In recent years, the maintenance of accident vehicles has become increasingly a focus of social attention. Repair shops and insurance companies are like boxers standing on the red and blue corners of a boxing ring, desperately competing for their own interests in accident maintenance.

But the scepter that ultimately determines the outcome of all these games is actually secretly held in the hands of the host factory. Now, the host factory is even planning to move the boxing ring back home.

01. New energy breaks the discourse power of insurance companies, and claims pricing needs to be redesigned

The support for the stubborn confidence of automakers lies in the fact that new energy vehicles have completely become the mainstream of the car market. OEMs have directly established property insurance companies to operate car insurance business, and the high-level autonomous driving traffic ecology represented by L3 technology applications has been fully launched. The development trends of these three car markets are gradually consolidating their confidence into a solid foundation.

In terms of sales, the main battlefield of automobiles is passenger cars. As of the end of September 2025, authoritative data released by the Ministry of Public Security shows that the total number of automobiles in China is about 360 million, of which passenger cars account for about 89%.

The main battlefield of passenger cars is in new energy, with a total of 36.89 million new energy vehicles, accounting for 10.27% of the total car ownership. In the new car sales market, the cumulative penetration rate of new energy vehicles reached 53.6% from January to November 2025, and directly surged to 59.3% in November. There is no doubt that the cumulative penetration rate for the whole year is more than half, and 2025 is destined to become the mainstream year for new energy vehicles in the car market.

With the continuous improvement of vehicle reliability, road conditions, and traffic law enforcement, the value center of the automotive aftermarket is increasingly inclined towards accident vehicle maintenance, and with the widespread use of new energy in new car models, OEMs have also moved from behind the scenes to the forefront of interest games.

Insurance companies always face the challenge of not being able to control the maintenance technology and parts supply of all insured vehicle models during accident repairs, which actually means that insurance companies do not have the top-level design power over the pricing of accident vehicle repairs.

In the field of fuel vehicle maintenance, with the continuous increase in the localization rate of joint venture vehicles and the market share of domestic brand vehicles, dismantled and counterfeit parts have begun to enter the market in large quantities in terms of accessory supply. By the widespread supply of remanufactured and branded parts (including some OEM parts) in the later stage, the cost-effectiveness of these non original parts has become increasingly advantageous in the market.

As for maintenance techniques, unless there are a few maintenance projects that require specialized computers to match, such as replacing pure electronic components such as control computers, instruments, and audio and video systems, those unique disassembly and assembly processes and specialized tools have already spread to society with the loss of maintenance technicians.

Insurance companies can easily identify and lock in lower maintenance hours and parts quotes through pricing and compensation. The uniqueness of the original factory authorized maintenance system is shattered in this way. In addition, the marketing strategy led by the OEM's inventory pressure model inevitably tends to build more authorized 4S stores.

This has led to a rapid overcapacity of authorized maintenance capacity and indirectly promoted the prevalence of the unwritten rule of insurance companies exchanging resources for resources, which in turn further exacerbates the supply of non original parts and the loss of maintenance technology.
However, the new energy transformation of automobiles has greatly facilitated the recovery of the dominant position in maintenance technology and parts supply by OEMs, and has also provided a strong material foundation for the implementation of the Internet of Vehicles. Therefore, it fundamentally connects OEMs with users and vehicles, completely changing the dilemma of vehicles not returning to 4S stores and OEMs losing contact with sold vehicles. In one fell swoop, maintenance opportunities have also been included in the perception scope of OEMs.

That's why insurance companies continue to suffer losses in the field of car insurance for new energy vehicles, because they no longer have a channel to compare prices and then use profits to suppress compensation expenses, so they have almost lost their strong position in the field of fuel vehicle maintenance.

Apart from signing a general cooperation agreement with the host factory, the only option left is to desperately increase insurance premiums.

02. Self operated car insurance is gaining momentum, and OEMs are seeking to get rid of insurance companies

Seeing insurance companies struggling in the field of new energy vehicle insurance, OEMs are no longer satisfied with just being the behind the scenes hand. Finally, they have personally stepped onto the boxing ring to bring the last major interest link in the automotive industry chain that is outside their control under their control.

The host factory directly establishes a property insurance company (hereinafter referred to as host car insurance) to operate car insurance, as they have incomparable advantages over traditional car insurance.

In terms of income, no matter how traditional car insurance is designed and adjusted for premium standards, the main car insurance can be copied one by one, even without changing the punctuation marks of the policy terms, which is infuriating?

In terms of expenditure, the main car insurance almost completely owns the dominant power of maintenance technology and parts supply, no, it is a monopoly! Even between different brands, at least most of the technology and OEM suppliers are interconnected.

