ICMIF member MAS (New Zealand) has announced that it will be returning NZD 1.7 million (USD 1.1 million) in savings made on reduced motor vehicle claims during the COVID-19 lockdown to its members. 

This pass-back forms a major pillar of the MAS Relief Package which the mutual launched in April, which was established to help the organisation’s members cope with the financial impact of the COVID-19 lockdown. 

As well as committing to passing back these savings, MAS is also setting up an NZD 2 million (USD 1.3 million) Hardship Fund for Members suffering financial difficulty due to the lockdown, and several health and wellbeing initiatives. 

During Alert Levels 3 and 4 of the lockdown in New Zealand, motor vehicle claims were lower than normal, due to members keeping their cars off the road. 

From September 2020, MAS will be reducing the base premiums for motor vehicle insurance policies by 7.2% for the next year of the policy. This reduction will be applied when the policy comes up for annual review. 

To receive the full reduction, MAS says members will need to hold their policy for the full year.  

Other ICMIF members also recently announced similar initiatives to return auto premiums back to policyholders following a reduction in motor accident claims:

• In France, Maif announced that following a significant decrease in the number of motor vehicle accident reports during their eight-week containment period, the French mutual insurer would pass on the savings it had achieved to its motor insurance policyholders, estimated at approximately EUR 100 million.
• In Canada, Desjardins General Insurance Group offered discounts on auto insurance premiums for personal and business clients, calculated over a 3-month period and will reflect their client’s annual distance travelled, as declared on their insurance contract. In total, Desjardins returned CAD 150 million in premium refunds to their 2.1 million auto insurance clients.
• Also in Canada, The Co-operators saw the COVID-19 restrictions in place in Canada affect the amount that its policyholders were driving and therefore allowed people to reduce their auto insurance premium with the organisation’s Reduced Driving Refund.
• Shelter Insurance (USA) announced that it would return 30% of monthly premium to personal auto customers for April and May that have been affected since the outbreak.
• Unipol announced that it would repay one month’s premiums to its 10 million motor liability insurance policyholders. This is estimated to total EUR 300 million in premiums returned to customers to help them cope during the Covid-19 emergency period.