Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. has agreed with local dealers of Audi and Mercedes Benz to cut insurance premiums on repair charges by up to 20 percent, the insurer said Monday.

“We talked with the Audi dealers to bring down the repair charges by 10 percent. Similar downward adjustments will be finalized soon with the dealers for Lexus and Honda,” a PR official at the country’s largest nonlife insurer said.

The latest agreement with Audi dealers follows Samsung’s agreement with Benz dealers from July last year that it will slash insurance premiums on repair charges by up to 20 percent.

“Insurance premiums grew during 2009 and 2010 but the industry had been increasingly pressured to lower it with more complaints from the customers,” the PR official said.

Dongbu Insurance Co., Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance, and LIG Non-life Insurance followed the move with Mercedes Benz and Audi and began applying the lower rates.

The cuts also follow a recent decision by the financial regulator and the industry to mark down car insurance premiums amid persistent inflationary pressure. Samsung had initially offered to cut the auto insurance premium by 0.1 percent on average, according to industry sources.

“We adopted a new system to give fair quotes to our customers called Audatex last July. The cut varies according to vehicles but it is reflected as 19 to 20 percent cut on insurance costs,” an official at Benz said.

The Fair Trade Commission in February launched a probe to delve into the pricing system and distribution channels for foreign carmakers. The watchdog sent inquiries to BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Volkswagen and Toyota to investigate allegations of overcharging despite the tax favors they received from the free trade agreement.

By Cynthia J. Kim (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)