Expensive year for car insurers: around 1.7 billion euros in damage in 2021 - mainly due to storms

Created: 05/11/2022, 17:30

By: Sebastian Oppenheimer

Above all, the series of storms in June and the flood disaster in July cost motor vehicle insurers dearly - around 450,000 claims were registered in 2021.

Berlin – 2021 was an expensive year for motor vehicle insurers.

The General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) registered around 450,000 claims totaling 1.7 billion euros on insured motor vehicles for the past year.

Around 1.3 billion euros was attributable to motor vehicle damage caused by storms, hail and lightning, and 400 million euros to damage caused by flooding.

How expensive the year was can be seen above all from the fact that the amount of damage has almost doubled compared to an average damage year - on a long-term average around 390,000 insured vehicles are damaged every year, according to GDV the amount of damage is around 900 million euros.

Many cars were destroyed or damaged by the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley in summer 2021.

(Iconic image) © Future Image/Imago

Expensive year for car insurers: around 1.7 billion euros in damage in 2021 - mainly due to storms

Two extreme weather events caused the high level of damage in 2021: the series of storms in June and the flash flood in July in the Ahr Valley.

During the flood disaster, so many wrecked cars came together that there were occasional problems with the removal.

Car manufacturers helped the flood victims with vehicles or monetary donations.

The south of Germany in particular was affected by storm and hail damage.

With an average of 19.9 damage reports per 1,000 vehicles with comprehensive insurance, drivers in Baden-Württemberg were hit hardest, followed by Bavaria with 18.9 claims.

According to the GDV, the severe hail damage caused by the series of storms in June 2021 was estimated at 700 million euros, the fourth largest hail damage since the GDV statistics began.

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Expensive year for car insurers: almost 400 million euros in damage from the flood disaster alone

Vehicles on the Ahr and Erft were particularly hard hit by the flood disaster in July.

Almost 400 million euros were accounted for by 50,000 cases of damage caused by water on engines, electronics and in the vehicle interior.

If your car suffers water damage, there are a few things to consider.

With an average of 4.1 damage reports per 1,000 comprehensively insured vehicles, Rhineland-Palatinate leads the regional GDV natural hazard balance sheet 2021 for floods off North Rhine-Westphalia (2.9).