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Vintage car owners severely duped

Things have not been made easy for vintage car owners lately, and the hobby fun is only likely to diminish. This is because insurance companies are drastically increasing vintage car insurance premiums and tightening underwriting standards, while the government is promising vintage car drivers a hefty road tax.

Favorable vintage car scheme to be restricted

Whereas the old-timers were previously completely exempt from road tax, this will no longer be the case in the future and the old-timer owners will also have to pay a hefty sum. Cheap insurance policies for old-timers have also already been tightened up in terms of acceptance conditions and greatly increased in price. A logical consequence of the fact that the premiums had not been increased for years and the cost of claims, which has been disproportionate to the premium for years, but nevertheless a financial setback for the classic car enthusiast. Especially if you also add the insurance tax (from 9.7 to 21 percent) increased by the government in January 2013. For the owners of the 260 thousand old-timers with a Dutch license plate (CBS June 2013) unfortunately, not a rosy future picture.

Abuse

Until now, vintage car insurance was a very cheap insurance, because the hobby car rarely left the garage for pleasure drives and the risk of damage was therefore very low for the insurer. In recent years, however, vintage car insurance has increasingly been used as old car insurance instead of "hobby insurance" and the condition that the vintage car should not be used for daily driving has also been massively ignored. The risk of damage and the cost of claims then skyrocketed and the cost of claims was actually disproportionate to the low premiums for some time. An increase was therefore inevitable. But the true classic car enthusiast now seems to be the child of the bill.

What is a vintage car?

A vintage car is not just an "old car. Cars today have a longer lifespan due to the use of higher quality materials and techniques. As a result, cars 25 years and older (which can be classified as oldtimers) are still in good condition and are also still used daily. Because of the low insurance premium and the road tax exemption, these "oldtimers" were increasingly chosen but the oldtimer insurance is and was ultimately intended for the hobbyist who, after refurbishing the old car, enjoys an occasional pleasure trip.

So what exactly is going to change?

Besides the fact that the insurance premiums are increased, the underwriting standards are adjusted in such a way that only the oldtimer enthusiast can possibly benefit from the favorable rates, however, with the setting of general rules it may well be that the hobbyist is also affected. For example, the Europeesche now has the condition that the oldtimer must be parked in an enclosed garage, Avro refuses oldtimers that run on LPG or diesel and Nationale Nederlanden requires a first user car when taking out oldtimer insurance.

In addition, certain car makes will be excluded, the permissible annual mileage will be reduced, a minimum appraisal value will apply, vintage cars under the age of 25 will no longer be considered as vintage cars, and the vehicle must have a brand club so that it is clear that it is a collector's item. In short, depending on which insurer is chosen, the old-timer enthusiast will be confronted with many new acceptance conditions and the question is whether he can meet them or whether there is no other option than to insure the old-timer at the regular passenger car rate.

For vintage car owners, it pays to comparethe premiums and conditions of vintage car insurance via Alpina.nl and, if desired, to take out the insurance directly.
It is increasingly difficult to find an insurance company that combines a low premium with favorable conditions, said Marc Diks, director of marketing communications and online. To date, we are still able to negotiate favorable rates with companies but we have noticed that this has become increasingly difficult. Alpina has been a specialist in classic car insurance for more than 20 years and is one of the largest providers of classic car insurance in the Netherlands.

Government gets a piece of the pie too

Underlying the (partial) elimination of the road tax exemption for vintage cars is the government's desire to "punish" CO2 emissions (the polluter pays) with more tax the greater the amount of emissions. Oldtimers running on LPG or diesel are particularly polluting and will therefore be taxed more heavily. In the original draft, completely abolishing the old-timer scheme would generate 153 million in taxes annually. Now that these plans have been adjusted, it will still yield 133 million. The preliminary plans must still be approved by the Lower and Upper Houses. If the plans go through, 70% of the old-timer owners (VWE vehicle information and documentation) will be affected and as of January 1, 2014 the driving cultural heritage is unfortunately expected to decline sharply.

If you would like to read more about the road tax change for vintage cars, please find below our news articles on the subject: