Before you apply for a car insurance, it is important that you have gathered all the data you need. Most of the time, you already know the license plate number, the meldcode and all of your personal information. But it is also important to know how many damage free years you have, the current market value of the car and your mileage.

Damage free years

If you currently have a car insurance in the Netherlands, and you are considering changing it, then your current insurer knows how many damage free years (claim free years) you have. You can ask your current insurance company, you can check your latest policy or you can request your number of damage free years in the Roy-Data system. If you are moving to the Netherlands, then it's a different story. Car insurers in the Netherlands can only take over Dutch damage free years that are registered in the Roy Data system. So if you do not have any Dutch damage free years, you will start at 0.

There are some exceptions! For example if your car insurance company can offer you a written statement in which they claim that you did not have any damages in the last few years. Maybe, in some cases, it is possible that the car insurance company in the Netherlands will grant you those damage free years. Again, it depends on the situation, the written statement and the insurance company. If you have found yourself is this situation, it is always good that you apply with 0 damage free years. You can later send us the statement, so we can see if our insurers can grant you damage free years from abroad.

The value of your car

When you apply for a car insurance, it is important to know the current market value of the car. The current market value of the car is the amount the car is worth at this very moment. The value that is shown on our website is often an average. This does not mean that is it the actual market value. If your car has a different market value, you can easily adjust the value yourself.

Mileage

The so called 'kilometrage' (Dutch for mileage) is the number of kilometers you drive annually. It is often an estimate, and it depends on whether you drive to work every day, or other frequently recurring trips and of course vacation.

When you apply for the car insurance, you need some personal information. Such as:

• Your date of birth
• Your Dutch address.
• Your damage free years.
• Your Dutch bank account details

It is important that if you are the driver of the car, that your information is used to apply for the car insurance. You can mention a different owner of the car later in the application form. But most of the time it is most convenient that if you are the driver, that you alse are the owner of the car.

When you apply for a car insurance, the insurance company has to review the application to be ably to decide if they can accept the risk you offer them or not. In 90% of the cases the insurance company immediatly accepts the application. But in some situations, they need some extra time to review the application.

If that is the case, you will reviece an e-mail with a temporary coverage or no coverage at all. Sometimes they can come to the decision to reject the insurance, because the risk is too high. A rejection can have something to do with the following situations:

• You have a negative amount of damage free years
• You have had many damages in the past.
• You have a history of late payments, or currently have an arrears of payment.
• Your car is very sensitive to theft and you do not have the required security
• A combination of risks, like for example: you are young and you have just obtained your drivers license, but you have also just bought a very expensive car. This combination of risks can be rejected by the insurance company.

If you already have a car insurance, most of the time this should not be a problem. Every car insurance can be canceled monthly after the first year. In your insurance papers you can search for the exact policy on how to cancel your current car insurance.

Our advice is not to cancel your current car insurance until you are sure that your new car insurance has been accepted by the insurance company. Just to be sure that your car is insured at all times.

If you need any help with the cancellation of your car insurance, you can use our cancellation form template. Please do not forget that once you have filled in all the information, you still have to send the cancellation form to your current car insurance yourself!

The green card is a document which will be send to your address after you have been accepted by the car insurance company. It is an important document, so it is good to always keep it in the car. The green card lists all the countries in which you are insured. And it also contains some telephone numbers that you might need in certain situaties, such as emergencies. You will receive a new green card every year.

If you are planning to take a trip abroad with your caravan, you can ask us for a green card for your caravan. You will need a seperate green card for your caravan, especially in countries such as Germany, Spain and Poland.

The meldcode is a unique combination of 4 digits and is equal to the last 4 digits of the chassis number. If you know the chassis number, you know the meldcode You can also ask for your meldcode at the RDW or you can find it on the registration certificate part 1 or registration card.