South Korea's car insurance top 2 million

South Korea's car insurance top 2 million:



More than two million South Korean drivers have purchased car insurance online, as Internet-based insurers offer much lower rates than offline rivals, industry sources said Wednesday.

As of September, 2.01 million automobiles, 13 percent of the total insured vehicles, were insured through online car insurance, according to the sources.

Online auto insurance products, first launched in 2001 by industry leader Kyobo Auto Insurance, are sold over the Internet and by telephone. Their premiums are about 30 percent lower than those offered by offline insurers.

The share of car insurance sold online, which stood at 2.3 percent of the overall auto insurance market, is expected to easily surpass 15 percent this year, the sources said.

Kyobo and three other online insurers sell car insurance online, while offline non-life insurance companies, excluding Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., also offer the service.

Market watchers say online insurers' low-rate policies have led to a price war, eroding the earnings of offline non-life insurance companies.

"The share of online insurance products out of the entire car insurance sector is forecast to surpass 30 percent by 2009," Kyobo Auto Insurance President Oh Doo-hwan said at a press conference.

He highlighted the importance of the emerging sector from the perspective of consumer benefit.

Oh also said that his company plans to raise premiums by 1 percent starting in December in an effort to stay afloat in cutthroat competition with non-life insurance businesses.