In this regard, it is still far from reaching the level where fuel vehicle maintenance technology and accessories are rampant, and monopoly will inevitably bring huge profits, as can be seen from the generally high zero to zero ratio of new energy vehicles.

In addition, the main car insurance has a flatter organizational structure compared to traditional car insurance, and for the exhibition industry, it is just an additional job content in vehicle sales or maintenance reception, unlike traditional car insurance personnel who need to make a living from it. Therefore, in terms of labor costs, office costs, exhibition costs, etc., it is basically a huge difference.

What can traditional car insurance compete with main car insurance? There are probably fewer and fewer basic fuel cars left.

Which host manufacturers have established car insurance companies currently?

As of December 2025, the property and casualty insurance companies in which automobile manufacturers have stakes or even hold insurance licenses mainly include:

BYD: It has been approved to operate car insurance business by fully acquiring Yian Property Insurance and renaming it as Shenzhen BYD Property Insurance Co., Ltd.

Xiaomi Group: Jointly established Beijing Faba Tianxing Property Insurance Co., Ltd. with shareholders such as Paris Insurance Group and Volkswagen, and officially opened in October 2025.

Guangzhou Automobile Group: Zhongcheng Insurance, a subsidiary of GAC Group, is one of the earliest professional automobile insurance companies established by domestic automakers.

FAW Group: Participate in the auto insurance market through Xin'an Auto Insurance.

Geely Group: indirectly layout by investing in Hezhong Property Insurance. ‌
There are many OEMs that have established insurance brokerage companies. AC Automotive inventory shows that 17 OEMs have entered the automotive insurance field through insurance brokerage companies. Common examples include Toyota Insurance Broker, NIO Insurance Broker Co., Ltd., Beijing Ideal Insurance Broker Co., Ltd., Tesla Insurance Broker (China) Co., Ltd., etc.

03. Intelligent driving can infinitely reduce accident rates and weaken the ecological niche of the insurance company

If the transformation of new energy belongs to the strengthening of behind the scenes manipulation, then the main engine car insurance is expanding its competitive advantage to almost cheating, while advanced intelligent driving may move the boxing ring of accident repair to the roof of the main engine factory.

One of the main battlefields for new energy vehicles is constantly advancing intelligent driving, and one of the main reasons for pursuing autonomous driving or advanced intelligent driving is to reduce or even eliminate traffic accidents.

The top two main causes of traffic accidents are:

Human factors: Driver behavior is the primary cause of accidents, including:

Dangerous driving behaviors, such as speeding, drunk driving, fatigue driving, distracted driving (such as using mobile phones), directly reduce reaction ability.

Negative psychological states, such as gambling on gas cars, road rage, and luck mentality, can easily lead to misjudgment.

Improper operation: such as failure to maintain a safe distance, illegal lane changes, failure to observe blind spots, etc. ‌

Poor vehicle condition: Technical defects or insufficient maintenance of the vehicle can significantly increase the risk, such as brake failure, lighting failure, and other critical component failures. Vehicles that are on the road with illnesses, illegally modified or overloaded.

According to the national recommended standard for "Classification of Automotive Driving Automation" approved and released by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Standardization Administration:

L3 level autonomous driving can truly achieve autonomous driving under specific conditions, supporting vehicles to autonomously complete lane changes, turns, and other operations. Drivers can completely remove their hands from the steering wheel and only take over when requested by the system. This technological breakthrough not only allows drivers to freely handle their work while driving, but also completely liberates their attention, transforming cars from simple means of transportation to mobile living spaces and intelligent terminals.

On December 23, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved and the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Traffic Management Bureau licensed three BAIC Jihu intelligent connected vehicles under the name of Beijing Chuxing Automotive Service Co., Ltd. to live stream the first test of L3 level autonomous driving on roads within the permitted conditions on the entire network.

On December 26, 2025, the first batch of 46 L3 level autonomous driving vehicles from Shenlan Automobile were officially registered and put on the road, only 11 days after the approval of relevant vehicle models by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

On December 27, 2025, Wuhan was officially approved to build a national intelligent connected vehicle pilot zone, becoming the first city in China to achieve full domain opening of "vehicle road cloud integration", creating favorable conditions for the landing of L3 technology.

Not to mention eliminating vehicle traffic accidents, even if they become an extremely low probability event and are even classified as product quality liability, where will traditional car insurance companies be based?
In conclusion

We have discussed the intertwined interests of car owners, repair shops, and insurance companies in accident repairs:

Insurance companies have adopted round after round of industry self-discipline, with repair shops reporting to industry associations for warmth. More and more car owners are resorting to legal action for the reality of being violated in accident repairs, but the chaos of accident repairs remains unresolved and chaotic.

Perhaps the ultimate solution is for intelligent driving to be greater than or equal to L3? Let's wait and see.