Truck Fleet Insurance in France: Why Did Premiums Rise in 2025?

The cost of insuring a heavy-goods vehicle (HGV) fleet in France rose by 6.1% in 2025, a steeper increase than the rest of the fleet's holding costs, according to the Comité National Routier (CNR) — the French public body that tracks road-haulage costs (Évolutions des coûts du TRM — Bilan 2025 et perspectives 2026, published 17 November 2025). The increase came as new HGV registrations in France fell by 17% in the first half of 2025, slowing fleet renewal and changing the risk profile insurers assess.

The essentials

• The insurance line within an HGV's holding cost rose by 6.1% in 2025 (CNR, Bilan 2025 et perspectives 2026, 17 November 2025).
• That increase outpaces the rest of the holding-cost line (equipment): +4.2% for long-haul and regional articulated units, +4.5% for regional rigid trucks over the same period.
• The French new-HGV market fell by 17% in the first half of 2025 (CNR), slowing fleet renewal.
• The CNR expects the increase to ease in 2026: +2.3% for insurance, +3.5% to +3.6% for equipment holding costs depending on vehicle type.
• These figures measure the average cost trend observed by the CNR across a representative panel of the sector — not the price any single insurer charges a given company.

What exactly did the CNR measure?

The Comité National Routier (CNR) is the French body responsible for tracking road-haulage costs; it publishes an annual report on holding, operating and labour costs for the sector. In its 2025 report and 2026 outlook, published on 17 November 2025, the CNR tracks several cost lines separately within a fleet's holding costs: equipment (depreciation and financing) and insurance, which are monitored as distinct items.

This distinction matters because the two moved differently in 2025. The CNR puts the rise in the insurance line at 6.1%, against roughly 4.2% to 4.5% for the rest of the holding-cost line, depending on vehicle type. In other words, insurance did not simply track the sector's general cost inflation — it rose faster than it.

Did insurance costs rise faster than the rest of fleet costs?

Yes, and the gap is clear. Over the period covered by the CNR report, the insurance line rose roughly two percentage points faster than the equipment holding-cost line.

Cost line	2025 change	2026 forecast
Insurance	+6.1%	+2.3%
Holding costs — articulated units (long-haul and regional)	+4.2%	+3.5%
Holding costs — regional rigid trucks	+4.5%	+3.6%

Source: CNR, Évolutions des coûts du TRM — Bilan 2025 et perspectives 2026, 17 November 2025.

For a company managing a fleet budget, this gap means that tracking general sector inflation alone understates the real trajectory of the insurance line. The CNR does not, at this stage, publish a breakdown of what drives the 6.1% rise — claims experience, repair and parts costs, or reinsurance costs. The figure is an observed average cost trend, not a breakdown of its causes.

Why did the new-HGV market fall at the same time?

The same CNR report notes that new HGV registrations in France fell by 17% in the first half of 2025. That is a six-month figure, not a full-year one: it describes a marked slowdown in the new-vehicle market over that period, and no equivalent full-year figure is given in the report.

This decline and the rise in insurance costs are not the same phenomenon, but they sit in the same context: haulage companies under pressure on fixed costs find it easier to delay replacing a vehicle than to reduce a premium already committed under a running policy.

Does an ageing fleet change how insurers assess risk?

A slower pace of fleet renewal affects two parameters insurers use to price a policy: the average age of the insured vehicles and their replacement value. An older vehicle generally carries a different new-for-old or replacement value than a newer one, which directly affects how the damage cover is rated. This link between fleet age and pricing is structural in fleet insurance, independent of the 2025–2026 context — it is one of the factors an insurer routinely asks a company to declare about its fleet.

The CNR report does not provide a figure directly linking the national HGV fleet's average age to the change in fleet insurance premiums — that link is a matter of each insurer's own pricing practice, not a published statistic. Even so, the combination of a fleet renewing more slowly and an insurance line rising faster than the rest of fixed costs is a factor worth tracking when a haulage company renews its fleet policy.

What does the CNR expect for 2026?

The CNR expects the rise in the insurance line to slow markedly in 2026, to +2.3%, down from +6.1% in 2025. Equipment holding costs would also slow, to +3.5% for articulated units and +3.6% for regional rigid trucks.

These are forecasts published by the CNR in November 2025 for the 2026 financial year, built from observed trends in the sector's cost lines. They are not a contractual commitment by any insurer, nor a guarantee that a given company's premium will follow this sector average: every fleet policy is still priced individually, based on the company's own claims history, the make-up of its fleet, and the cover it has chosen.

How can a haulage company plan ahead for this trend?

The CNR figure gives a sector-wide order of magnitude, not an individual forecast. Against that backdrop, three elements of a fleet policy deserve particular attention at renewal: consistency between the declared insured value and the fleet's actual age, verifying the usage declared to the insurer — transport for hire or on own account (see our article on the difference between TPM and TPPC declarations) — and anticipating the cancellation conditions that apply after a claim during the policy term (see our article on truck fleet insurance cancellation after a claim).

Depending on a company's own circumstances, the cost trend observed by the CNR can be a reason to review a fleet insurance programme ahead of renewal rather than simply renewing it unchanged.

What McLer does

McLer is an insurance brokerage specialised in corporate risk for the road transport and construction sectors. Based in the Paris region, McLer supports French SMEs and mid-sized companies in structuring, negotiating and managing their insurance programmes, including HGV fleet programmes. McLer follows public sector data, such as the CNR's reports, to place a client's policy in its market context.

Renewing an HGV fleet insurance policy soon? Depending on your situation, it may be worth reviewing the consistency between the declared insured value, the declared usage and the chosen cover before renewal. Contact McLer to discuss it.