How can I calculate my claim-free years?

There are two different ways to calculate the number of claim-free years:

1. You can call your insurance company or agent. They have access to your record of claim-free years.
2. Calculate your own claim-free years.

It’s difficult to calculate your claim-free years on your own. To do so, you need to know which bonus-malus tier you started in. Insurance companies calculate claim-free years as follows:

The tier your policy is currently in, minus the tier you started at: that’s your number of claim-free years. This number can be positive or negative. If it’s positive, we call it a bonus. If it’s negative, we call it a penalty.

Insurers calculate your claim-free years using a table known as the no-claims discount ladder. You can use this table to calculate how much of a discount you’ll receive on your premium. The more claim-free years you have, the higher you are on the ladder, and the greater your no-claims discount will be.  Each insurer has its own bonus-malus system. As a result, there may be differences in discounts between insurers. You can find your insurer’s bonus-malus system in the policy terms and conditions.

How do I calculate my claim-free years?

To calculate your claim-free years yourself, you need to know which tier you started at. The difference between the tier your policy is currently in and the tier you started at is your current number of claim-free years. Your claim-free years can be positive or negative. If they are positive, we refer to them as a bonus. If they are negative, we refer to them as a malus.

Suppose your policy is currently at level 12 and you started at level 7; in that case, it is calculated by subtracting 7 from 12. The number of claim-free years you have is then 12 – 7 = 5.

You may have negative claim-free years. These can occur if you’ve had a claim that affected your no-claims discount. This causes you to drop 5 steps. You may then end up on a lower step than the one you started on, as shown in the following example. Suppose you started on step 7 and are now on step 6; 6–7 = –1.

How do you calculate the number of claim-free years?

To calculate your claim-free years, you need to know which step on the bonus-malus scale you started at and what your current step is. Do you want to file a claim with your insurer? If so, first calculate how filing the claim will affect your claim-free years and no-claim discount.  You’ll then calculate how much more you’ll pay in premiums after filing the claim. Compare this to the cost of repairing the damage. Which option is more cost-effective over the next 5 years? It takes 5 years to return to your current level on the ladder.

How do you calculate the bonus-malus system?

You can use the bonus-malus scale to calculate your claim-free years. The bonus-malus scale can be found in the policy terms and conditions of your auto insurance. This allows you to calculate your bonus-malus discount yourself. To do so, you’ll need your claim-free years and the base insurance premium. Suppose you are on step 8 of the bonus-malus ladder shown above. You will then receive a 60% discount on your premium. If the premium is €100 per month, you will receive a discount of €60. This means you pay €40 per month in insurance premiums for your auto insurance. If you file a claim, you lose 5 claim-free years. You’ll move down to level 3 and will then only receive a 20% discount. In that case, you’ll pay a monthly premium of €80. This is how you can calculate your no-claims discount.

Claim-Free Years at Roy Data

As of September 1, 2007, insurance companies began digitally recording the number of claim-free years that customers accumulate. Roy-Data is the name of the system that manages policy cancellation data for the insurance market. All cancellation data with a cancellation date on or after September 1, 2007, is entered into the system. Anyone can request their claim-free years as recorded in Roy-Data.

Claim-free years since January 1, 2022, are transferable

As of January 1, 2022, claim-free years are transferable in certain situations. In the event of death, for example, they can be transferred to the surviving spouse. It is now also possible for lease car drivers and drivers who have lived abroad for many years to transfer their claim-free years. This way, they do not lose the claim-free years they have accumulated. You can read more about this new regulation in our blog post.

Do you have any questions? Please contact us. We’re happy to help! You can reach us Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at 088-6883700.