Because damages have recently become increasingly expensive, HUK-Coburg expects significant price increases for car insurance. Climate change also plays a role in this.
Car insurance is getting more expensive. The German market leader HUK-Coburg expects increases in the low double-digit percentage range in the next price round, as board member Jörg Rheinländer explained. HUK itself will also be in this range. However, he has not yet given any exact figures.
Rheinländer named three main drivers: The prices for spare parts have recently risen significantly. From 2013 to 2023, HUK sees an increase of a good 70 percent here. That is almost 43 percentage points more than inflation in this period. And prices are currently rising significantly faster than inflation. Rheinländer sees one of the reasons for this as being design protection, which still applies to many visible parts.
Climate change also plays a role
According to HUK, the hourly rates of car repair shops have also increased significantly faster than inflation. From 2022 to 2023, it was almost 10 percent. And climate change also plays a role, according to Rheinländer. “We see that climate change is accelerating,” he said. This is reflected in the damage events in the comprehensive insurance sector. The average damage from hail, for example, has increased. While typical hail damage used to be around 3,000 euros, events such as the massive hail in Benediktbeuern on the edge of the Bavarian Alps last year averaged more than 5,000 euros.
Roughly estimated, Rheinländer assumes that around 10 percent of the upcoming price increases will be due to climate change. The rest will be roughly evenly distributed between more expensive spare parts and higher workshop costs.
Source: Stern
