The insurance industry has published new regional classes for motor vehicle insurance. This could soon mean that the amount of premiums for around 9.4 million owners could change.
Around 9.4 million drivers will have to prepare for changes to their insurance premiums due to new regional classes. For around half of those insured, premiums could soon rise, while for the other half, a reduction in premiums is possible, according to the German Insurance Association (GDV). For around 33 million vehicle owners, however, nothing is likely to change.
The more and higher the damage, the worse the rating
The background to this is the new regional classes for motor vehicle liability insurance as well as fully and partially comprehensive insurance, which the GDV has now published. The greater the accident damage in a certain district, the worse its classification in the respective classes. The decisive factor is not where the damage occurred, but in which district the vehicle is registered.
For insurers, the GDV regional classes serve as one of numerous tariff features that they use to calculate premiums.
Offenbach performs worst
The district with the worst damage record in the current study period was the city of Offenbach, closely followed by Berlin. “In both cities, the damage is almost 40 percent above average,” the GDV announced. In terms of liability insurance, they therefore end up in the worst regional class 12. In comparison with large cities with 300,000 or more inhabitants, Berlin is the city with the highest amount of damage.
The best damage record, however, is in the Elbe-Elster district in Brandenburg. According to the GDV, the damage here is 30 percent lower than the average. A noticeable number of registration districts improved in Bavaria. “Here, 24 districts and almost one in four drivers achieved a cheaper class,” it said.
Nationwide, the classifications are getting worse for 49 districts with around 4.7 million drivers. In contrast, 59 districts and also around 4.7 million drivers will benefit from better regional classes in the future.
Insurers can now apply the classifications
Insurance companies can apply the classifications immediately to new contracts and from the next insurance year to existing contracts. However, the regional classes are not binding for calculating premiums.
They lead to significant differences in insurance premiums depending on the region. The comparison portal Verivox, for example, calculated that in Berlin-Mitte, liability insurance for a VW Passat for a 45-year-old single driver who drives 15,000 kilometers per year is on average more than half as expensive as in Emden in East Frisia.
In the Berlin district of Nikolassee, insurance premiums according to this model calculation are around a third higher than in the immediately neighboring Brandenburg district of Kleinmachnow.
Source: Stern