How can I calculate claim-free years?
The claim-free years It is not always easy to calculate the claim-free years for a car insurance. Most policies only state the bonus-malus step someone is on or how much discount there is. The number of claim-free years is often not mentioned. So how do you calculate how many claim-free years there are on a policy?
The calculation of the claim-free years can be done in two different ways:
- You can call your insurance company or intermediary. They have access to the accumulated claim-free years.
- Calculate your own claim-free years.
Calculating your claim-free years yourself is difficult. You need to know on which bonus-malus step you started. Companies calculate the claim-free years in the following way:
The step the policy is on now minus the step you started on: these are your claim-free years. These can be positive or negative. If they are positive, we call them bonus. If the years are negative, we call it malus.
How do I calculate claim-free years?
There are two ways to calculate your claim-free years: you can call your insurer or broker or you can calculate your claim-free years yourself.
As long as you do not claim any damage, you will receive one claim-free year from the moment the car insurance is registered in your name. If you do claim damage, the calculation of the claim-free years is more difficult.
Insurers calculate the claim-free years on the basis of a table, the so-called bonus malus ladder. With this table you can calculate the discount on your premium. The more claim-free years, the higher you are on the ladder and the more no claim discount you receive. Each insurer has its own bonus malus arrangement. Therefore there can be differences in discount between the different insurers. The bonus malus scheme of your insurer can be found in the policy conditions.
How do I calculate my claim-free years?
To calculate your claim-free years yourself, you need to know at which step you started. The step the policy is on now minus the step you started on are your claim-free years at this moment. Your claim-free years can be positive or negative. If they are positive, we call them bonus. If they are negative, we call them malus.
Suppose your policy is now on step 12 and you started on step 7, then it is calculated by doing 12 minus 7. The number of claim-free years you have is then 12-7= 5.
You may have negative claim-free years. These can arise when you have had a damage which influences your bonus-malus discount. This causes you to fall 5 steps down. You can then be on a lower step than where you started, as shown in the following example. Suppose you started on step 7 and you are now on step 6; 6-7=-1.
Example of Bonus Malus ladder: calculation of claim-free years
| Bonus malus step | Discount rate | 0 damage | 1 damage | 2 damages | 3 or more claims |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 70% | 14 | 10 | 6 | 2 |
| 13 | 70% | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1 |
| 12 | 70% | 13 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | 70% | 12 | 7 | 3 | -1 |
| 10 | 70% | 11 | 6 | 2 | -2 |
| 9 | 65% | 10 | 5 | 1 | -3 |
| 8 | 60% | 9 | 4 | 0 | -4 |
| 7 | 55% | 8 | 3 | -1 | -5 |
| 6 | 50% | 7 | 2 | -2 | -5 |
| 5 | 45% | 6 | 1 | -3 | -5 |
| 4 | 30% | 5 | 0 | -4 | -5 |
| 3 | 20% | 4 | -1 | -5 | -5 |
| 2 | 20% | 3 | -2 | -5 | -5 |
| 1 | 15% | 2 | -3 | -5 | -5 |
| 0 | 5% | 1 | -5 | -5 | -5 |
| -1 | 0% | 0 | -5 | -5 | -5 |
| -2 | -10% | -1 | -5 | -5 | -5 |
| -3 | -20% | -2 | -5 | -5 | -5 |
| -4 | -30% | -3 | -5 | -5 | -5 |
| -5 | -40% | -4 | -5 | -5 | -5 |
How do you calculate the number of claim-free years?
In order to calculate your claim-free years, you need to know on which step of the bonus malus ladder you started and what your current step is. Do you want to claim a loss with the insurer? Then first calculate what the impact of claiming the damage will have on your claim-free years and no-claim discount. Then calculate how much more premium you will pay after claiming the damage. This is compared to the repair costs of the damage. What is more favourable over the next 5 years? Because it takes 5 years before you are back on your current step on the ladder.
How do you calculate bonus malus?
With the help of the bonus malus ladder, you can calculate your claim-free years. The bonus malus ladder can be found in the policy conditions of your car insurance. With it you can calculate your bonus malus discount. To do this you need your claim-free years and the basic insurance premium. Suppose you are on step 8 of the bonus malus ladder. You will then receive a discount of 60% on your premium. If the premium is €100 per month you will get a discount of €60. So per month you pay €40 in insurance premium for your car insurance. If you make a claim, you will lose 5 claim-free years. You will end up on level 3 and will only get a discount of 20%. In that case you pay €80 premium per month. This is how you can calculate your no-claim discount.
Claim-free years in Roy Data
As of 1 September 2007, insurance companies have switched to digitally storing the number of claim-free years that customers accumulate. Roy-Data is the name of the system for lapse data for the insurance market. All indemnity information with an indemnity date from 1 September 2007 onwards is included in the system. Everyone can request his/her claim-free years in Roy-data.
Claim-free years transferable since 1-1-2022
Since 1 January 2022, claim-free years are transferable in certain situations. In case of death for example, they can be transferred to the surviving partner. Also for lease drivers and drivers who have lived abroad for years, it is now possible to transfer the claim-free years. This way, they do not lose their accumulated claim-free years. In our blogpost you can read more about this new regulation.
Do you have any questions? Then get in touch with us. We will be happy to help you! You can reach us from Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 18:00 on telephone number 088-6883700.
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