Can you buy off claim-free years?

What is the advantage of buying off claim-free years?

The biggest advantage of buying off claim-free years is that your no-claim discount remains the same. When you have negative claim-free years, the premium for your car insurance can increase considerably. Furthermore it is not possible to buy a new car insurance when you have negative claim-free years. Switching insurers does not make sense either. You will soon end up at the insurance company De Vereende. De Vereende is a company that was specially founded for insuring special risks. However, the premium for car insurance is considerably higher than with regular insurance companies. De Vereende also imposes some conditions on taking out insurance. For instance, you must pay the premium three months in advance. In addition, in most cases you pay a deposit of €175. If there is no damage at the end of the insurance policy, you get this amount back.

Buy off claim-free years: sensible or not?

Perhaps you are still hesitant about buying off claim-free years. It is important to take the amount of damage into consideration. If the damage is considerable, it can be very expensive to pay for the damage out of your own pocket. In general, it is sensible to pay for damages up to an amount of approximately € 1000,-, but it also depends on other factors, such as your car, the number of claim-free years that remain when you do not pay for the damage yourself and your financial possibilities. By looking at all these factors, you can make an informed decision.

By purchasing the negative claim-free years, you do not need to take out a car insurance policy with De Vereende. You can then simply take out your car insurance with a regular insurance company. In this way you save a lot of money on the insurance premium. If buying off your claim-free years does not involve such high costs, you can quickly recoup the purchase price by saving hundreds of euros on the premium of your car insurance.

Claim-free years transferable since 1-1-2022

Since 1 January 2022, claim-free years are transferable in certain situations. In case of 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 the claim-free years. This way, they do not lose their accumulated claim-free years. In our blogpost you can read more about this new regulation.