Motor insurance, how much does it cost ?

Car insurance quotes (motor TPL)

Motor insurance tariffs: huge differences among countries

Gaps are noticed within the same geographical area and within a population of similar living standards. Motor tariff differences between Algeria and Morocco are enormous. Likewise for both Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal which are using the CIMA code.
The gap is equally wide in the Maghreb between Tunisia and Morocco, and between Morocco and the two Middle East countries Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

Premiums level

A high-premium level does not necessarily mean a profit-making market for motor insurance ; and inversely, a low-premium level is not a loss index. With a very low premium level, the damage-premium ratio of the Algerian market is 90% in 2002 whereas in Tunisia where premium is notably higher, it has reached 117%.
The loss ratio of the Cameroonian motor insurance market is 45.9% in 2002.

Guarantees and Excess

In the CIMA zone countries and in the Maghreb, physical injury guarantees for third parties is unlimited, unlike Saudi Arabia and Lebanon where insurance policy guarantees are limited.
In Lebanon, the maximum limit is 1 000 000 USD for physical injury, and 500 000 USD for material damage. In Saudi Ara-bia, UCA company imposes a 5 000 000 SAR, (1 330 000 USD) comprehensive limit for both bodily injury and material damage.

Compensation

• Material Damage: Spare parts and labour costs are the two main components of the material damage scheme. Spare parts costs are more or less the same in the majority of the countries surveyed. (imported vehicles). Labour costs per geographical area are quite close to one another.
  Logics has it that material damages be higher in Saudi Arabia where recently manufactured big-engined cars prevail. Contrarily, such damages should be lower in Africa where cars are older.
  In Lebanon in 2002, the average material damage is estimated at 307 USD per UCA. It was 140 USD in Algeria¹ and 670 USD in Morocco.
• Bodily injury compensation: To avoid abuses, legislators in many countries set the limits to compensation fees al-lotted road accident casualties. It's the case for both Algeria and Morocco. Out-of-the-court settlements with victims or their eligible parties have considerably reduced the amounts paid by insurance companies. Still in Lebanon where UCA estimates its average physical injury compensation to be 1 607 USD in 2002. In Algeria, the average physical damage compensation amounts to 1 400 USD¹ while in Morocco it reached 5 600 USD².

Intermediaries payment

The payment of middlemen varies from country to country. In Morocco it's 12%, 12.5 in Cameroon, 5% in Tunisia³, and 10% in Algeria⁴.
Commissions are highest in Lebanon where they can rise to 35% of the premium.

Management expenses weight on car insurance quotation

These expenses are more or less high depending on distribution networks and the management methods of the motor portfolio. In 2002, these expenses represented 25.5% of premiums in Cameroon and 8.84 % in Tunisia. Total deductions (brokers commissions and management expenses) may reach and sometimes exceed 50% of the premium in Lebanon while in Tunisia they are limited to just 15%.