Rosgosstrakh statistics show that residents of the capital region bought almost a quarter (23.6%) of voluntary auto insurance policies for Chinese cars. In second place (12.8%) is Saint Petersburg with the Leningrad region.
On the third line (10.3%) – Nizhny Novgorod region. The Republic of Tatarstan (5.5%) and the Perm Territory (4%) are also in the top 5 for the number of Chinese cars insured with hull insurance. The top ten regions also include the Vologda, Volgograd and Rostov regions, the Tyumen region with the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Samara region.
Among those who insure Chinese cars, the majority are expected to be men, but the proportion of women who prefer new products from China’s auto industry is quite significant: 36.5%. Russians between the ages of 35 and 40 are the most active in buying and insuring Chinese brand cars, accounting for 26% of hull insurance contracts in the Rosgosstrakh portfolio. The oldest policyholders issued policies in St. Petersburg: two 78-year-old residents of the northern capital bought insurance coverage for their Chinese cars from the company. The youngest car owner in China is an 18-year-old from the Kurgan region.
As expected, at the current price level in the car market, the Russians bought most of the new cars made in China on credit. Only 13.9% of newly minted car owners managed without attracting borrowed funds.
According to Otkritie Avto (an automobile trading block of Otkritie Bank) during the first half of 2023, every second car loan for a new car was issued by Russians for a Chinese car. At the same time, Chinese brands already lead in issuance financial capacity, ahead of national ones, which, in principle, is explained by the higher cost of Chinese brands. The average car loan check for the purchase of a new Chinese car was 2 million rubles, the average cost of a car from China was 2.6 million rubles.
“The expansion of Chinese automakers to the Russian market is on the rise. According to the Chinese customs authorities, the volume of deliveries of new cars to our country has already reached the level of $1 billion per month, and experts from the automotive business Otkritie Bank unit have calculated that the total number of dealers, representing in Russia the products of the automotive industry of the Middle Kingdom, approached 1.5 thousand.
We see how this is reflected in the growth in demand for insurance coverage: the number of applications for comprehensive insurance for Chinese cars is a multiple of last year’s figures, says Elena Fedorova, director of the voluntary retail auto insurance department of PJSC IC Rosgosstrakh. – At the same time, it is the buyers of new cars and, first of all, credit, who continue to be the main audience for comprehensive hull coverage and, therefore, contribute a significant part of the collection of insurance premiums engine type.
By competing for such customers, insurers try to offer car owners the most attractive rates. Also, banks are now more loyal to franchise insurance products, making insurance coverage for Chinese autos purchased on credit more affordable.”
