Auto repair turned a profit for U.S. auto insurers in 2024.
U.S. auto insurers made a 12.6% underwriting profit on private
passenger physical damage coverage in 2024, a 16-point swing from the
loss recorded one year earlier.
The new profitability figures, released last month from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, show insurers lost 3.4% on the same business in 2023 and 12.9% in 2022. The turnaround came as insurers collected substantially more in premiums while incurring fewer losses.
Insurers earned US$154.3 billion in private passenger physical damage
premiums in 2024, up from US$131.5 billion in 2023. Losses incurred accounted for 59.9% of those premiums, down sharply
from 74.9% in 2023 and 82.5% in 2022.
Insurers consequently recorded their highest underwriting profit on
private passenger physical damage coverage in at least a decade. They also earned an estimated 21.6% return on net worth from the
business, compared with 2.1% in 2023 and negative 9% in 2022. The
10-year average was 6.6%.
The improvement was much smaller on liability coverage. Insurers lost
2.2% on private passenger auto liability underwriting in 2024,
compared with a 7.3% loss in 2023.
The same split appeared in commercial auto. Insurers made a 10%
underwriting profit on commercial auto physical damage coverage but
lost 14.1% on commercial auto liability.
Across private passenger auto as a whole, insurers moved from a 5.6%
underwriting loss in 2023 to a 4.3% profit in 2024.
The NAIC compiled the figures from filings by 2,634 U.S. property and
casualty insurers representing more than 95% of premiums written in
the country.
