Car insurance against war risks
Is it possible to insure a car against war risks and what conditions are offered by leading insurance companies?
During the two years of full-scale war in Ukraine, there was no state program for compensating the costs associated with war-damaged cars.
If the owners of immovable property can count on compensation from the state within the framework of the “eRecovery” program, then the owners of movable property must solve this issue on their own. For example, to insure your car against war risks in advance.
Today, many private insurance companies provide such services as part of the CASCO policy, but they have a number of restrictions, in particular regarding the age and value of the car.
What auto insurance services do the largest private companies offer?
How insurers were chosen. The specialized magazine Insurance Top compiled a rating of insurance companies for CASCO insurance for 9 months of 2023. Ten leading companies from the rating were taken for analysis. Both individual CASCO programs for insurance of only military risks and full CASCO, which also includes military risks, were compared.ARX
From the spring of 2023, the company offers its customers CASCO “Iron Dome”. Such insurance covers car damage and complete destruction of the vehicle. The insurance contract is valid on the territory of Ukraine, except for temporarily occupied territories, as well as territories where hostilities are taking place or are possible.
“Iron Dome” CASCO can be purchased separately from any CASCO contract from ARX or any other insurance company.
The deductible in such a contract is 10% of the insured amount – that is, the car owner will have to pay this part himself.
CASCO from ARX is available for cars younger than 15 years old, and the cost of such a policy is equal to 1% of the cost of the car.
In general, during 2023, about 42,000 CASCO contracts were concluded, including more than 600 contracts with “Iron Dome” coverage.
“During this period, clients reported 35 losses related to war risks (after the massive shelling on December 29, 2023, 6 applications were received from such cities as Kyiv, Dnipro, and Lviv),” the EP in ARX reported.
Arsenal of insurance
The insurance company has “Patronus” CASCO in its arsenal. Such insurance covers the risks of damage to the car as a result of the direct or indirect impact of missiles, UAVs, ammunition, anti-aircraft or anti-missile defense equipment and debris;
Damages are fully covered within the sum insured (the value of the car), and the deductible is 5% in case of partial damage to the car and 10% in case of complete destruction of the car.
The company insures cars up to 15 years old, and the cost of the policy depends on the insurance period: for 12 months – 1.99% of the car’s value, for 6 months – 1.49% of the car’s value, and for 3 months – 0.99%.
UNICA
The company insures a car against war risks in case of purchase of full CASCO, which covers damages in the event of a road accident, theft, natural disaster, explosion, falling objects, illegal actions of third parties, etc.
At the same time, such an insurance policy is available only for cars up to 9 years old, and in the case of military risks, only 10% of the car’s value is covered.
Cars aged 10 to 15 years are insured only against total destruction and theft.
The cost of full CASCO is calculated individually and depends on the value of the car, the selected amount of the franchise, etc.
USG
The company offers its customers Military CASCO, which covers risks from damage to complete destruction of the car only as a result of direct or indirect impact from missiles, UAVs or their fragments, anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense equipment and other ammunition.
At the same time, the insurance covers only cars under 5 years old.
The size of the insured amount can be up to UAH 8 million, and the cost of the insurance policy is 1.99% of the cost of the car.
TAS
The company does not have a separate insurance policy that would cover military risks, but this service can be included in the main CASCO (except for the “Light CASCO” service).
At the same time, you cannot insure a car over 10 years old and cheaper than UAH 400,000. In addition, for war risks, the insurance company reimburses no more than 10% of the sum insured.
The cost of CASCO, which includes military risks, is calculated individually and depends on the selected options.
For example, insuring a 2014 car worth UAH 400,000 against all risks will cost UAH 29,000.
VUSO
The insurance company offers its customers CASCO Patriot 2.0, which covers all military risks and has an unlimited number of insurance cases.
At the same time, the company does not insure cars older than 14 years, as well as cars used in taxis. In addition, the insurance policy is not valid in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.
The cost of the policy is 1.7% of the market value of the car. In addition, at a fixed price, you can independently choose the insurance amount among the offered: 400 thousand UAH (cost – 8.5 thousand UAH), 800 thousand UAH (cost – 16.5 thousand UAH) and 1.2 million UAH (cost – 25 thousand UAH).
