Leopard patchy and depending on a thousand variables, but the cost of insurance – be it car, motorbike or home insurance – is growing. For a couple of years the trend has changed and, in the auto sector, the situation has returned to that of the beginning of 2020, thus nullifying a couple of years of constant and marked decline. In the first quarter of this year the motor liability premium was on average 394 euros, i.e. +7.2% on an annual basis.
The Ivass data, however, also allow us to understand in which areas of Italy motorists are most “beaten” by the companies. And it is clear from the map that the most expensive premium is paid in Campania (in particular Naples which has the black jersey with 568 euros per year, followed by Caserta) and in Tuscany, including provinces where the density of cars is significantly lower than Neapolitan cities such as Prato, Pistoia, Lucca or Massa Carrara. In Prato the levels of Naples are reached with an average of 564 euros per year.
Most expensive provinces in car insurance? The usual notes
As can be seen at first glance, the issue is not so much north versus south: in both areas of the country there are provinces well below the national average (such as Potenza, Oristano and Campobasso on the one hand, Udine, Aosta and Mantua on the other). Indeed, perhaps the most affected are motorists in the center against six provinces, distributed between Lazio and Marche, well above 400 euros per year.
“For both Naples and Tuscany we can talk about situations that have been consolidated for years” explains Andrea Ghizzoni, managing director of Facile.it. The reasons for this blow can be different: “On the one hand there is the variable of the average motorist’s profile: the younger he is or, in any case, with a poor or non-existent insurance history, the more the companies charge the premium.
On the other hand – continues Ghizzoni – the accident rate in the area and the costs for repairs have a significant impact”. The latter, explains the insurance expert, can also increase in the presence of insurance fraud. Which are not necessarily false claims, but more often “prices inflated by compliant body shops”, says Ghizzoni, “and this is the reason why companies increasingly aim to make agreements with affiliated body shops, in order to keep the repair costs”. And the black box, which monitors driving style and lowers the risk of fraud, was of little use: despite Ivass data identifying Naples and Caserta as the provinces where this tool is most used, the average cost remains stellar.
Home insurance at +10%
The average home insurance premium is also growing. In particular, climate damage policies are driving the price upwards, for which Facile.it has recorded an average +10% in the last two years. The problem is well known: floods, torrential rains and out-of-scale hailstorms are becoming more and more frequent and the damages to be compensated are very large. Insurance companies, in the absence of precise forecasting models, risk losing out by paying damages for sums greater than the premiums collected. Thus, in uncertainty, they raise the premiums or, as revealed by the agents, modify all the other clauses such as deductibles or maximum limits for the worse.
Insurance, the revolt of the agents: “So the companies force us to increase the prices of the policies”
by Federico Formica
June 13, 2024
For this type of policy the data is less granular than for car insurance but what is collected by the Facile.it Observatory still allows you to get an idea of the costs in the different areas of the country. Where the south is decidedly more penalized.
The natural events policy for the building (i.e. just the structure) is one of the cheapest but has a wide range: ranging from 62 euros in Modena to 130 in Bari. Those that protect the content instead have much higher figures and see Bari – once again – as the most expensive, as well as for the flood where in the Apulian capital, together with Modenainsurance costs double that of Milan.
As long as you can get a flood policy: Facile.it explains that “in most cases this coverage is quoted on a case-by-case basis, at the direct request of the customer” and that the company “may not offer it in certain areas of the country”.
In total, a person from Bari who wants to insure both the building and its contents against natural events, and add flood and earthquake policies, would spend 1258 euros a year. And if we wanted to add up the average cost of car insurance, assuming only one car in the house, we would arrive at 1655 euros. Costs that not all families can bear.
