The Financial Supervisory Service said on the 25th that last year's auto insurance underwriting result posted a loss of 708 billion won, widening from a 9.7 billion won loss a year earlier. Investment income was 803.1 billion won, up 204.3 billion won from the previous year. Reflecting this, total auto insurance profit and loss came to 95.1 billion won, down 494 billion won (83.9%) from 589.1 billion won a year earlier.
Last year's auto insurance loss ratio was 87.5%, up 3.7 percentage points (p) from 83.8% a year earlier. The expense ratio, by contrast, was 16.2%, holding at a similar level to the previous year. As a result, the combined ratio came to 103.7%, exceeding the break-even point (100%).
The main drivers of the higher loss ratio were increases in medical and repair costs. The number of auto accidents was 3,838,000, rising only slightly from the previous year, but incurred losses increased 2.2% due to higher costs for Korean medicine and Western medicine treatments, parts, and repair labor.
Last year's auto insurance revenue (direct premiums written) totaled 20.289 trillion won. That was down 375.1 billion won (1.8%) from 20.6641 trillion won a year earlier. The result is seen as reflecting slower auto insurance growth and the impact of continued premium cuts.
The market structure remained an oligopoly led by large insurers. The combined market share of major players such as Samsung, DB, Hyundai, and KB was 85%, down slightly but still high. By contrast, the market share of small and midsize insurers rose on the back of the Hanwha–Carrot merger, while the share of online-only specialists fell. In distribution, face-to-face sales decreased and the shift toward an online-centered structure continued. The face-to-face channel share was 46.1%, down 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier, while the online (CM) channel rose to 37.4%, up 1.6 percentage points.
The Financial Supervisory Service plans to push institutional improvements to enhance the auto insurance loss ratio going forward. In particular, it will continue consultations with relevant agencies to curb overtreatment by some patients with minor injuries while ensuring that well-intentioned victims do not suffer disadvantages.