70% of home policies currently taken out include ‘anti-squatting’ coverage
MADRID, 21 (EUROPA PRESS)
The CEO of Línea Directa, Patricia Ayuela, has defended the advertising about the health insurance that it currently issues and has indicated that no action will be taken regarding the complaint that the College of Mediators has presented to the General Directorate of Insurance (DGSFP). ) and before the employers’ association Unespa.
Recently, the General Council of Mediators announced the presentation of a complaint to the DGSFP and Unespa for the Línea Directa health insurance advertising campaign, where coverage is offered from 19.50 euros per month, but once the client contacts the insurer, these coverages are at the next level, with a premium that “doubles the down payment rate.” Thus, he states that this is an “obvious case of misleading advertising.”
However, Ayuela stated this Monday, at the press conference to present the results of the third quarter, that he is not going to take any action in this regard because his company’s business model makes them “more efficient than the sector” which allows the transfer of “better prices without detriment to quality or breadth of coverage” in all the branches in which it operates.
«We take our advertising very seriously. We are absolutely rigorous in what we say and if the advertising says that a client can take out complete health insurance or with the coverage that is advertised for 19.50 euros, then that is the case,” he defended.
On the other hand, asked about the contracting of products for pets and ‘anti-squatting’, Ayuela has indicated that they have been a “success” and has put the contracting of ‘anti-squatting’ coverage in the new insurance contracts at 70%. home.
Regarding pets, he has pointed out that, without the Animal Welfare Law having yet come into force – which requires pet insurance – it is working “very well.”
RESULTS UNTIL SEPTEMBER
On the other hand, he has shown his satisfaction after his company has now recorded five consecutive quarters of profit, after in 2023 it recorded losses in the first part of the year that led it to close in the red last year.
Línea Directa announced this Monday profits of 40.7 million euros until September, something that Ayuela has based on the improvement in the insurance margin, as well as the increase in income thanks to growth in premiums and customers.
«I value these results very positively for two reasons: the first is that the main parameters that mark the progress of the company are all evolving upwards. The second is that we are fulfilling point by point the strategy that we set out to launch in 2023″, which was, according to Ayuela, “to stabilize and improve insurance margins to begin to grow and accelerate this process.”
Thus, it has indicated that for the fifth consecutive quarter the company has shown losses thanks to a “positive” evolution of the insurance margin, placing the combined ratio at 95.4% at the end of September, 10.6 percentage points less than in the same period. period of the previous year due to the reduction in claims costs and greater operational efficiency.
By business line, in the automobile sector – Línea Directa’s main segment – the combined ratio stood at 95.5%, improving by 11.1 percentage points, while in the household sector, it was 89.8%. At the end of September (seven percentage points less) and the health rate was 140.5% (16.9 percentage points less than the previous year).
He has recognized that, quarter by quarter, the combined ratio has increased from 93.6% to 95.4% because “fluctuations” occur: in the third quarter, in summer, there are more trips, while the atmospheric phenomena that impact on home insurance were “extraordinarily good” in the second quarter.
Regarding income, Línea Directa highlights that the total number of premiums issued increased by 3.5% and reached 757.6 million euros, with an increase in all business lines (Motor, Home, Health and New Products). For its part, insurance income has increased by 2.9%.
In addition, the client portfolio increased by 0.5% compared to September 2023, to 3.38 million policyholders, also showing an “upward” trend. Compared to December, the increase is 1.8%, almost 60,000 more insured.
«The company is having a very good commercial dynamic with the entire strategy that we set out to be a multi-product company launching innovative products such as pets or anti-occupancy. The fact that our direct model can provide good prices in all the sectors in which we operate means that the growth in clients is accelerating,” defended the CEO.