In November and in the first half of December this year, the insurance company BTA Baltic Insurance Company (BTA) received 60% more CASCO indemnity applications for driving off the road than in the same period a year ago, BTA representatives told LETA.
Accidents are registered not only more often, but also more serious, according to the insurer’s representatives. This year, more vehicles than last year after these accidents are no longer used in traffic and were written off. The amount of compensation claims for approaching an obstacle, slipping, crashing into barriers and other cars due to the driver’s inability to brake on an icy road has remained at the previous year’s level.
Representatives of the insurer inform that a peculiar novelty this winter is the damage caused to vehicles by rodents. Apparently, escaping from the strong frost, the animals sought refuge in the cabin of the car and warmed up in the engine room, doing work on their own.
Two Peugeot and Toyota cars have broken interior trim under the hood, and the shape of their teeth suggests that ferrets have been visited by a Japanese car. “In the car, the mice managed to get into the cabin and thoroughly ‘process’ the seat. It cost the car owner more than 1000 euros to replace it,” informs Kārlis Liepiņš, Director of the BTA Insurance Claims Department.
The number of “Roadside Assistance” cases received also increased significantly in December. If in the first 12 days of December 2020 drivers turned to help only 89 times, then this year the frost made it difficult to start cars and also had to help drivers who stopped during the trip. This was often due to the inappropriate thickening of the diesel fuel.
In total, customers turned to the insurer for help 402 times or 4.5 times more often than last year. On average, 33 requests for assistance were received per day, with the busiest days being 6 and 7 December, when 78 and 65 drivers were assisted.
It has already been reported that BTA’s audited profit last year was 12.603 million euros, which is 18.3% more than in 2019. Last year, BTA wrote a total of 208.5 million euros in gross insurance premiums, which is 7.2% less than in 2019, while the company paid 127.8 million euros in gross claims, which is a decrease of 8%.
BTA’s profit in the first half of this year was 4.035 million euros, which is 47.4% less than in the corresponding period last year, according to the company’s published information. In the first six months of this year, BTA has written a total of 109.394 million euros in gross insurance premiums, which is 2.5% more than in the corresponding period of 2020, but the company has paid 62.861 million euros in gross claims, which is an increase of 4.5%.
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