Leftovers are not sweet: why insurers complain about cars from China
Insurers have called Chinese cars a hidden threat. In addition, hybrids and electric vehicles are on the list of problematic ones from the point of view of insurance. Experts say that the tariff policy led to the losses of insurers. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
A cheapening threat
Chinese cars are overestimated in terms of risk, and their insurance is becoming a "hidden threat," said Evgeny Ilyin, member of the Board and Chief Operating Officer of Rosgosstrakh, at the II All-Russian Underwriting 2026 Forum.
He explained that premium cars from China are expensive, but at the same time they become much cheaper.
— They have a risk of getting to the "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," said Evgeny Ilyin.
By "total" or total death, it is meant that the car cannot be restored or it is impractical to repair, since the cost of repair will be unreasonably high. Since the car is not recoverable, the policyholder receives monetary compensation for the hard hat, and the insurer takes away the usable remnants of the car. Each insurer has its own criteria for recognizing a car as "total".
However, the massive "Chinese" are also getting cheaper quickly, as they are more utilitarian cars, the expert noted. He added that Chinese commercial vehicles become less liquid in the secondary market if they receive any damage.
— This will also put pressure on the marginality of insurance in terms of the sale of usable balances, — said Evgeny Ilyin.
He also included electric vehicles and hybrids in the list of threats. The reason is the battery, which is very expensive, and if it gets damaged, it is completely replaced. This may affect the growth of the "total" for such types of cars, said Evgeny Ilyin.
Problems with spare parts
Sergey Yefremov, Vice President of the All-Russian Union of Insurers, spoke about the problems with the repair of Chinese cars.
— In the production of new cars, factories in China produce only 30% of spare parts for body repairs. 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 one to three years, the remaining undamaged parts are removed and installed on damaged cars," he said.
He emphasized that it would not be possible to provide 100% new body parts for Chinese cars — it was necessary to use used spare parts.
Payouts are growing
According to statistics from the Bank of Russia, premiums on CTP in 2025 decreased slightly — by 0.5%, to 330.3 billion rubles. At the same time, payments for Avtograzhdank increased by 9.4%, to 221 billion rubles.
The average premium for annual CTP policies by the end of 2025 amounted to 7,280 rubles (-4.4%), while the average payout by the end of the year increased by 17% and reached 117,599 rubles.
The total fees of Russian insurers for voluntary motor vehicle insurance (car insurance) in 2025 increased by 4.9% compared to 2024, to 336 billion rubles. At the same time, the total payout ratio in this segment increased by 31.6% and reached 216.4 billion rubles.
The average premium under car insurance contracts for 2025 was 31.5 thousand rubles (+3.8%), while the average payout for the same period reached almost 209 thousand rubles (+10%).
Auto insurance is becoming unprofitable even for major market players. Thus, Rosgosstrakh made a loss of 1.6 billion rubles by the end of 2025, as follows from the annual consolidated financial statements.
Actively dumping
By themselves, Chinese cars are not a threat to the insurance market, says Olga Boyko, director of the Financial Services Department at Rolf. The main problem is not in the product, but in the tariff policy of recent years.
— Insurance companies actively dumped: the average casco tariff for Chinese cars was about 2% of the cost of the car, while the average loss payment already exceeded this level at that time — about 120 thousand rubles with an average policy of about 60 thousand rubles. This has led to the accumulation of unprofitability, and now the market is adjusting tariffs," she said.
What is included in the tariff
In the case of CTP, there is no fundamental difference between Chinese cars, Russian-made cars and cars imported by parallel import, in CASCO the differences are more noticeable, Olga Boyko said. So, according to the results of the first quarter of this year, the average tariff for cars of official brands is about 4% of the cost of the car, while for cars imported through parallel imports it is about 3.2%. This is due to differences in the cost of repairs, the availability of spare parts, and the average amount of loss.
The cost of insurance is influenced by three key factors: the price and availability of spare parts, the frequency of insured events and the average amount of loss. These parameters may vary depending on the brand, localization level, and type of power plant.
