How do claim-free years work?
For every year that you do not claim any damage from your car insurer, you get 1 claim-free year. The more claim-free years you have, the lower the premium of your car insurance will be. The maximum no-claim discount can be up to 80%. When you make a claim, you will lose your claim-free years. In this article we explain how claim-free years work.
What exactly are claim-free years?
Claim-free years are years in which you do not claim any damage from the insurer. For every year that you do not claim any damage, you get 1 claim-free year. By driving without claims, you receive a discount on the insurance premium. The more claim-free years you have, the more no-claim discount you will receive. Claim-free years are registered in Roy-Data. Roy Data is the central database of Stichting EPS (Efficient Processes Schadeverzekeraars). When cancelling a car insurance, the insurer registers your accumulated no-claim years. If you then take out a new car insurance, your new insurer will consult the Roy Data database to see how many claim-free years you have. This means that when you take out a new car insurance, you do not have to supply a statement anymore.
When do I lose claim-free years?
You lose claim-free years by claiming a loss with your insurer. For every claim you make, you lose 5 claim-free years. If you have more than 15 claim-free years, you always fall back to 10 claim-free years after a claim. Before 1 January 2016 this was different. At that time each insurer was allowed to decide how many claim-free years you would lose after a claim. Because of this, it could happen that you lost 3 claim-free years with one insurer, and 5 with another, even though it concerned the same claim. This was considered unfair and therefore a new regulation was created. With this regulation, everyone who claims a loss, loses 5 damage free years.
How long do claim-free years remain valid?
After cancelling a car insurance, most insurers keep the claim-free years valid for 3 years. If you want to use the claim-free years for a new car insurance, you have to take it out within 3 years. After 3 years the claim-free years expire and you cannot use them anymore. You will start all over again with the accumulation of claim-free years and you will receive no or little premium discount when you take out a new car insurance. With some insurers the claim-free years are only valid for 2 years, with others 4 or 5 years. This can differ per insurer. You can find out how this works with your insurer in the policy conditions.
Are negative claim-free years rewarded?
Claim-free years are rewarded by the insurer with a premium discount. However, you can also end up with negative claim-free years. This happens when you do not have that many claim-free years, but by claiming a claim you fall back five claim-free years. Also when you claim more than one claim in a short period of time, you will quickly fall back on the bonus malus ladder.
If you are a beginner driver, you have not yet built up many claim-free years. If you have not yet built up 5 claim-free years, but you do claim a claim, 5 claim-free years are deducted and you will be in the negative. This means you have negative claim-free years in your name. Because of this you do not get a premium discount, but a premium surcharge. Your car insurance will become more expensive.
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.
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