As more cars and trucks have steel panels replaced by aluminum, this could raise claim payouts.
The automotive industry has been making changes to the design of many cars and trucks, removing their steel body panels in favor of aluminum ones, which has auto insurance companies feeling a bit jittery about how claims will look in the not-too-distant future.
This considerable redesign to the construction of vehicles brings uncertainty to the insurance industry.
This is not the first time that an aluminum bodied vehicle has rolled its way off the assembly line. The Jaguar XJR and the Audi A8, for example, have been made from aluminum for many years. However, a favorite American truck, the Ford F150 is now starting to draw attention to the drawbacks of this change of materials. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has determined that the pick-up truck’s SuperCab version comes with a slew of worrisome features for auto insurance companies.
Auto insurance providers like the fact that there is a greater ability to withstand damages, but repairs will be costly.
Despite the fact that the truck will be able to resist greater damages as per the results of crash tests, there are two major issues that insurance companies will now be watching. The first is that the repairs have been calculated to be a massive 26 percent higher than they would have been if steel had continued to be used. The other is that the occupants of the vehicles have a greater risk of injury in a crash.
It has become evident that insurance companies will need to expect larger claim amounts, with an estimated $4,738 worth of damage expected if an aluminum truck is to be involved in a rear corner crash. Comparatively, the same truck with steel would have cost $3,275 for the same type of damage. This rise in claims costs will require insurers to pass that expense on to their policyholders not only because of the expensive damage to vehicles but also because there will be an increase in severe injuries that occur as a result of crashes.
A decline in safety results may bring about increase in both auto insurance claims for repairs and those involving coverage for bodily injury for occupants of the vehicles.