The trillion-yuan auto insurance market has entered a phase of stock competition.

With the complete release of the first-quarter 2026 premium rankings for 63 property and casualty (P&C) insurers, the market for auto insurance—the traditional core of the P&C industry—is exhibiting a clear divergence. The industry's massive trillion-yuan auto insurance market has hit a plateau in the stock cycle. Leading insurers like PICC P&C, Ping An P&C, and CPIC P&C have collectively seen a year-on-year decline in auto premiums. Meanwhile, the smaller and mid-sized insurer segment is experiencing intensified internal polarization, with internet-based and regional state-owned insurers bucking the trend with rising premiums, while foreign-funded and automaker-affiliated insurers have seen their auto insurance volumes shrink significantly.

The contribution of auto insurance to an insurer's revenue (auto written premiums / total written premiums) has become a key metric for assessing P&C business quality. The dependence on auto insurance among traditional giants shows distinct stratification. Ping An P&C remains deeply tied to its auto insurance operations. PICC P&C has diluted its auto insurance weighting by relying on agricultural insurance and government-backed insurance programs. Specialized players like Taikang Online and JD.com's Anlian Insurance have moved beyond the fiercely competitive auto insurance market, with non-auto lines becoming their primary growth engine, widening the gap in business structure optimization.

Behind the data lies the ultimate validation of the P&C industry's transformation logic: the ongoing deepening of auto insurance comprehensive reform, slowing new car sales growth, and tighter control over channel commissions have brought the old path of relying solely on auto insurance for scale expansion to an end. Insurers heavily dependent on auto insurance face growth pressure, while those that diversified early into liability, health, and commercial property insurance have unlocked new growth trajectories, accelerating the industry's reshuffling.

Key Market Trends

Over half of the insurers saw a decline in their auto insurance share, indicating intensified structural divergence. The P&C auto insurance market in Q1 2026 showed structural adjustments. Among the 61 insurers analyzed, more than half experienced a decrease in the proportion of auto written premiums, with the total number declining reaching 33, or 54.10% of the sample. This overall data suggests that reshaping non-auto business and promoting diversification is becoming a common choice for most insurers in the quarter.

The data on changes in auto written premium share shows that among the 61 insurers, a majority saw a declining trend, totaling 33 companies or 54.10%. Another 28 insurers saw their auto premium share increase, accounting for 45.90% of the total. This reflects a decline in the auto premium share for over half of the insurers in the quarter.

In terms of absolute auto premium amounts, insurers with premium volumes below 2 billion yuan dominated, constituting 84.13% of the total. Meanwhile, leading companies with premium volumes between 10 billion and 100 billion yuan accounted for 6.35%, forming the core supporting force of the market.

Regarding changes, the number of insurers with rising premiums held a slight edge. Specifically, 31 P&C companies saw a year-on-year increase in auto written premiums, accounting for 52.46% of the total. In contrast, 30 insurers experienced a year-on-year decline, representing 47.54% of the statistical sample.

In terms of growth rate, the top ten insurers by premium growth all achieved double-digit or higher positive growth. Taikang Online led in terms of scale with a premium volume of 1.028 billion yuan, achieving a year-on-year growth rate of 24.81%.

Conversely, many insurers saw their auto premium share decline. Larger players like BYD's P&C unit saw its premium volume fall to 521 million yuan from 749 million yuan a year earlier, a decrease of 228 million yuan or 30.49%. Additionally, Anhua Agricultural Insurance and Zhong An Online, both with premium volumes exceeding 500 million yuan, also saw declines.

The subtle shifts in the auto insurance market are ongoing, with the proportion of auto insurance in total premiums constantly changing for each company. Beibu Gulf P&C led with a 10.33 percentage point increase in share, rising from 47.91% in Q1 2025 to 58.24%. Rongtong P&C and Zhongcheng Insurance followed with increases of 8.20 and 8.01 percentage points, respectively. Among the top ten, Zhufeng P&C had the highest auto premium share at 90.07%, while Zhongmei P&C, ranked tenth, saw a 2.73 percentage point increase, bringing its quarterly share to 46.11%.

Among those with declining shares, Liberty Mutual's China unit led the drop with a -30.80 percentage point change, as its auto premium share fell from 66.30% in Q1 2025 to 35.49%. Rongsheng P&C, BYD's P&C unit, and Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance followed closely, with share declines all reaching or exceeding 15.00 percentage points. BYD's P&C unit saw its share fall back to 84.24% in Q1 2026. Among other listed insurers, Fubon Insurance saw an 11.08 percentage point decline, while Guoren P&C, ranked tenth, had a -6.44 percentage point change, reducing its quarterly auto premium share to 36.58%.

