Can you request claim-free years from your leasing company?
Today, more and more people are opting for a leased car. Private lease allows you to drive a new car, but you are not responsible for purchasing car insurance yourself. Moreover, you do not pay maintenance costs, depreciation, road taxes and insurance premiums, because the car is owned by the leasing company. However, you also need to consider claim-free years. The car insurance is in the name of the leasing company, which means that you officially do not accrue any claim-free years yourself. Fortunately, you can request your claim-free years from the leasing company at the end of the term of your lease contract. In this article, we explain how that works.
How do you build claim-free years with a leased car?
Damage-free years are not per license plate, but are personal. So you only accrue claim-free years if there is a car insurance policy in your name. A lease car is often in the name of the employer or the lease company. In theory, this means you do not build up any claim-free years, because the car insurance is not in your name. Maybe you want to buy your own car after the lease period. To do so, you will need to purchase your own car insurance. Without claim-free years, however, the insurance premium is a lot higher. That is why it is nice if you can take the years of damage-free driving in the lease car with you to your new car insurance. This can be done through a lease statement.
Obtain claim-free years from your leasing company with a lease statement
A lease statement states how many years the lease car was driven and how many damages were caused during that period. With leased cars, however, it is common to claim all damages, including minor ones. Because of this, the lease statement does not always work out well for a lease driver. With a lease statement, you can prove to the insurer that you have driven damage-free during the lease period. On this basis, some insurers still grant damage-free years, and some only a premium discount, which you will lose when switching. From January 1, 2022, however, there will be a uniform policy. From then on, you will be able to enter pure claim-free years in Roy Data. The change will soon apply to all insurers affiliated with the Dutch Association of Insurers. Read more in this blog.
Claim-free years retrieval private lease
With private lease, you do not need to take out your own car insurance. However, it can be advantageous to bring in your own accumulated accident-free years at the start of the lease period. Many leasing companies charge a surcharge on the standard rate if you have no or only a few non-life years. Check carefully in advance what leasing companies require in order to prove the number of claim-free years.
Claim-free years transferable since 1-1-2022
Since Jan. 1, 2022, claim-free years are transferable in some situations. Upon 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 claim-free years. This way they do not lose their accumulated claim-free years. You can read more about this new regulation in our blog post.
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