Claim-free years with van insurance

Accumulation of claim-free years

By putting a van insurance in your name and driving without claims you build up claim-free years. Claim-free years entitle you to a discount on the delivery van insurance. How much discount you get for one extra claim-free year differs per insurer. Actually the insurer rewards you for your driving behaviour. With for example 10 or 15 claim-free years you have reached the maximum discount.

How do you lose claim-free years?

By making a claim on your van insurance you will lose years of claims. One claim can cost you five claim-free years. With fewer claim-free years, the premium in the following policy year can rise sharply. Not all claims will result in the loss of accrued years. Damages insured under the WA limited case policy do not affect your claim-free years. This includes, for example, windscreen damage, storm and hail damage and theft of the delivery van. In case of damage due to a collision or vandalism the claim on the insurance will be at the expense of your claim-free years.

Claim-free years in Roy-data

The accumulated claim-free years are fixed in the van insurance. When the insurance is terminated the accrued claim-free years are released. The insurer records them in Roy-data. This is a central database in which insurers can view and record accrued years. When applying for a new delivery van insurance, insurers can consult Roy-data, but this is not possible when switching policies. This is because the years are still tied up in the current insurance. In that case, you can use the policy to show how many years you have built up.

Claim-free years accumulated abroad

In the Netherlands, insurers can look into 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 which shows your claim history. A condition is of course that the van insurance has already been terminated. How Dutch insurers deal with this statement differs per insurer. They can grant you claim-free years, but they can also give you an extra discount. Of course the first option is preferable to you. After termination of the insurance you can take your accrued years with you to the next delivery van insurance.

Using claims-free years wisely

Claim-free years are fixed in the insurance policy. In some cases it can be smart to remove them from a policy in order to use them in another insurance. For example, you have an old-timer in which you have built up 10 claim-free years. This van has third-party insurance for a very low premium. You can remove the claim-free years from this insurance and use them again for the family car for which you take out the more comprehensive third-party liability insurance. The advantage in euros is greater when insuring the family car compared to the old-timer.

Transferring claim-free years to your child

Young people up to the age of 24 have difficulty finding affordable van insurance. As parents, you would like to transfer some claim-free years to your son or daughter. That will not work. They are transferable between partners, but not to others.

Second car scheme

When you buy a second family car, you start again with zero claim-free years. This will result in a high premium for the insurance of the second car. This can change if the insurer uses the second car scheme. Then you can get an extra discount on the insurance of the second car. This discount is based on the claim-free years in the first car insurance.

Validity of claim-free years

Claim-free years that are no longer linked to a van insurance are only valid to a limited extent. In the past, claim-free years were then only valid for one year. Insurers have realised that this is an unreasonably short period. Non-linked claim-free years with most insurers are now valid for a period of three years.