Top Players Stagnate

Leading auto insurers are collectively losing momentum as the trillion-yuan market enters a stock competition phase. The industry's top tier, comprising PICC P&C, Ping An P&C, and CPIC P&C, collectively holds half of the industry's auto insurance premiums. However, in Q1 2026, these top three, and even the top ten P&C companies, saw almost universal year-on-year declines in auto insurance business. Auto insurance growth has essentially stalled, intensifying competition within the existing market.

Specifically, PICC P&C's total written premiums for the quarter were 183.311 billion yuan, a slight year-on-year increase of 1.36%. However, its auto written premiums were 71.688 billion yuan, a marginal decrease of 0.01%, essentially flat growth. Leveraging massive increments from national agricultural insurance and policy-based insurance, PICC significantly offset the weak growth in its auto business. Auto insurance accounted for only 39.1% of its total premiums, making it the least auto-dependent among the top three.

Ping An P&C's total premiums were 95.423 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.84%, showing the strongest growth resilience among the leaders. However, its auto premiums were 56.664 billion yuan, a slight decline of 0.50%. Ping An remains the most auto-dependent major player, with auto business accounting for nearly 59.4% of total premiums. Its revenue foundation remains highly tied to motor vehicle insurance, with non-auto growth only slightly offsetting the pressure from the auto insurance stock.

CPIC P&C faced the most pronounced pressure. Its total premiums were 60.409 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 4.60%. Auto premiums were 26.857 billion yuan, with the year-on-year decline widening to 5.58%. The dual decline in both total and auto premiums reflects pressure on both regional auto insurance channels and non-auto business expansion.

China Life P&C and China Continent P&C, following the leading tier, also saw slight declines in auto business, down 2.49% and 1.49% year-on-year, respectively. Traditional established P&C insurers are collectively hitting the ceiling for auto insurance growth.

Polarization Among Smaller Players

The landscape for small and mid-sized insurers is one of stark contrast. Excluding the top six established P&C insurers, the remaining 57 smaller players show extreme divergence in auto insurance trends, with two types of entities following completely opposite trajectories.

Rapid Growth Against the Trend

Internet-based P&C insurers and regional state-owned insurers have become the main drivers of auto insurance growth. Taikang Online's total premiums surged 54.37% year-on-year, with auto premiums of 1.028 billion yuan, a 24.81% increase. Relying on online channels for new energy vehicle owners and fleet insurance for dual growth, it stands as a benchmark for auto insurance growth among internet insurers.

Zhufeng P&C and JD.com's Anlian Insurance saw auto premium growth rates of 47.81% and 41.23%, respectively, driven by contributions from regional energy industry fleets and online personal vehicle owner business. Zhongmei P&C's auto premiums surged 33.22%, leveraging its unique advantage in engineering vehicle insurance for the coal industry.

Niche players like Rongtong P&C and Jiulong P&C saw auto insurance growth rates exceed 200% in Q1 2026 due to extremely low bases in 2025. For instance, Rongtong P&C saw 246.36% year-on-year growth, a special case of high growth due to base effects, with its market volume still being minimal.

Significant Contraction

It is noteworthy that the data reveals the following characteristics among insurers with declining auto written premiums: automaker-owned P&C companies are facing setbacks, foreign-funded P&C insurers are retreating across the board, and regional mid-sized established insurers are under pressure.

Among automaker-owned insurers, BYD's P&C unit's auto premiums were only 521 million yuan, a sharp plunge of 30.49% year-on-year. Auto insurance accounted for a high 84.3% of its total premiums, indicating an extremely singular business structure. The model of solely binding to insuring its own vehicles has reached its growth limit.

Among foreign-funded insurers, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance's auto premiums fell by 102.97% year-on-year, nearly zeroing out. Sompo Japan Insurance's auto premiums declined 13.36% year-on-year. Foreign insurers lack domestic offline government/enterprise and auto repair channels, making it difficult to participate in the stock competition of the auto insurance market, leading to a continuous clearing of their market share.

Among regional mid-sized established insurers, Qianhai P&C and Jintai P&C saw their auto premiums decline by 18.78% and 18.31% year-on-year, respectively. Price wars in offline auto insurance channels squeezed underwriting profits, and without mature non-auto businesses to hedge, their scale continues to contract.

Stratification by Dependence

Based on the proportion of auto written premiums to total written premiums, the 63 P&C insurers are clearly divided into high, medium, and low dependence tiers. The quality of their business structure directly determined their growth capability in the first quarter.

High Dependence Tier

This refers to insurers where auto insurance accounts for significantly more than 50% of premiums, indicating singular business risk. Representative entities include BYD's P&C unit (84.3%), Dubang P&C (74.3%), and Huaan P&C (72.5%).

