Insurance as enabler of smooth transition to a sustainable, integrated, connected and green mobility system

The second edition of the “Electric Vehicle Days” event, held at the Novi Sad fair, was opened withfull support for the further development of this important segment of mobility. Representatives of republic, provincial and city institutions and companies had the opportunity to exchange opinions and harmonize positions on the necessary steps in order to bring the segment of these vehicles closer to users in a constructive dialogue on panels. It was concluded that subsidies and benefits for the purchase of electric cars, as well as the appropriate infrastructure for charging them, are the main prerequisites for popularizing and increasing the number of such vehicles on our roads.

Participating in the panel “Electric vehicles as competitors on the market – modern components and contemporary economic issues” moderated by Vesna Lapčić and attended by Milan Dobrijević, State Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Aleksandra Đurđević, President of the Serbian Association of Car Importers and of automotive parts, Zoran Matović, ZF Serbia, Ivan Smiljković, Member of the Executive Board of ProCredit Bank. Good afternoon and welcome, Aleksandar Simurdić, Director of the “European Affairs” Fund of AP Vojvodina, Francesco Masci, President of the Executive Board of DDOR osiguranje, explaining how insurance companies view this segment of mobility, said:

“The value of the vehicle is one of the elements for determining the value of the policy. However, the price and technical profitability of the policy depends on several factors, among which are the risk of the policy holder, the average cost of claims (spare parts and labor cost), the frequency of claims, and so on. Investments in infrastructure that improve road safety and many technological innovations aimed at improving car safety have a huge positive impact on the frequency of claims and contribute significantly to their reduction. On the other hand, it is too early to draw conclusions about it, especially on the Serbian market, since the numbers are still small for analysis. Certainly, better informed insurance users might consider contracting additional coverage and services that are not mandatory. In Italy, around 19% of all users of electric vehicle MTPL insurance also have an active casco insurance policy. The costs of casco coverage for electric vehicles, in the period 2018-2020, are on average 24% higher than other types of cars, which leads us to the conclusion that more time is needed for a high-quality and precise risk assessment when it comes to electric vehicles,” and he added: “A few months ago, our parent company Unipol, together with the well-known university Politecnico di Milano, founded a special Think Thank called “Urban Mobility Council”, whose main goal is to facilitate cooperation between educational institutions, public institutions and the private sector in order to ensure smooth transition to a sustainable, integrated, connected and green mobility system and to what we call mobility as a service, where car ownership will be progressively replaced by the use of a car, with a comprehensive package of services attached to it. Electric vehicles were also in focus on this occasion, as one of the driving forces for moving towards a new model of mobility that awaits us in the future in this region as well.”

This year, too, DDOR osiguranje recognized the importance of participating in this event, which once again exceeded expectations in terms of the exhibition segment of the event, but also in terms of the relevance of the topics on the panels intended for both professionals and the general public. In the coming period, the company will continue its activities related to environmental protection, but also, using the Unipol Group’s experience, to raise awareness of the need for further development of the mobility services segment using electric and hybrid vehicles.