Car insurance can sometimes be quite expensive, especially for young people or for older people. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to save money on car insurance. Sometimes the savings are small, but together they quickly add up to a tidy sum. This page describes the situation in the Netherlands. Below you will find various ways to save money on car insurance.
Pay for minor damage yourself
Sometimes it is better not to claim for the damage and simply pay for it yourself. After all, when you make a claim, you lose your no-claims discount and the car insurance premium goes up. For the insurer, the amount claimed makes no difference and the impact is always the same, which means a small claim is simply not worthwhile. Anyone who has no-claims protection (no-claimbeschermer) does not need to worry about this as much. Do bear in mind, though, that such a no-claims protector only applies with the current insurer and that a new insurer does not have to take it into account.
Of course, always check whether or not a claim affects the no-claims discount, because that is not always the case. In the following situations, for example, there are (often) no consequences for the premium:
- The insured person has no-claims protection
- A claim under classic car insurance
- The other party was liable for the damage
- Storm damage
- Hail damage
- Collision with animals
- Window damage
- Theft
- And so on
Be careful, though, because even without consequences for the premium, making a claim can have consequences. Policyholders who claim too often risk being dropped by their insurer. After all, the insurer also has the right to cancel the insurance contract. When a policyholder is not financially attractive, the insurer will certainly not shy away from such a cancellation.
Increase your excess
Many people choose a low excess because they fear they will have to pay too much themselves when they make a claim. However, people in the Netherlands do not suffer damage that often, and a low excess of course also comes at a price. For people who do not often cause damage, it is more worthwhile to increase the excess and pay a lower premium. If you have little financial breathing space to cover a high excess in the event of a claim, it is of course better to keep the excess limited.
Be careful with additional cover
It is often possible to extend your car insurance with all kinds of additional cover. That can of course be worthwhile, but it does come at a price. This is the case, for example, with no-claims protection. Such no-claims protection is moreover only worthwhile for people who do not plan to switch to another insurer. Other additional cover, such as passenger damage insurance, is of course not worthwhile for everyone. Also pay attention to legal expenses insurance, because some of this may already be covered under another separate legal expenses insurance policy. By dropping such additional cover, you can certainly make a nice saving.
Pay annually
Policyholders often choose to pay the premium monthly. In fact, annual payment is really the norm, but almost all insurers also allow monthly payments. With many insurers, however, a surcharge applies, which you can avoid by choosing to pay annually. In the past, such a surcharge could be as much as 6%. Some insurers also charge transaction costs that can be as much as €3 per payment. Anyone who pays annually then already saves €33 in transaction costs. By paying the premium annually, a saving of 1 to 2% is often still possible. However, some insurers do not give any discounts. In that case, paying monthly may well be more attractive.
Compare and adjust regularly
What is the best car insurance today does not have to be the best tomorrow. That is why it is advisable to compare your car insurance every year. Also take a close look at the cover, because sometimes extensive cover is no longer needed, for example when the car gets a bit older and its current value drops sharply. In general, the switch from all-risk insurance to WA + limited casco is made when the car is six years old. When the car is ten years old, the switch to third-party liability (WA) cover follows. Also remember to pass on changes to the insurer, for example after a move.
Take your no-claims years with you
When you switch insurer, your no-claims years automatically go with you to the new insurer. However, if the insured person has driven a leased car for years, with the company or the employer having taken out the insurance, that is not the case. Only a handful of leasing companies are connected to Roy-data (the database in which no-claims years are recorded) and pass on the information automatically. So pass on your lease statement (leaseverklaring) to the insurer. On the basis of this, the insurer can still determine the number of no-claims years.
Do bear in mind that leasing is not always so favourable. Every small scratch or minor damage that the insured person would otherwise not claim for affects the number of no-claims years on the lease statement. In addition, with many insurers, built-up no-claims years are lost after only three years, which means you have to start again. For people with a lot of no-claims years, leasing is in fact less attractive.
Commercial discounts and choosing 1 insurer
Some insurers offer all kinds of discounts for good, loyal or new customers. Sometimes it is therefore more worthwhile to take out several insurance policies with one insurer. This is sometimes also the case for a second car. For example, there are many insurers where insuring a second car is cheaper because the no-claims discount then also applies straight away to the second car. Not all insurers offer this, but it is important to ask, because it can make quite a difference.
Saving through special types of insurance
Finally, there are countless other ways to save money on car insurance. Some insurers offer all kinds of formulas that result in a considerably lower premium. One example is pay-per-kilometre insurance, where the premium depends on the number of kilometres driven. Pay-per-kilometre insurance is usually mainly worthwhile for people who drive less than 15,000 kilometres per year. Classic car or youngtimer insurance is also often worthwhile for people who drive few kilometres, but strict conditions apply to these. Finally, there are so-called driving style insurance policies, where careful drivers can save up to 35%. However, these also have disadvantages. You lose a bit of privacy, for example, and the accompanying app is not flawless. Anyone who brakes sharply for crossing wildlife, for example, and thereby prevents a collision in safe circumstances, will not be rewarded for it but actually penalised by such apps.
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Frequently asked questions about car insurance
From what amount is it more worthwhile to claim for damage?
That is impossible to say. It depends, among other things, on the number of no-claims years and the exact financial consequences, but of course also on the excess. The easiest way to find out is simply to call the insurer. The insurer can easily check what the consequences of making a claim are and will help you make the right decision.
Is it true that moving house can have a big impact on my premium?
Yes. The postcode certainly has a big impact. In the past, the Netherlands was divided into large risk zones, but nowadays insurers have so much data that they can even calculate the premium per street or per house number. Moving from the city to the countryside can sometimes make a difference of a few tens of euros per month.
Can't I just ask for a better price?
That used to be done, and playing insurers off against each other sometimes still worked, but the market is so competitive nowadays that insurers hardly respond to this any more. Negotiating the premium with the insurer rarely makes sense these days. It is true, however, that insurers pay intermediaries a commission and that this may be open to negotiation. In that case it is the intermediary who makes the concession, not the insurer.
What is the second family car scheme?
With the second family car scheme (tweedegezinsautoregeling), the no-claims discount of the first car is also applied to the second family car, but a claim with one car has no effect on the no-claims discount of the other car. Sometimes additional conditions apply, and the second family car may only be used for a maximum number of kilometres. The car of children living at home is also often excluded.
Which province should I move to in order to save as much as possible on car insurance?
Moving just to save on car insurance is of course not the best idea, but in general Friesland is the cheapest province. It is followed by Drenthe, Groningen and Zeeland. South Holland, Limburg, North Holland and North Brabant, on the other hand, are the most expensive provinces in which to insure a car. In South Holland, the insurance premium is on average up to 26% higher than in Zeeland.