UAE: Comprehensive auto insurance premiums rise by up to 20% in 1Q2024
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jun 2024
Comprehensive motor insurance premiums increased by between 10% and 20% in the first quarter of this year, reaching 3% of the total value of the vehicle.
NewTech Insurance Brokers CEO Arvind Kashyap said that the premium hikes were driven by economic recovery, the growth in demand for new cars and insurance companies taking serious measures to increase their technical profits, reported the newspaper Al-Etihad.
He said that comprehensive motor insurance prices historically amounted to approximately 4% of the value of a vehicle. However, the rate stands currently at 3%, indicating that there is room for further increases in insurance prices.
MMI Insurance Brokerage general manager Georges Maroun said that comprehensive motor insurance premiums rose at varying rates during the year 2023 and the beginning of 2024.
Industry players said that the hikes represent price corrections following sharp falls in premium rates during the 2020-2022 COVID-19 pandemic when insurers had granted discounts of as much as 50%.
There are expectations that motor insurance prices will be raised further following devastating floods last month which ravaged parts of the UAE — in particular, Dubai. Hundreds of cars stalled and were even submerged in flood waters. Insurance companies have been swamped by motor claims. M