The new type and regional classes are shown as a table and map
The mirror
Once a year, the car insurers in Germany take stock in detail.
They evaluate how much damage drivers of a Tesla Model S caused (quite a lot last year, more on that later), how often VW buses have been stolen and whether the highest amounts of damage are still reported from the foothills of the Alps.
The Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) calculates the average amount of damage per insured person across the individual insurance companies.
All vehicles are classified in so-called
type classes
and all registration areas in so-called
regional
classes.
Higher classes stand for higher damage and thus also for a trend towards increasing insurance premiums.
Every car driver is thus connected in an invisible way to all other drivers of the same model and from the same region.
The following maps show you in which areas car insurance is generally cheaper and where it is more expensive:
The fact that there are quite different patterns for liability, partial and fully comprehensive insurance is due to the very different scope of the insurance.
The legally prescribed
liability insurance
is liable for damage caused by vehicle owners to other vehicles, the
partial
comprehensive
insurance also
covers, for example, animal
damage,
theft, storm
damage
or vehicle fires, and the
fully comprehensive insurance is also
liable for vandalism or self-inflicted damage to your own vehicle.
Where it is cheaper and where it is more expensive
According to the GDV's balance sheet, roughly every fifth admission district will be assigned to a different class by the new year.
Here is the overview:
Large parts of the Ruhr area are rated lower for partial and fully comprehensive insurance, here car insurance is likely to be cheaper.
In southern Bavaria, however, the trend is pointing in the other direction.
A whole series of counties was already classified in rather high classes and is now moving up to even higher classes in view of the increased amounts of damage.
A change in the regional class does not necessarily mean that the insurance will be cheaper or more expensive.
Taking regional classes into account when calculating contributions is standard.
However, it is up to each insurance company to decide whether to do so and how much they weight regional accidents.
In addition, companies now often differentiate even more finely and calculate different contributions depending on the zip code.
When the insurance comparison is particularly worthwhile
Due to the different calculation methods used by the insurance companies, a price comparison is particularly recommended if the regional class at the place of residence has changed.
If the region has been upgraded, there may be a provider who does not weight the regional class so heavily.
If less damage was reported in the region, it may be worthwhile to switch to an insurance company that rewards this more.
As a rule, it is still possible to change insurance without any problems until the end of November and this year will probably be particularly lucrative.
Due to the decline in mobility during the pandemic, insurance companies had to settle fewer claims and now have the flexibility to adjust their tariffs.
Existing customers only benefit from this if their contract includes an automatic update.
But that is by no means the rule.
Detailed information on how you can save when switching, how car insurance works in general and how fair the contributions are, can be found in the following articles:
How it looks with the vehicle models
There are also annual adjustments to the type classes, similar to the regional classes.
According to GDV, the classification in liability insurance will change for over 25 percent of the insured in the new year.
The following table shows the new classification of all vehicles with at least 500 registrations nationwide and compares them with the previous year:
As a rule, the leaps between the years are not too great.
The models whose classification has shifted by more than one class include the Seat Arona 1.5 (type KJ, since 2017) and the Skoda Karoq 2.0 TDI 4x4 (type NU, since 2017).
In view of the low damage in the previous year, insured persons can hope for falling insurance premiums.
The biggest development in the other direction is with the Tesla Model S (Type 002, since 2015).
In terms of liability, the luxury-class electric car is upgraded a full four levels, which, according to model calculations by the comparison portal Verivox, could lead to premium increases of up to 33 percent.
An insurance comparison is currently particularly worthwhile for Tesla drivers.
Collaboration: Martin Wittler