Revenue for these companies is highly dependent on motor vehicle insurance, lacking the buffer of diversified businesses like commercial property, accident & health, or liability insurance. In Q1, the simultaneous decline in auto premiums for BYD and Dubang directly dragged down overall premium growth, showing the weakest resilience to economic cycles.

Medium Dependence Tier

This tier includes leading transformation benchmarks with auto insurance shares above 30% but below 50%, such as CPIC P&C (44.4%), PICC P&C (39.1%), and China Continent P&C (31.9%).

Large state-owned P&C insurers leverage group resources to deploy agricultural insurance and policy-based inclusive insurance, effectively diluting the weight of auto insurance. PICC P&C has the largest auto insurance volume in the industry, but its business share is less than 40%. It was also the only major player to achieve positive total premium growth, fully demonstrating the advantage of diversified business in offsetting auto insurance declines.

Low Dependence Tier

This refers to the optimal transformation track, where auto insurance accounts for less than 30% of premiums. Representative entities include Taikang Online (15.5%), JD.com's Anlian Insurance (10.5%), and Jiulong P&C.

Internet-based P&C insurers have completely moved beyond the red ocean of auto insurance scale. Auto insurance serves merely as a supporting business for online traffic, with core growth relying on online liability, personal health, and small business insurance. Taikang Online's total premium growth of 54.37% significantly led the entire industry, with its low auto dependence being a core support for this high growth. Jiulong P&C and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance lacked complete premium data for 2025; in 2026, their auto premiums were less than 20 million yuan, indicating they have almost abandoned the auto insurance track to focus on niche non-auto specialties.

It is worth noting, however, that in the past and current market environment, auto insurance remains the primary source of premium scale and profit for most insurers. Those dependent on auto insurance still constitute the majority. Small, specialized insurers with unique business chains remain the minority.

Industry Implications

The era of auto insurance as a growth anchor is over, with diversified business now determining long-term valuation. The stock era for auto insurance has officially arrived, rendering the logic of scale warfare ineffective. The simultaneous negative growth of the top three auto insurers confirms that the ceiling for motor vehicle insurance growth has appeared. Slowing new vehicle production and sales, persistent pressure on premiums for the existing vehicle fleet, and dual constraints on commissions and payouts under comprehensive reform mean the development model of relying solely on auto insurance for scale is unsustainable. Future industry competition will shift from "auto insurance market share" to "non-auto insurance profitability."

Auto insurance dependence has become a watershed for P&C insurer valuation. Q1 data clearly proves that the lower the auto insurance share, the stronger the company's growth stability. Although Ping An has the industry's second-largest auto insurance volume, its total premium growth was significantly higher than that of PICC and CPIC, primarily due to incremental supplements from surety bonds and personal accident & health insurance. Internet-based entities like Taikang Online and JD.com's Anlian Insurance achieved near-double-digit premium growth by relying on low auto insurance weighting, directly translating their business structure advantage into performance growth.

Differentiation in niche segments is solidifying corporate tiers. Regional state-owned P&C insurers can still achieve counter-trend auto insurance growth by leveraging local infrastructure and energy fleet resources. Internet-based P&C insurers are abandoning the intense competition in auto insurance to deeply cultivate specialized online non-auto lines. Automaker-owned and foreign-funded insurers, constrained by channels and business structure, continue to see their auto insurance scale shrink. These three types of entities will form completely separate development tracks in the future, further strengthening the industry's Matthew Effect.

The auto insurance track for foreign-funded P&C insurers is undergoing continuous clearing. Japanese foreign insurers like Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Sompo Japan Insurance have seen their auto insurance business nearly stagnate. Overseas insurers struggle to adapt to China's offline auto insurance channels and government/enterprise procurement systems, preventing them from participating in stock market competition. Their auto insurance business is gradually being marginalized, with market share continuously concentrating towards domestic P&C insurers.

The Q1 2026 auto insurance premium rankings represent a critical watershed in the P&C industry's transformation. The auto insurance business, which once supported half of the industry, is no longer the "growth anchor" but has instead become a performance drag for heavily dependent companies.

For industry participants, the ability to continuously reduce the revenue contribution from auto insurance and build diversified non-auto growth curves will be the core standard for future P&C tier classification. Leading state-owned insurers need to further amplify their advantages in policy-backed and agricultural insurance to dilute auto insurance weight. Smaller, specialized insurers can rely on regional or online differentiated tracks to avoid the red ocean of auto insurance. Entities singularly tied to auto insurance and lacking diversified business support may face long-term dual operational challenges of stagnant premiums and pressured underwriting profits.