Czechs lost CZK 550 million in insurance benefits in 2022 because the lack of insurance coverage. According to CAP – the insurers’ association’s estimations, out of the 116,000 unexpected property events in households last year, only an estimated two-thirds were insured. In 10 years, uninsured households in the Czech Republic cost CZK 6.8 billion.

Statistics for the year 2022 speak of CZK 916 million crowns paid out in insurance benefits for damage events in the home. However, from a comparison of the total number of households and the number of insured households, it is estimated that another almost CZK 550 million were lost by Czechs last year because they did not have household insurance. "The estimated number of uninsured households is decreasing over time, but there are still 1.8 million uninsured," said Lenka Slabejová, non-life insurance expert of the Czech Insurance Association. According to statistics, as well as according to surveys by the Czech Association of Insurance Companies, approximately one third of Czech households are not insured.

For 450 claims per day

Along with the decline in uninsured households, the share of uninsured claims is also falling – while in 2006 the estimated share of uninsured events reached 57% of all insured and uninsured events, in 2022 the share of uninsured fell to a still relatively high 37%.

But the amount of damage is increasing. "Due to inflation and perhaps the expansion of household equipment, especially appliances, the average damage increased from CZK 9,000 in 2006 to last year's more than CZK 12,500," explained ČAP chief analyst Petr Jedlička. "Payment of insurance benefits from household insurance is very fast, within a few days. Damages in the home are well documented, and the entire event liquidation process can usually be done online. In this way, the insured can immediately have the damaged property repaired or replaced directly from the insurance premium," added Lenka Slabejová.

In the last 10 years, Czechs faced an average of 379 events per day, of which 180 were not insured. Over the course of a decade, 6.8 billion crowns were lost at 658,000 events, with a loss in the range of CZK 500-700 million per year. According to Petr Jedlička, we are most often affected by water damage. "According to a rough estimate, about 35,000 water damage occurs in households every year. Damages from theft follow at a distance with approximately 9.3 thousand cases. And with further distance, we can then identify as the causes of the insurance event windstorms, damage to electronics and overvoltage, each with about 4.5 thousand cases.