Bonus-malus: how claims history moves your premium
Bonus-malus is the scale Belgian motor insurers use to adjust a premium according to claims history. A year without an at-fault claim moves you down a degree and reduces the premium; an at-fault claim moves you up several. When you change insurer, a claims history certificate from the previous one transfers your position, so you never start from scratch.
Steps
Ask your current insurer for the claims history certificate
Request it in writing before you shop around. The certificate states your position and the claims recorded against you over recent years, and every competing insurer will ask for it before quoting a firm premium rather than an indication.
Read what is actually on it
Check that claims settled as not at fault are recorded as such, and that a claim you paid for yourself does not appear. Errors happen, and correcting one before you shop is far easier than arguing about it after a policy is issued.
Bring a foreign certificate if you are new to Belgium
Ask your previous insurer abroad for a written statement of your claims history in the local equivalent. Belgian insurers are not obliged to convert it point for point, but a documented clean record is the difference between a beginner tariff and a normal one.
Decide claim by claim whether to declare a small loss
Compare the repair cost with the premium increase over the following years. Where no third party is involved and the damage is minor, paying the repair yourself is often cheaper. Where a third party is involved you have no choice.
Re-quote after each clean year
Your position improves annually, but your insurer does not usually re-price the whole policy for you. Request a fresh quotation each year and compare it against the market, using your updated certificate as the basis.
The mechanism is deliberately asymmetric
Going down is slow and coming back up is fast. One clean year improves your position by a single degree, while a single at-fault claim moves it several degrees in the wrong direction. Recovering from one accident therefore takes several years of clean driving.
A claim in which you are not at fault, where the third party is identified and their responsibility established, does not move your position. That is precisely why the European accident statement completed at the roadside deserves care: it is the document that allocates responsibility.
Partial responsibility is the case worth understanding. Where fault is shared, the effect on your position depends on how the settlement is recorded, so read what the insurer registers rather than accepting a verbal summary.
What the certificate transfers, and what it does not
The certificate is the transferable part. It states your recorded claims history and your position at the outgoing insurer, and the incoming one uses it to place you on its own scale.
What it does not do is guarantee an identical tariff. Belgian insurers apply their own commercial pricing on top of the claims history, weighting the vehicle, the annual mileage, the region and the driver's age differently. Two insurers can quote very different premiums from the same certificate.
That is the practical reason to compare rather than to renew. A good claims record is worth more at an insurer that rewards it heavily, and identifying which one that is requires putting the same certificate in front of several of them.
Named additional drivers complicate the picture. A claim caused by a young driver listed on your policy is recorded against the policy, so the arrangement deserves a conversation before the keys are handed over.
Newcomers, young drivers and returning residents
A driver with no Belgian record is priced as an unknown risk, which is why the first Belgian premium is often a shock. A documented foreign claims history is the single most effective way to reduce that, and it costs nothing but a letter.
Keep every certificate you are given, including from abroad. If you leave Belgium and come back, or take a few years without a car, being able to show a continuous documented history avoids being repriced as a beginner.
Young drivers face the steepest premiums and are also the group for whom a single claim is most damaging. Comparing insurers on how they treat the young-driver profile matters more than the headline premium, because the profiles are priced very differently.
Frequently asked questions
Does a claim where I am not at fault affect my premium?
It should not, provided your responsibility is not engaged and the third party is identified. This is why completing the European accident statement carefully matters: it establishes the allocation of responsibility that determines the effect on your record.
Can I avoid the increase after a small claim?
Sometimes, by paying the repair yourself instead of declaring it, when the cost is lower than the premium increase spread over the following years. This only works when no third party is involved and no injury occurred.
Does my claims history from abroad count in Belgium?
Belgian insurers commonly take a documented foreign claims record into account, although each applies its own scale and none is obliged to convert it exactly. Request a written statement from your former insurer before you leave that country.
How long does one at-fault claim stay on my record?
The claim appears on your certificate for a number of years and its effect on the premium fades gradually as clean years accumulate. Ask your insurer to show you the effect year by year before deciding whether to declare a minor loss.