Motor insurance industry

by Guest » Sun Apr 13, 2008 03:29 pm
Guest

Hi everyone,

I am a student and I am doing a presentation on the current problems affecting the motor insurance industry and was wondering if you could help me.

So far, I am thinking about uninsured drivers(even thought I find it hard to understand the cost of this on the insurers given the fact that insured drivers get to pay higher premiums to cover the risk).

I am also thinking of aggregators like confused. com which help customers comparing insurance prices within seconds and therefore put pressure on insurers to crush their prices.

Any idea would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Total Comments: 6

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:17 am Post Subject:

Hi,

I am a student and I’m doing a presentation on the current problems affecting the motor insurance industry and was wondering if you could help me.



Is that a powerpoint presentation?

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:30 am Post Subject:

i would encourage you to go with confused.com......
they really had a good database and up to the mark comparison results.
best of luck with your presentation

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 09:06 am Post Subject:

Hey!

I am a student and I am doing a presentation on the current problems affecting the motor insurance industry and was wondering if you could help me.


In order to help you, I'd need to know where you stand right now!
(By that I mean- how would you like to describe your presentation?)
Thanx for attempting it! Plancardjoys

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 09:09 am Post Subject:

I am also thinking of aggregators like confused. com


i would encourage you to go with confused.com......


Both guys got confused or what!! :)

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 06:07 pm Post Subject:

Thanks for your answers. Yes it is a powerpoint presentation. I basically need more ideas on what are the key issues for insurance companies at the moment and what they are doing to tackle them. I know for ex that regarding uninsured drivers, insurers are working actively with the government and the police to try and bring the numbers down.

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 01:47 pm Post Subject:

So far, I am thinking about uninsured drivers(even thought I find it hard to understand the cost of this on the insurers given the fact that insured drivers get to pay higher premiums to cover the risk).



The thing about uninsured drivers is that it's much harder to accurately calculate the risk.

Think about it this way, a 19 year old with a DUI and 3 speeding tickets who drives a trans am is statistically much more likely to cause an accident than, say, a 45 year old housewife who's never had a moving violation and drives a Grand Caravan. You don't need to be an actuary to see who gets the higher auto ins rate.

However, which one of these driver's is more likely to be injured by another driver who has no insurance?

So, it's not so simple as the companies just "making" those of us who buy insurance pay for those who don't.

If you really want an insider opinion though, the much bigger issue facing auto insurers right now is the soft market. Every carrier is walking a tightrope of lowering rates enough to try to grab some market share while still trying to keep them high enough that loss ratios won't go through the roof in the next 18-24 months.

I also don't think many carrier are very concerned about online rating sites. Vast majority of consumers still buy from an agent, though more and more shop online. Many are hedging bets by going both routes (agent and online direct distribution) or at the very least increasing web presence.

Really, at almost every company annual meeting I attended this spring the execs more or less came right out and said we have nothing to fear from online direct sales. Like I stated above, due to the soft market conditions, no company is being "forced to crush their prices" most are doing it voluntarily.

If you want something scandalous research fraud rings, groups of doctors and lawyers who hire people to stage accidents, fake injuries and bilk auto insurers out of millions of dollars per year. You'll find plenty online.

That would be more fun than a presentation on market conditions.

BTW, what sort of class is this for? Are you an insurance/business student or did you just choose the subject of auto insurance?

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