Bonus-Malus class
Insurance is not rocket science. We explain everything you need to know about the fully comprehensive coverage in this glossary article.
What is a bonus-malus class?
A bonus-malus class (normally known as a no-claims bonus outside of Germany and sometimes abbreviated as SF class) indicates how many years you have driven without having an accident or filing a claim. If you go a whole year without filing a claim, your bonus-malus class increases by one level. The higher your bonus-malus class, the less you typically pay for your insurance premium. However, if you do make a claim, your bonus-malus class will be downgraded and your insurance premium will be higher for the next year. Therefore, your bonus-malus class is a significant factor for calculating your car insurance price.
What are the different bonus-malus classes?
Bonus-malus classes only exist for the Third-Party Liability and Comprehensive Coverage tariffs. The classes range from 0 to 35. Each of these classes has it's own no-claims bonus. This means that if you drive without having an accident for a year, you are assigned a higher no-claims bonus and upgraded to a higher bonus-malus class. The discount you receive varies from insurer to insurer.
This table lists all bonus malus classes:
What happens when you are downgraded?
If you cause a Third-Party Liability or Comprehensive Coverage vehicle claim, you will be downgraded to a lower bonus-malus class for the next insurance year. How far you are downgraded depends on your insurer.
Tip: As long as you are with Getsafe, your SF class will not be downgraded. This means your premium remains the same even after accidents.
What are special classes?
In addition to standard bonus-malus classes, there are special classes to apply to inexperienced drivers. These classes (0, ½, S, M) usually pay a comparatively higher insurance premium, as the risk of an accident is statisically higher. There is no no-claims bonus or discount for these classes. Instead, the insurance company increases the premium by a percentage based on the class.
SF class 0
As a novice driver with less than three years of driving experience, you start with SF class 0, as you pose a greater risk of causing an accident. As a result, your insurance premium will be relatively high.
SF class ½
If you have held your driver's licence for more than three years, you will be classified in SF class ½.
SF class S
If you cause an accident as a driver in SF class 1, you will be downgraded to SF class S.
SF class M
If you are in SF class ½ or 0, you will be downgraded to SF class M if you cause an accident through fault of your own. This class is the worst bonus-malus class and has the highest insurance premiums.
There are no bonus-malus classes for Partial Comprehensive Coverage. This is because Partial Comprehensive Coverages only covers damage that isn't your fault and is caused by external influences, such as storm damage or animal bites. Since you are not responsible for these damages, you cannot be downgraded.
You can find the bonus-malus class table for the special classes here:
List of all special classes
What happens when I change my insurance?
If you change car insurance provider, your bonus-malus class is usually transferred.
When you purchase Getsafe Car insurance, we ask for your SF class. If you have not made a claim all year, your Getsafe SF class will be one class higher than your current one. Never had an SF class before? No problem! With Getsafe you start with up to SF class 4.
Can I transfer or take over the bonus-malus class?
The bonus-malus class can be transferred to another person. Here is an example: Your parents want to give away their second car soon. You can simply take over their bonus-malus class and therefore pay a lower insurance premium. However, in order to take over or transfer a no-claims bonus class, you must meet the following requirements:
- Bonus-malus classes can only be transferred or taken over within the family (parents, siblings, grandparents) or persons living in the same household.
- You used to drive regularly with the car of the person from whom you are taking over the bonus-malus class.
- The person from whom you take over the bonus-malus class will give up all bonus-malus classes and no-claims bonuses.
- You can only take over as many claim-free years as you yourself have your driving licence.
Your bonus-malus class at Getsafe
With Getsafe, your premium stays cheap – even after an accident. This means that if you make a claim, we don’t want to make your life more difficult and generally do not increase your premium (exceptions are possible in some cases).
Even if you haven't driven your car yet, we would like to offer you a bonus-malus class. We give accident-free drivers without a bonus-malus class a bonus-malus class up to class 4. This means that under certain conditions you can start with the bonus-malus class 4. You will automatically pay a lower insurance premium.
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