The opinion of the ANCMA on the Competition Bill

The government has approved the Competition Bill, a measure that intervenes in various sectors, including the insurance sector. Among the novelties, one has alarmed the ANCMA, the Confindustria association that represents companies in the cycle and motorcycle sector: the extension of the direct compensation regime to insurance companies with registered offices in a foreign state or the Union European.

What is direct compensation?

Direct compensation was introduced in Italy in 2007. it Expected that the driver suffers an accident not be compensated for other than the insurer but from its own. The company will then receive a refund from the driver’s insurance that caused the accident.

This mechanism, the ANCMA affirms, ” has generated positive effects over the years on insurance premiums and, above all, on the timing of compensation”, which have become faster. So where is the hitch?

Because it would penalize motorcyclists

Direct compensation – explains the association – is advantageous when the accident occurs between vehicles belonging to the same category. That is, as in most cases, between two cars.

On the other hand, it jams when the vehicles are of different categories, as in the case of a car and a motorcycle (that is, in the case that most often involves two-wheeled vehicles). To avoid direct compensation, therefore, in recent years motorcyclists have often preferred foreign companies precisely because they are not subject to the same regime like the ones. The Sostegni Bill eliminates this possibility.

Price increase risk of 20%

The ANCMA is concerned that the extension of direct compensation may have an impact on the costs to be incurred for motorcyclists (consequently penalizing the entire sector). The use of foreign companies, explains the association, has helped to reduce the average premium paid in the last five years by 16%. There would therefore be a risk of “a distorting effect” on the market and “a generalized increase in motorcycle insurance policies, estimated at around 20% of current prices”.