By choosing the second option, the insurance payment will be made within the limitah the selected limit, but not more than the market value.
Example. The most popular car that Ukrainians imported from abroad in 2023 is the Volkswagen Golf. The average age of recruited “Europeans” is 10 years. The average market value of such a car in Kyiv is about UAH 420,000 (a car with a manual transmission).
So, if you choose a policy that depends on the cost of the car (1.7%), its amount will be UAH 6.8 thousand per year. On the other hand, insuring a newer Golf, for example, produced in 2018 and with an average cost of UAH 550,000, will cost UAH 9.35 thousand.
Universal
The insurance company also offers its clients “Military” CASCO, which is concluded only in a set with the main CASCO contract and covers risks from the impact of missiles, UAVs and their debris, air defense equipment, anti-missile defense equipment, and flying combat supplies.
At the same time, the effect of “Military” CASCO does not extend to Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson regions, Crimean Autonomous Republic, as well as temporarily occupied territories and territories located closer than 60 kilometers from temporarily occupied territories (on the date of occurrence of the insured event).
The company also insures cars up to 15 years old, and the maximum liability limit cannot exceed UAH 3 million.
For example: CASCO for the popular in Ukraine Renault Megane, manufactured in 2014 and worth about 350,000 UAH, will cost 11,200 UAH per year, and an additional 5,000 UAH will be required to cover military risks.
During the calculation, the driver’s experience (from 10 years), the deductible for the risk of road accidents, vandalism and natural disasters (1% of the insured amount), as well as the deductible for the risk of theft and complete destruction of the car (10% of the insured amount) were also taken into account.
Express insurance
The company does not have separate insurance against war risks, but has a corresponding additional option in all CASCO packages (Comfort, Premium, Premium+ and VIP).
Depending on the selected package, the maximum age of the car for insurance is set – from 8 to 6 years. In addition, cars used in taxis are not insured.
But the conditions for covering military risks are the same: the payment is made only once within 10% or 25% of the insured amount. The list of military risks includes damage caused by mines, shells, bombs and other types of weapons, except weapons of mass destruction
The cost of CASCO is calculated individually and depends on the selected options.
INGO
During the conclusion of the CASCO contract, the company offers customers to activate the “war risks” option.
The option provides for the recovery of the car from the consequences of military operations within 10% of the insured amount, but not more than 300 thousand UAH.
Additional insurance covers collision or collision with military equipment; damage from shock (sound) waves; damage from the fall of third-party objects of defense and special military purpose; damage to the car by fire, if the car was in the immediate vicinity of the place of fire caused by military actions.
The cost of the “war risks” option is UAH 1, but the cost of the CASCO insurance policy is calculated individually.
“At the beginning of the great war, we had to adapt very quickly. We almost immediately began to include war risks in CASCO insurance coverage free of charge. Of course, such a solution only partially covered the damage (only 10% of the damage was compensated), which did not really help car owners whose cars were damaged by shelling “, Mykola Matyka, director of retail business of the INGO insurance company, said.
Therefore, the company later added to its portfolio CASCO “Repulse of alarm”, which covers only military risks. Its cost is 1.45% of the cost of the car, and the deductible is set at 5%.
You can insure any passenger vehicle (or fleet of passenger vehicles) aged up to 12 years (inclusive) and worth up to UAH 6 million.
“The company started developing insurance protection with coverage of war risks from the very beginning of the great war. We created a number of products for the insurance of apartments, houses, cars, life and health, which includes coverage of war risks,” Matyka said.
He added that the company plans to expand the line of insurance products, in particular, with war risks and increase coverage limits.
PZU Ukraine
The insurance company offers the “Automix” package for car insurance, which covers military risks, in particular, damage from the direct or indirect impact of missiles, UAVs and their debris, aircraft and air defense equipment.
The coverage area is throughout the territory of Ukraine, except for the occupied territories, Crimean Autonomous Republic, the zone of hostilities, armed conflicts, as well as excluding the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The insurance policy is available for passenger cars up to 15 years old. The insured amount can be both the market value of the car, and a limit of 25% or 50% of this value (but not more than UAH 3 million in terms of coverage of military risks).