Claim-free years with motorcycle insurance
Damage-free years make motorcycle insurance more affordable. This is because they entitle you to a discount on the premium. By taking out motorcycle insurance in your name, you build up claim-free years. Not claiming any damages during the insurance year entitles you to one claim-free year. By claiming, you lose claim-free years. What else should you know about the claim-free years?
Transferring accrued claim-free years
Having or not having claim-free years makes a big difference for motorcycle insurance. Claim-free driving allows you to build up a discount between 70% and 80% with most insurers. Under conditions, it is possible to transfer accrued claim-free years to someone else. What are the possibilities and when does this play out?
Accruing claim-free years
By taking out motorcycle insurance in your name and driving claim-free, you build up claim-free years. Claim-free years entitle you to a discount on motorcycle insurance. How much discount you get for one additional claim-free year varies from insurer to insurer. Actually, the insurer rewards you for your driving. At, say, 10 or 15 claim-free years, you have reached the maximum discount.
How do you lose claim-free years?
By claiming on your motorcycle insurance policy, you again lose claim-free years. One claim can cost you five claim-free years. Because of fewer claim-free years, the premium can rise sharply in the following insurance year. Not all damage claims result in the loss of accrued years. Damages that are insured in the WA limited casco are not at the expense of the claim-free years. These include, for example, windshield damage, storm and hail damage and theft of the motorcycle. In case of damage caused by a collision or vandalism, the claim on the insurance will be at the expense of your claim-free years.
Claim-free years in Roy-data
The accrued claim-free years are fixed in the motorcycle insurance policy. When the insurance is terminated, the accrued claim-free years are released. The insurer records them in Roy-data. This is a central database in which insurers can look and in which they record accrued years. When applying for a new motorcycle insurance, insurers can consult Roy-data, but this is not possible when switching policies. The years are in fact still fixed in the current insurance. In that case, you can show how many years you have accrued by looking at the policy.
Demonstrating claim-free years
In some cases, you must prove accrued claim-free years in other ways. This can be done in the following way:
- Lease statement - Motorists who have driven a leased car do not get claim-free years recorded in their name. The lease statement allows the leasing company to note how many years you have driven the leased car and how many claims have been made. Based on this statement, the new insurer can assign a number of claim-free years.
- Waiver - In a divorce, it is possible to allocate (part of) the claim-free years to the ex-partner who does not have the years in his or her name. With a waiver, claim-free years can be transferred.
Claim-free years accrued abroad
In the Netherlands, insurers can look in the Roy-data system, but your years are not registered there if they were accumulated abroad. You can ask the foreign insurer for a statement showing your claim history. One condition, of course, is that the motorcycle insurance has already been terminated. How Dutch insurers handle this statement varies per insurer. They can grant you claim-free years, but they can also give you an extra discount. Obviously, the first option is preferable for you. Accrued years can be carried over to the next motorcycle insurance policy after termination.
Using claim-free years smartly
Claim-free years are tied up in insurance. In some cases, it may be smart to take them out of a policy to use them in another insurance policy. For example, you have a vintage car in which you have accumulated 10 claim-free years. You have WA insurance for this car at a very low premium. You can take the claim-free years out of this insurance and use them again for the family car for which you take out the more extensive third-party insurance. The advantage in euros is greater when insuring the family car compared to the oldtimer.
Carry over claim-free years to your child
Young people under the age of 24 struggle to find affordable auto insurance. As parents, you might want to transfer some claim-free years to the son or daughter. That won't work. They are transferable between partners, but not to others.
Second car arrangement
When buying a second family car, you start again with zero claim-free years. This will make for a high insurance premium for the second car. This can be different if the insurer uses the second car scheme. Then you can get an extra discount on the insurance of the second car. This discount is based on the claim-free years in the first car insurance policy.
Validity of claim-free years
Claim-free years no longer linked to motorcycle insurance are only valid for a limited time. In the past, claim-free years were then only valid for one year. Insurers have realized that this is an unreasonably short period. Claim-free years not linked to insurance are now valid for a period of three years with most insurers.
Taking over claim-free years
If you and your partner own a motorcycle on which you both ride, only the person in whose name the motorcycle insurance policy is written accrues claim-free years. Therefore, when you and your partner separate or when your partner dies, you would theoretically be left with no claim-free years. To prevent this, since Jan. 1, 2022, it has been possible to take over claim-free years in a number of situations.
What to do in the event of death?
Before the new legislation, many insurers were already lenient when it came to claim-free years and death. If the surviving partner was registered at the same address, he or she could usually take over the claim-free years of the deceased. However, insurers were free to decide whether or not to do so. Fortunately, from now on there is an unambiguous policy on this.
What should I do in case of divorce?
If you get divorced, there are probably a lot of assets to divide. Claim-free years can also be divided in such a situation. The partner who has the pure claim-free years in his or her name determines the division key. He or she then declares by means of a waiver that these claim-free years are being relinquished. Claim-free years ceded to an ex-partner can no longer be used themselves. Basically, it works the same as with money: if your partner has 20 euros and gives you 10 euros of it, he will keep 10 euros himself. If he gives you the full amount, he himself has nothing left.
What happens after a lease term?
Have you leased a motorcycle? Then the motorcycle insurance during the lease period is in the name of the leasing company and you have no claim-free years built up in your own name. If you want to take out your own motorcycle insurance after the lease period, it will be a lot more expensive without claim-free years. That is why you can now register pure claim-free years in Roy-data by means of a lease statement and transfer them to your own motorcycle insurance. Previously, insurers still handled the lease statement in different ways. With some insurers, you did not receive any claim-free years but only a premium discount, which left you empty-handed when switching.
Period of time spent abroad?
In the Netherlands, all insurers have access to Roy-data, the central database of Stichting EPS. When you cancel your motorcycle insurance, the insurer registers your accumulated claim-free years. If you subsequently 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. However, foreign insurers do not work with Roy-data. Claim-free years that you have accumulated abroad, for example because you have lived there for a while, are therefore not registered. You must therefore prove these claim-free years with a written statement from the insurer. Since January 1, 2022, your Dutch insurer is obliged to grant these claim-free years.
Can you transfer claim-free years from car insurance to motorcycle insurance (or vice versa)?
As we mentioned earlier, claim-free years are personal, but are accrued per policy. You cannot copy claim-free years. Claim-free years that you have accumulated with a car insurance policy cannot also be used for a motorcycle insurance policy if the car insurance policy is still running.
However, with most insurers it is possible to transfer the claim-free years from your car insurance to your motorcycle insurance. This does mean that you have to terminate your car insurance, because if the insurance is still running, the claim-free years are stuck in this policy. Once you terminate your car insurance, they will be registered in Roy-data. Then your motorcycle insurer can convert the claim-free years and use them for motorcycle insurance.
Conversely, you can also convert claim-free years from a motorcycle insurance policy to a car insurance policy, but only if you stop the motorcycle insurance. If you buy a car in addition to your motorcycle, you will have to start over from accumulating claim-free years for your car.
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