Claim-free years with moped insurance

Accruing claim-free years

By taking out moped insurance in your name and driving claim-free, you build up claim-free years. Claim-free years entitle you to a discount on the moped insurance. How much discount you get for one additional claim-free year varies by insurer. Actually, the insurer rewards you for your driving behavior. 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 moped insurance, you again lose claim-free years. One claim can cost you five claim-free years. Due to fewer claim-free years, the premium can increase sharply in the following insurance year. You will not lose your accrued years with every claim. Damages that are insured in the WA limited casco do not affect the claim-free years. These include windshield damage, storm and hail damage and theft of the moped. 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 not in Roy-data

The accrued claim-free years are fixed in the moped insurance. When terminating the insurance, the accrued claim-free years are released. With car insurance, 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 you cancel a moped insurance policy, you will receive an expulsion notice. An insurer issues this only once. So be careful with it. A new insurer can only take over the claim-free years on the basis of an original termination certificate.

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 accrued abroad. You can ask the foreign insurer for a statement showing your claim history. A condition, of course, is that the moped insurance has already been terminated. How Dutch insurers handle this statement varies from one insurer to another. They may grant you claim-free years, but they may also give you an extra discount. Obviously, the first option is preferable for you. You can take accrued years back to the next moped insurance policy after the insurance is terminated.

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 and use them in another insurance policy. For example, you have a vintage car with 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 is greater when insuring the family car than the vintage car.

Transferring claim-free years to your child

Young people under the age of 24 struggle to find affordable moped insurance. As parents, you might want to transfer some claim-free years to your son or daughter. That won't work. They are transferable between partners, but not to others.

Validity of claim-free years

Claim-free years that are no longer linked to moped 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 an insurance policy are now valid for three years with most insurers.