Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. will subdivide age brackets for auto insurance premiums in April to hike rates for elderly drivers, sources said.
Sompo Japan will be the first major nonlife insurer to raise premiums to cope with worsening accident rates among elderly drivers, they said.
While upping all premiums by an average of 1.5 percent, the insurer plans to raise them for drivers aged 70 or older by 8 percent or more, they said.
Nonlife insurers have been cutting costs to absorb increased insurance payments caused by worsening accident rates among elderly drivers. Now they are going to hike premiums because profitability in the auto insurance business has deteriorated amid the aging of society.
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. may also raise premiums for elderly drivers.