Prices for car spare parts rise by ten percent

Spare parts such as headlights, windshields and fenders have again become significantly more expensive in the last twelve months. This is the result of a recent GDV evaluation

According to the report, car manufacturers increased prices by an average of 9.7 percent between August 2022 and August 2023. "Some spare parts became even more expensive: For example, a rear car door costs more than 13 percent more than in the previous year," says GDV Managing Director Jörg Asmussen.

The renewed price increase continues a development that the GDV has been observing since 2013: "The cost of passenger car spare parts is rising rapidly and significantly faster than the inflation rate: While the consumer price index has risen by almost 28 percent since January 2013, car manufacturers have increased their spare parts prices by more than 70 percent," says Asmussen. Trunk lids and rear side walls became 93 percent more expensive during this period, and taillights even 97 percent more expensive. In comparison, the premiums of motor vehicle liability insurance have hardly increased since 2013, with an increase of just over 7 percent.

For insurers, higher spare parts prices are leading to rising repair costs after accidents. "Last year, property damage to a passenger car cost motor vehicle liability insurers an average of around 3,700 euros, which was 8.4 percent more than in the previous year," says Asmussen. In 2013, this value had been 2,400 euros.

Motor insurers expect losses of almost three billion euros

Against the backdrop of continued high price increases and hardly any increase in motor insurance premiums in recent years, the GDV assumes that motor insurers will spend significantly more money than they earn this year. "According to our latest projections, the division is expected to make a loss of almost three billion euros this year," says Asmussen. Motorists will pay around 30.2 billion euros this year to insure their vehicles – but insurers will have to spend around 33.1 billion euros on claims and administration. "The bottom line is that for every euro collected, there are expenses of 1.10 euros," says Asmussen.

Background: Statistics show spare parts prices for 34 makes

For their investigation of spare parts prices, GDV engineers and statisticians research the spare parts prices for various vehicle types in Audatex's damage calculation database every year. The selection of vehicles currently includes 34 makes from several manufacturers and small cars as well as luxury class models. For each vehicle, the prices of up to twenty spare parts were collected, which must be replaced frequently after accidents.