Claim-free years on a motorcycle insurance policy
Claim-free years make motorcycle insurance more affordable. That’s because they entitle you to a discount on your premium. By taking out a motorcycle insurance policy in your name, you build up claim-free years. If you don’t file a claim on your motorcycle insurance during the insurance year, you’re entitled to one claim-free year. Filing a claim, on the other hand, causes you to lose claim-free years. What else should you know about claim-free years?
Transferring Accumulated Claim-Free Years
Whether or not you have a claims-free history makes a big difference in motorcycle insurance. By driving claims-free, you can earn a discount of between 70% and 80% with most insurers. Under certain conditions, it’s possible to transfer your accumulated claims-free years to someone else. What are the options, and when does this apply?
Accumulating claim-free years
By taking out motorcycle insurance in your name and driving accident-free, you build up claim-free years. Claim-free years entitle you to a discount on your motorcycle insurance. The amount of the discount you receive for each additional claim-free year varies by insurer. Essentially, the insurer rewards you for your driving behavior. For example, after 10 or 15 claim-free years, you’ll have reached the maximum discount.
How do you lose your no-claims years?
Making a claim on your motorcycle insurance causes you to lose no-claims years. A single claim can cost you five no-claims years. Fewer no-claims years can cause your premium to rise sharply in the following insurance year. You do not lose your accumulated no-claims years with every claim. Damage covered under limited comprehensive coverage does not count against your no-claims years. This includes, for example, windshield damage, storm and hail damage, and theft of the motorcycle. However, if the damage is caused by a collision or vandalism, filing an insurance claim will count against your no-claims years.
Claim-free years in Roy-data
The accumulated claim-free years are tied to the motorcycle insurance policy. When the policy is canceled, the accumulated claim-free years are released. The insurer records them in Roy-data, a central database that insurers can access to record accumulated claim-free years. When you apply for a new motorcycle insurance policy, insurers can consult Roy-data, but they cannot do so when you switch policies. This is because those years are still tied to your current policy. In that case, you can use your policy to prove how many years you’ve accumulated.
Proving claim-free years
In some cases, you’ll need to prove your accumulated claim-free years in other ways. You can do so as follows:
- Lease Statement – Drivers who have driven a leased vehicle do not have claim-free years recorded in their name. With the lease statement, the leasing company can note how many years you drove the leased vehicle and how many claims were filed. Based on this statement, the new insurer can grant you a certain number of claim-free years.
- Waiver – In the event of a divorce, it is possible to (partially) transfer the claim-free years to the former spouse who does not have those years credited to their name. Claim-free years can be transferred by means of a waiver.
Claim-free years accumulated abroad
In the Netherlands, insurers can access the Roy-data system, but your years of coverage aren’t recorded there if they were accumulated abroad. You can ask the foreign insurer for a statement showing your claims history. Of course, this is only possible if your motorcycle insurance policy has already been canceled. How Dutch insurers handle this statement varies by insurer. They may credit you with claim-free years, or they may offer you an additional discount. Naturally, the first option is preferable for you. After the policy ends, you can carry over your accumulated years to your next motorcycle insurance policy.
Making Smart Use of Your Claim-Free Years
Claim-free years are tied to the insurance policy. In some cases, it may be wise to transfer them from one policy to another. For example, let’s say you have a classic car for which you’ve accumulated 10 claim-free years. You’ve insured this car with liability coverage at a very low premium. You can transfer the claim-free years from this policy and use them for your family car, for which you’re purchasing more comprehensive liability and collision coverage. The financial benefit is greater when insuring the family car compared to the classic car.
Transferring your claim-free years to your child
Young people up to age 24 have a hard time finding affordable car insurance. As parents, you might want to transfer a few claim-free years to your son or daughter. That won’t work. They can be transferred between spouses, but not to others.
Second Car Program
When you buy a second family car, your claim-free years start over at zero. This will result in a high insurance premium for the second car. However, this may not be the case if the insurer offers a “second car” discount. In that case, you can receive an additional discount on the insurance for the second car. This discount is based on the claim-free years from your first car insurance policy.
Validity Period of Claim-Free Years
Claim-free years that are no longer linked to a motorcycle insurance policy have limited validity. In the past, claim-free years were valid for only one year. Insurers have recognized that this is an unreasonably short period. For most insurers, claim-free years that are not linked to an insurance policy are now valid for a period of three years.
Transferring Claim-Free Years
If you and your partner own a motorcycle that you both ride, only the person in whose name the motorcycle insurance is held accumulates no-claims years. So, if you and your partner separate or if your partner passes away, you would, in theory, be left without any no-claims years. To prevent this, as of January 1, 2022, it has been possible to transfer no-claims years in certain situations.
What to Do in the Event of a Death?
Even before the new legislation, many insurers were lenient when it came to no-claims years and death. If the surviving spouse was registered at the same address, he or she could usually simply take over the deceased’s no-claims years. However, insurers were allowed to decide for themselves whether or not to do so. Fortunately, there is now a clear policy on this matter.
What should I do if I get divorced?
If you’re getting a divorce, there are likely a lot of assets to divide. You can also divide claim-free years in such a situation. The partner in whose name the claim-free years are registered determines the allocation formula. He or she then declares, by means of a waiver, that they are relinquishing these claim-free years. Claim-free years that are transferred to an ex-spouse can no longer be used by the partner who transferred them. It actually works the same way as with money: if your partner has 20 euros and gives you 10 euros of that, he or she still has 10 euros left. If he or she gives you the full amount, he or she has nothing left.
What happens after the lease term ends?
Have you leased a motorcycle? In that case, the motorcycle insurance is in the leasing company’s name for the duration of the lease, and you haven’t built up any claim-free years in your own name. If you want to take out your own motorcycle insurance after the lease period ends, it will be significantly more expensive without a no-claims record. That’s why you can now use a lease statement to have your unbroken no-claims record registered inRoy-dataand transferred to your own motorcycle insurance policy. In the past, insurers handled lease statements inconsistently. With some insurers, you didn’t receive any claim-free years but only a premium discount, which meant you were left empty-handed when switching insurers.
Have you spent any time abroad?
In the Netherlands, all insurers have access to Roy-data, the central database ofthe EPS Foundation. When you cancel your motorcycle insurance, the insurer records your accumulated claim-free years. If you then take out a new motorcycle insurance policy, your new insurer will consult the Roy-data database to see how many claim-free years you have. Foreign insurers, however, do not use Roy-data. Claim-free years you’ve accumulated abroad—for example, because you lived there for a while—are therefore not recorded. You must therefore provide proof of these claim-free years with a written statement from the insurer. Since January 1, 2022, your Dutch insurer is required to recognize these claim-free years.
Can you transfer your no-claims years from car insurance to motorcycle insurance (or vice versa)?
As we mentioned earlier, claim-free years are tied to the individual, but they are accrued on a policy-by-policy basis. You cannot transfer claim-free years. Claim-free years you have accrued through acar insurance policycannot be used for a motorcycle insurance policy if the car insurance policy is still in effect.
With most insurers, however, it is possible to transfer your car insurance’s claim-free years to your motorcycle insurance. This does mean that you must cancel your car insurance, because as long as the policy is still in effect, the claim-free years are tied to that policy. As soon as you cancel your car insurance, they are recorded in Roy-data. Your motorcycle insurer can then convert those claim-free years and apply them to your motorcycle insurance policy.
Conversely, you can also transfer your claim-free years from a motorcycle insurance policy to a car insurance policy, but only if you cancel your motorcycle insurance. If you buy a car in addition to your motorcycle, you’ll have to start over in building up claim-free years for your car.
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