BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 19
By Yusif Aghayev – Trend:
The volume of car insurance fees collected in Azerbaijan has sharply reduced in April 2020, Trend reports on June 19, referring to the published report of the country's Central Bank.
Comprehensive motor insurance (CASCO) fees in the reporting month amounted to 1.7 million manat ($1 million), which is 1.4 million manat ($820,000), or 81 percent less than in April 2019.
The amount of compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance (OSAGO) fees decreased by 24 percent, amounting to 6.8 million manat ($4 million) compared to 9 million manat ($5.3 million) in the same period last year.
One of the main reasons for such a sharp decrease in the fees is due to the special quarantine regime introduced to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Many citizens have not renewed their CASCO contracts, since not all insurance companies have been able to transfer the system for concluding this type of contracts online.
At the same time, the rates of car lending have decreased, which was also one of the most profitable items for the receipt of insurance premiums under this type of insurance.
Despite that conclusion and renewal of insurance contracts for OSAGO have been going on for several years in digital format, i.e. without need to visit the the respective insurance companies’ offices, fees for this type also started to decline. The main reason is that rather many citizens did not use their vehicles during quarantine regime.
Moreover, false information was disseminated in by some media outlet about alleged suspension of the imposing of penalties for absence of an insurance policy during the period of the special quarantine regime, which was denied by the State Traffic Police.
According to representatives of leading insurance companies, after the removal of restriction measures, the insurance premium collection rates slightly increased, but the final data on this will be disclosed at the end of June 2020.
Azerbaijani insurance companies collected the premiums worth 70.5 million manat ($41.4 million) in April 2020, which is 6.4 million manat ($3.7 million) or over 10 percent more than in the same month of 2019.
Presently, 21 insurance companies and one reinsurance company operate in Azerbaijan.
(1 USD = 1.7 AZN on June 19)
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