— In terms of CTP in AlfaStrakhovanie, tariffs for Chinese cars are the same as for other foreign vehicles, since we insure liability, and it is impossible to predict which car will be damaged by a customer on a Chinese car, — said Roman Lobodin, director of the department of compulsory insurance of AlfaStrakhovanie.
At the same time, the Russian Union of Motor Insurers told Izvestia that the insurer has the right to charge a CTP client depending on a variety of factors, with the exception of several restrictions explicitly listed in the Bank of Russia's tariff instructions. If the insurer's methodology for determining insurance tariffs reflects that tariff factors may be, for example, the brand of a particular country, the place of assembly of the car, the vehicle's affiliation to hybrid or electric cars, then the insurer has the right, based on its statistical data, to take these criteria into account in the tariff. Factors such as the cost and availability of spare parts can also be used as tariff-forming factors.
How much is paid on average
According to the RSA, the average payout for domestically produced cars is 74,069 rubles, for Chinese cars — 108,728 rubles, and for other brands, including those that left Russia — 120,287 rubles. For example, the maximum average payout for a Porsche is 245,773 rubles, and for a Mercedes-Benz — 185,815 rubles. Jetour (141,907 rubles), Exeed (137,705 rubles) and Omoda (116,069 rubles) have the maximum average payout for Chinese-made cars.
— It should be noted that it is too early to talk about the stable supply of spare parts for Chinese cars to the Russian market. The RSA clearly sees this when it prepares an update of the directory of the average cost of spare parts and collects price lists with primary market prices for this purpose. If the number of price offers on the market is quite stable for some Chinese brands (for example, Chery - about 52 thousand items, Exeed, Omoda — about 47 thousand), then there are brands where we do not observe such stability. Of course, the situation is leveling off over time, and fluctuations in the number of price offers are gradually being smoothed out," the RSA said.
Without extension
It is incorrect to talk about a single problem for all Chinese cars: the market is quite heterogeneous, Olga Boyko noted.
"The current situation is more likely a stage of tariff equalization and adaptation of the insurance market to the new fleet structure, rather than a consequence of any systemic problems related specifically to Chinese cars," the expert believes.
She called casco insurance basic financial protection. With the rising cost of cars and repairs, such a policy allows you to offset significant risks and save the car without shifting all costs to the owner.
According to the VSK insurance company, over the period from 2022 to 2025, the average casco payment for Chinese cars increased by 75%. The main reason is a significant increase in the cost of spare parts. This leads to an increase in the cost of policies, but a significant part of car owners are not ready to pay for a full hard hat at the new cost.
"When buying a new car, customers often apply for a full-coverage hard hat policy from a dealer. However, in the second year of ownership, due to the high cost of prolongation, about half of the customers refuse insurance," said Elena Nabatchikova, Deputy General Director for Retail Insurance at VSK Insurance House.
According to her, the first-year hard hat prolongation rate for European brands is about 60%, while the hard hat prolongation for Chinese cars is kept at about 25%.
A stalemate is emerging
The purpose of the insurer is to make a profit, Anton Shaparin, vice president of the National Automobile Union (NAS), told Izvestia. And in some cases, Chinese cars are not profitable for them.
— It's mainly about casco. Insurers want to sell the usable remnants of the car, but they are having difficulties. Firstly, the catalog cost of spare parts is so high that even in fairly simple accidents, you can immediately wreck the car. Secondly, usable leftovers become cheaper very quickly. In other words, there is a stalemate: and it is not possible to restore, because the catalog prices for spare parts are scrap. And it is not possible to sell good leftovers, because they quickly become cheaper, The idea of using used spare parts arises, since it is important for insurers to centrally sell good leftovers and preferably to themselves. Because no one takes them for the money they want. That is, insurance companies want to dispose of spare parts on their own and repair cars with CASCO and CTP with used spare parts. This is based, again, on the Technical Regulations on the safety of wheeled Vehicles, which states that repairs should not worsen the safety of the vehicle. Accordingly, which specific used spare parts worsen safety, and which do not worsen, must first be investigated and then incorporated into the legal framework, Anton Shaparin noted.
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