The General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM), the national trade association representing all insurers in the country, today revealed figures for the first half of 2017.
It reported that the general insurance industry declined 1.9% in 1H 2017 compared to the same period last year. Gross written premium income was RM9.17 billion, down 1.9% from the RM9.34 billion recorded in the first half of 2016.
Motor insurance again had the largest slice of the pie at 45.8%, with premiums totalling RM4.19 billion, a 1.8% increase from the first six months of last year. It remains well ahead of the next largest class, that of fire insurance, which racked up RM1.79 billion (a 2.4% increase year-on year).
In terms of insurance claims, PIAM said the industry continued to experience a deteriorating trend, with the overall net claims incurred ratio climbing from 53.8% in 1H 2016 to 57.4% for the first six months of 2017. That for motor insurance was at 71.4%, up from the 65% for the corresponding period in 2016.
Motor insurance claims paid out by insurers amounted to RM2.68 billion in 1H 2017, and this works out to RM14.7 million per day in claims for property damage (own vehicle, other party’s vehicle), bodily injury and vehicle theft. The rate for the first half of this year is higher than the RM13.8 million per day rate recorded for 2016.
In terms of motor vehicle theft, there was an improvement this year, with a 25% decrease in vehicle thefts. The total number of stolen vehicles in all classes amounted to 7,897, a drop from the 10,551 from the same period last year.
Of these, 2,925 were cars (4,026 for 1H 2016), 4,546 were motorcycles (5,782) and 426 were commercial vehicles (743), a reduction of 27%, 21% and 43% respectively.
The association also revealed the top 10 most stolen vehicle models (with reported cases) for the first half of 2017, with the Proton Wira topping the list like it did in the first half of 2016, though less units were stolen this year, at 338 to the 498 recorded last year.
Next was the Toyota Hilux, with 286 vehicles of the type stolen in 2017. That theft rate is less than the same period in 2016, when 378 such pick-ups went missing. In terms of percentage, that’s a 24% reduction.
Other popular models on the hit list are the Perodua Kancil and Myvi, and four more Proton models, the Iswara, Saga, Waja and Satria. Rounding off the list is the popular trade vehicle, the Nissan Vanette and the Honda Civic.
At the media briefing today, PIAM also disclosed the number of reported stolen vehicles that were repatriated from Thailand and Singapore from 2012 to August this year, at 188 and 24 units from each country respectively.
