Is it wise to change car insurance after a claim?

Switching after negative claim-free years

You build up one claim-free year for every year you do not make a claim. If you make a claim, you lose 5 claim-free years. You will receive a malus registration if you have negative claim-free years on your car insurance. You then have less than 0 claim-free years. When you have negative claim-free years, it is generally not wise to switch to another car insurance. Most people change their car insurance to be cheaper. With a negative claim-free years, the chance that you will find a cheaper insurance than your current insurance is small. Moreover, it is not always possible to switch with a malus registration, because few insurers will accept such a request. Therefore, it is often wiser to stay with your current insurer or intermediary.

In order to cancel your malus registration and build up your claim-free years again, you need to drive without claims. Unfortunately, this does not happen quickly. In case of damage you lose 5 claim-free years in one go. You then have to drive 5 years damage-free to make up for one claim. Do you currently have a malus registration and would you like to switch? Then there are certainly possibilities. However, you will have to take into account a high premium and it may turn out that it is better to switch when you no longer have any negative claim-free years.

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