Home and auto insurance contracts are threatened by an increase in CatNat taxes and an attack. The first could thus jump by 33%. Here is what awaits you.
25 euros, on average. This is the amount deducted from several of your insurance contracts to cover claims related to natural disasters. How much tomorrow? Faced with the intensity and frequency of climatic events, insurers, through their representative France assureurs (FA), asked this Thursday an increase in the so-called CatNat premium.
Already at work, this tax is 12% on home insurance contracts and 6% on vehicle theft and fire contracts. A level nsufficient to counter an annual claims bill estimated at 10.6 billion euros, just last year.
An 18% tax soon?
Several players have already come out in favor of a rapid transition to 18% housing and, at least, 12% by car. A breather for insurers, but which will have consequences on the amount of the premium for policyholders.
We are facing an unprecedented rise in risk, insisted Florence Lustman, the president of the FA at a conference. Also this week, a parliamentary report recommended increasing insurance premiums to better cover damage to homes caused by droughts, which are worsening with global warming. Of the 19.4 million houses in France, 10.1 are exposed to clay risk, including 3.1 million highly.
Find 43 billion euros over the period 2020-2050
The consequences of drought on a dwelling can be multiple and catastrophic: cracks in the walls and foundations, subsidence of the ground… Repairs thus amount to thousands of euros with an average cost per claim of 16,300 euros according to the comparator Assurland.com.
While compensation is often a way of the cross for victims, the phenomenon could cost 43 billion euros over the period 2020-2050 according to France insurers. A dizzying amount which alone justifies an increase in the Catnat tax, the scheme of which has been in deficit since 2015, assures MoneyVox a person familiar with the matter.
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The expected increase in claims and premiums for certain insurance risks is particularly notable: throughout France, claims related to natural disasters are increasing 2 to 5 times faster today for the most affected departments. Ipremiums would then increase by 130,200% over 30 years to cover these losses, estimates the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR).
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The attack tax could also increase
This dark picture is not complete. Another tax on home and auto insurance contracts could be revised upwards, that which feeds the Guarantee Fund for victims of acts of terrorism and other offenses (FGTI). Currently, 5.90 euros are deducted for each damage insurance contract. An amount increased in 2017 after the attacks in Paris or Nice.
A new increase could be decided, because according to The Parisianthe government plans to broaden the scope of compensated victims. Victims of common law offenses (homicides, rapes and sexual assaults, etc.) have been so since the end of the 1990s and could be joined by the victims of home squatting, blackmail, abuse of weakness or violation of automated data processing systems. The threshold for seeking compensation could also be reduced from 30 to 10 days of total incapacity for work (ITT). At the end of 2021, the FGTI’s equity had been in the red by more than 5 billion euros since 2021.
A simple decree is enough for the government to increase the current lump sum of 5.90 euros. Another possibility exists: the image of the CatNat tax, the attack tax could become a percentage levied on the contribution. Two methods for the same negative effect on purchasing power, while the cost of auto and home insurance continues to rise year after year. And according to the Facts&Figure barometer, after having been summoned by the Minister of Economy and Finance to temper their ardor in pricing in 2022 and 2023, insurers are planning strong increases in premiums from 2024, of between 6% and 8%.
Car insurance: change contract