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How does a decrease in claim-free years work?

By driving damage-free, you get a discount on motor insurance. This applies not only to car insurance, but also to motorcycle insurance, for example. Every year that you do not claim, you build up one claim-free year. If you make a claim, this means a decline in your claim-free years. However, there is still much unclear about claim-free years and you may have some of the following questions. When do I lose claim-free years? How many claim-free years do I lose when making a claim? Is this the same for all insurers?

Loss of claim-free years

Loss of claim-free years: consequences

Falling back in claim-free years has a number of consequences. If you make a claim with the insurer, you fall back on the bonus malus ladder. You will then receive less premium discount and will therefore have to pay more for your car insurance. If you have not yet built up many claim-free years or if you claim several claims in a short period of time, you may end up with negative claim-free years. This means that you will not receive any premium discount anymore, but a premium surcharge. It is wise to first look at the consequences of claiming a damage. Is the damage relatively small and the repair costs not too high? Then you can consider paying for the damage yourself.

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How many claim-free years will I lose?

If you claim a loss with your insurer, you always fall back five claim-free years. This is the same for all insurers. Have you built up 15 or more claim-free years? Then you will always fall back to 10 years after a claim. How much discount you get or lose on the premium of your car insurance, remains different per insurer. Insurers use, next to the obligatory table for claim-free years, a separate table to calculate your discount. This is the so-called bonus malus ladder. 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.

Loss of claim-free years the same for all insurers

Since 1 January 2016, a new regulation has been introduced which ensures that the lossless years are the same for all insurers. In the past, it was never entirely clear how many claim-free years you lost after a claim, because this was different for each insurer. As a result, claiming the same damage would cost you 5 damage free years with one insurer and only 3 with another. Therefore, the Dutch Association of Insurers has drawn up a standard table for the loss in case of damage. From 2016, all insurers are obliged to use this table to calculate the lossless years. With this new regulation, everyone who claims a loss, will lose 5 claim-free years. The highest number of claim-free years you can have is 99 and the lowest number is minus 5.

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! We can be reached from Monday to Friday from 08:00 to 18:00 on telephone number 088-6883700

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