Everything you need to know about claim-free years

It remains a tricky concept: claim-free years. What does it actually mean? How do you get them and how are they accumulated? How can you prove your claim-free years to your car insurance company? In this article you will find everything about claim-free years.

Anyone who owns a car and lives in the Netherlands is obliged to take out Wa car insurance. By taking out cheap car insurance, you are at least insured against the damage you cause to others. The premium for car insurance depends on many things. For instance, your age and place of residence count, but also if you drive a lot of damage or no damage at all, this will affect the car insurance premium.

The no-claim discount

If you have not reported any damage within a year, you have earned a claim-free year. This is automatically registered with your car insurer. Because of this claim-free year, you often pay less premium the following year: this is called the no-claim discount. This discount is calculated on the basis of the no-claims ladder. This means that the higher you are on the ladder, the more discount you will receive.

The negative no-claim years

If you claim several damages in a year with your car insurance, you might end up with a negative number of claim-free years. This is then called negative claim-free years. This is also the case if you immediately claim damage in the first year you have your car insurance. You will then pay more premium for the year because of this. This only applies to damage you are guilty of yourself.

The no-claim protector

As explained earlier in this article, in the Netherlands you are obliged to take out third-party car insurance. Besides this third-party insurance, you can take out additional insurance, such as a no-claim protector. Do you have such a protector and make damage? Then you will not fall back on the aforementioned ladder and you will keep your premium discount! Please note that the damage does count towards the number of no-claim years.