British Expats Worried About Insurance Price Rises in Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca Areas of Spain.

BRITISH expats are worried about insurance price rises in the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca areas of Spain caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A leading world analytical company, GlobalData, says that Spain’s insurance industry will not see the levels of growth that it expected before the coronavirus crisis started.

That could mean some firms might choose to make up the shortfall from clients, which would mean bigger bills for British residents in Spain.

Insurance sectors that are seeing a big slowdown in Spain include policies taken on new cars, with sales of new models down by around 30 per cent so far this year.

With all tourism in Spain effectively stopped, travel insurance is not being taken out.

Insurance companies are also worried about farmers making claims over crops that cannot be harvested due to a shortage of migrant workers.

Deblina Mitra, Insurance Analyst at GlobalData, said: “There will not be negative growth in any year up to 2024 in Spain, but growth this year has been hit particularly hard. Initial forecasts expected the overall market to grow by 2.9 per cent, but this has fallen to just 1.0 per cent due to the impact of Covid-19.”

Mitra continued: “The absence of migrant workers is expected to impact agricultural processes such as harvesting and the processing of fruits and vegetables. Increased losses will mean larger insurance claims this year, but over €4 million in grants from the EU should help the industry.

“Losses may also be minimised as UNESPA (Spanish Insurance Association) has ordered all domestic insurers to continue offering regular life, health and travel policies during the pandemic,” she added