In recent years, a number of car insurers have drastically increased their prices. This phase seems to be over: now the pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction again.
Heidelberg. In motor vehicle insurance, a three-year phase of sometimes drastic price increases has come to an end: At the beginning of the annual switching season, motor vehicle policies cost an average of the three types of insurance - liability and fully and partially comprehensive - two percent more than a year ago, as the brokerage portal Verivox announced. This corresponds to a comparatively moderate increase that is below the general inflation rate. According to Verivox, prices in the affordable price segment have actually fallen by an average of almost two percent.
Every year in November and December, millions of car owners in Germany change their car insurance in search of cheaper rates. In the past three years, cheaper policies have actually been in short supply: when changing insurers, car owners only had the chance to curb the price increase somewhat. The record year was 2024 with average price increases of almost 25 percent for new contracts.
This year, the situation for the car-driving population is less unpleasant: According to Verivox, liability policies in the middle price segment cost an average of 3.1 percent more this year, while the prices of cheaper insurers are 1.2 percent lower than a year ago. Partial comprehensive insurance is 0.4 percent more expensive in the mid-price segment this fall and one percent cheaper in the affordable segment. For fully comprehensive policies, which also cover damage to your own car that you are responsible for, the development varies somewhat more: 1.6 percent more in the medium price segment, 2.3 percent less in the affordable segment.
“There can be no talk of a permanent price turnaround yet,” said Aljoscha Ziller, managing director of Verivox Versicherungsvergleich GmbH. “Spare parts and repairs continue to become more expensive and remain a cost driver.” Verivox calculates the insurance index together with statistics expert Wolfgang Bischof from the Augsburg University of Technology. The figures refer exclusively to the conclusion of new policies, not to the existing contracts, which are also becoming more expensive.
In the past three years, a number of insurers have significantly increased their prices for new contracts. According to Verivox calculations, vehicle policies cost on average over 50 percent more today than in 2022.
The reason is not the insurers' greed for profit, but the sharp increase in spare parts prices and repair costs in car repair shops. A number of car manufacturers have been increasing the prices for spare parts for many years. According to recently published calculations by the General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV), spare parts prices have risen by 80 percent since 2016, an annual average of almost six percent. This is well above the general inflation rate.
Most cars in Germany are not damaged in real accidents, but in so-called “parking collisions”. Parts that are visible from the outside are usually damaged - fenders, doors, headlights, indicators, etc. However, in contrast to car batteries or spark plugs, these parts that are visible from the outside are design-protected and therefore may not be copied and offered cheaper by third-party manufacturers.
The development temporarily caused the entire motor vehicle insurance industry to slip into the red. However, this year and last year, insurers were lucky when it came to costs, as there were largely no severe storms and other natural disasters in Germany.
