore accident scenarios and optimize vehicle design, and accurately pushes safety guidelines and risk warnings through the Good Driver platform to improve its operational ability and customer service ability.

China Pacific Insurance reduces the claim cost by cooperating with car manufacturers and uses data for risk control and accurate pricing.

Jiao Yingjun mentioned that on the one hand, Zhongan Insurance conducts cooperation with major new energy vehicle manufacturers to implement a precise pricing strategy of "tailored for each individual" through the big data of car manufacturers. On the other hand, it cooperates with the industry association and conducts in - depth cooperation with brand - authorized new energy comprehensive repair factories to further reduce the average repair cost per vehicle.

With the support of policies and the active actions of companies, the performance of insurance companies has finally been significantly improved.

In the first half of 2025, the three leading insurance companies, PICC, China Ping An, and China Pacific Insurance, achieved a total original insurance premium income of 607.9 billion yuan.

Among them, PICC's motor vehicle insurance achieved an insurance service income of 150.276 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 3.5%; the comprehensive cost ratio was 94.2%, a year - on - year decrease of 2.2%. Yu Ze, the vice - president of PICC and the president of PICC Property and Casualty Insurance, said at the 2025 mid - year performance press conference that in the domestic market, the company's new energy vehicle insurance market share reached 34.2%, exceeding the fuel vehicle market share by 2.7%.

China Pacific Insurance's new energy vehicle insurance premium income was 10.596 billion yuan, accounting for the proportion of vehicle insurance premiums rising from 14.1% in the same period last year to 19.8%, and the number of serviced vehicles exceeded 5.36 million. Yu Bin said bluntly at the mid - year performance press conference, "New energy vehicle insurance has entered the profit space."

China Ping An underwrote 5.75 million new energy vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 49.3%. The original insurance premium income of new energy vehicle insurance was 21.7 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 46.2%, and at the same time, it achieved an underwriting profit in the new energy vehicle insurance business in the current period.

(Zhang Jian in the article is a pseudonym)

This article is from the WeChat public account "Time Weekly". Author: Cao Yang. Republished by 36Kr with permission.