The pandemic has kept everyone at home and this has also meant less car use and consequently, among the few positive aspects of the 2020 lockout and the continuing restrictions of the following months, a significant decrease in road accidents.
This has already led some companies to transfer some benefits or deferrals in policy payments over the past year, thus leading to a reduction in average prices, however, still considered insufficient by consumer associations.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, the actual average cost of the motor liability insurance was 379 euros, recording a reduction of 6.1 percent on an annual basis, equal to about 25 euros, notes IVASS in its usual statistical bulletin.
The number of contracts entered into increased by 3.2 percent compared to 2019 while "new risks", understood as new vehicles and / or new policyholders, decreased by 4.2 percent in the same period.
According to the institute, the premium differential between Naples, which has always been one of the most expensive provinces for car insurance, and Aosta, has also fallen again.
The spread, so to speak, stands at 212 euros, underlines Ivass.
The reduction in the average price is more pronounced in the Center-South (in Crotone by 9.2%, in Catanzaro by 8.4%; in Latina by 8.1%) and in some provinces of the North (Bologna -7, 3%, Milan -7.1%), specifies IVASS in detail in the report, adding that 23.1% of the contracts stipulated in the last three months of last year provide for a reduction in the premium linked to the presence of the black box.
The penetration rate of this instrument varies from 67.4% in the province of Caserta to 4.6% in the province of Bolzano ", highlights IVASS. The average frequency of claims is stable at around 6.4%, concludes and finally the Insurance Supervisory Institute. But the associations representing Italian motorists are not satisfied with the data provided. "The lockdown should have precipitated the price of motor vehicle liability insurance", says for example the president of the National Consumers Union. Massimiliano Dona, commenting on the figures in the bulletin. "We recall that, again according to IVASS, between February and November 2020 there was a decrease in claims of 35%, equal to savings for insurance companies between 2.5 and 3.6 billion euros which should have produced a reduction in the motor liability insurance premium of at least 70 euros "concludes Dona. Faced with a 40% reduction in road accidents in 2020, motor liability rates dropped by only 6.1 % in the fourth quarter
, giving rise to "an evident imbalance and a mockery to the detriment of the citizens" is instead the opinion of Codacons.
"Italian motorists suffered economic damage in 2020 on the RC auto front amounting to a total of € 3.9 billion due to lockdowns, red zones and travel bans that still continue today, for a total of about 100.8 euro per policyholder ", explains president Carlo Rienzi.
"All this while accidents on Italian roads have collapsed as a consequence of travel limits, with enormous economic benefits for the insurance companies that have forfeited profits against the elimination of the risk of accidents".
(HANDLE).
