New regional classes for almost six million motorists

The regional classes reflect the claims balance of the 412 German registration districts and are calculated once a year by the GDV. This year, the regional classes will change in 76 districts

Where do motorists cause a lot of expensive damage, where does it rarely crash? To find out, the German Insurance Association (GDV) calculates the claims balances of the approximately 400 registration districts in Germany every year and divides the districts into regional classes.

"Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania achieve particularly good claims balances in motor liability insurance: Here, motorists cause less or less expensive damage than the national average," says GDV Managing Director Jörg Asmussen. The Elbe-Elster district in Brandenburg has the best claims balance in motor vehicle liability insurance nationwide – here the losses are around 30 percent lower than average. "High regional classes, on the other hand, apply in particular in large cities and parts of Bavaria: As in previous years, Berlin has the worst loss balance. There, the damage is almost 40 percent above average," says Asmussen.

Motor vehicle liability insurance: Regional classes change in 76 districts

"The current evaluation changes the regional classes in motor vehicle liability insurance for almost six million motorists: For 45 districts and around 3.8 million motorists, the classes increase, 31 districts and around 2.2 million motorists benefit from better regional classes," says Asmussen. For the other 336 districts and around 36.4 million motor vehicle liability insureds, the regional classes of the previous year will remain unchanged. Basically, the better the classification in the regional class, the more favorable it is for the insurance premium. However, no statement can be made about the development of the total motor insurance premium via a change in the regional class.

In hull insurance, the improvements outweigh the improvements

The current GDV regional statistics will also change the regional classes for many motorists in hull insurance: In the future, almost 3.7 million fully or partially comprehensive insured persons will have better classifications, and around 3.3 million will have higher classifications. For another 30.6 million or so comprehensive insurance policyholders, everything remains the same.

Background: The GDV's regional statistics

The regional classes reflect the claims balance of the 412 German registration districts and are calculated once a year by the GDV. The decisive factor is not where the damage occurred, but in which registration district the vehicle owner has his residence.

There are regional classes for motor vehicle liability insurance as well as for full and partial comprehensive insurance. In motor vehicle liability insurance, the insurance benefits for injured third parties after traffic accidents are decisive. In comprehensive insurance, the insurance benefits after accidents caused by the insured person and for all other hull claims are included in the calculation, including car theft, glass damage, vehicle fires, wildlife accidents or damage caused by natural events. The loss balances of the registration districts calculated in this way are actuarially converted into an index value that determines the respective regional class. There are 12 classes for liability, 9 for fully comprehensive insurance and 16 classes for partial comprehensive insurance.

The GDV's regional statistics are non-binding for insurance companies and can be applied immediately to new contracts and to existing contracts from the next insurance year.