Insurers have listed the risks of insuring Chinese cars

Chinese car insurance is a hidden threat in the growing portfolio of auto insurance, such cars are overestimated in terms of risk. This was stated by Evgeny Ilyin, a member of the Board and Chief Operating Officer of Rosgosstrakh, the press service of the All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSS) reported on its Telegram channel on April 23.

"There is a premium segment of Chinese cars, which are expensive in principle, but at the same time they become much cheaper, they have a risk of becoming total in a fairly short period of time. I am referring to the insurance period by years, that is, the risk of total losses is growing there," Ilyin said at the II All—Russian Underwriting 2026 Forum.

More budget-friendly Chinese cars are also rapidly getting cheaper, he noted. He also included electric cars and hybrids in the list of threats due to the battery, which must be completely replaced in case of damage. In his opinion, this may also affect the growth of the total for these types of cars. Finally, Chinese commercial vehicles become less liquid in the secondary market after damage, which puts pressure on the marginality of insurance in terms of the sale of usable balances, Ilyin said.

In turn, Sergey Yefremov, Vice-President of the VCC, drew attention to the peculiarity of repairing Chinese cars. According to him, it will not be possible to provide 100% new parts for car body repairs from China — you need to use used spare parts.

"When new Chinese cars are produced, the factory produces only 30% of body repair spare parts. They assume that the car should not last more than five years. And eventually, if a car gets into an accident in the period from 1 to 3 years, the remaining undamaged parts are removed and installed on damaged cars," Yefremov said.

You can drive: the price of CTP in the "red regions" has jumped 2-3 times since December

What needs to happen to make policies cheaper?

Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, announced on April 20 that a bill to increase the maximum amount of insurance payments for CTP from 500,000 to 2 million rubles could be adopted as early as May 2026. He pointed out that a significant increase in CTP tariffs is not expected, since the main financial burden will be placed on the perpetrators of road accidents.

Later, the Russian Union of Motor Insurers (RSA) stated that, according to its estimates, an increase in the limit on life and health insurance payments would lead to an increase in the cost of the policy — an increase in the average premium could be about 10%.