Motor carriage mandatory insurance

As soon as a vehicle is registered to your name in the vehicle registration register, you are required to take out insurance for this vehicle. It does not matter whether you drive with this vehicle, or if it is parked on public roads.

Different insurances

If you insure a motor carriage, you have different options. The three best-known are:

• Third-party liability insurance (WA)
  This is the most limited insurance because it only covers damage you inflict on the counterparty. Your own damages are not insured and, for example, theft or storm damage is also not included. This insurance is required for motor carriages, but a more extended insurance I also allowed.
• WA limited casco insurance (also known as WA plus)
  This is the intermediate form, where damage to the counterparty is covered, but also damage to your own vehicle caused by force majeure, such as storm damage, theft or fire.
• WA full casco insurance (also known as just ‘casco’ or ‘allrisk’)
  This is the most complete motor insurance. It not only covers the damage to the counterparty and damage to your own vehicle caused by force majeure, but also damage to your own vehicle caused by you.

Most people will let the choice of insurance type depend on the price and age of their motorcycle. The newer and more expensive the motorcycle is, the wiser it is to take out a full casco insurance. A lot of motorcycle insurances assume that you will not ride during the winter months and will give a ‘winter break discount’. Do you plan on to keep riding during the winter months though, then choose an insurance policy without this discount. This avoids problems if you incur unexpected damage during the winter.

Claim free years

With motor carriage insurance policies, insurance companies work with claim free years. This is a kind of bonus system, where you are rewarded if you do not claim for a longer period of time (making a claim is indicating damage to your insurance so that they pay for it).

Every year that you are damage free, stands for a certain discount percentage on your premium. The premium is the amount you pay to your insurer for the insurance you take out. The more you do not claim damages, the higher the discount gets. This is called ‘bonus’.

If you do cause and claim damages, then the built-up discounts decrease. This is called ‘malus’. That is why they call this system ‘bonus-malus system’.

Claiming damage can therefore cost money because your monthly premium increases again. It can be wise to calculate whether it might not be cheaper if you pay the damage out of your own pocket. A little damage can sometimes end up costing more through insurance than if you settle it outside insurance.

White insurance card (former green card)

The insurance card is proof that your vehicle is insured. It is a white sheet of paper on which the details of your vehicle and insurance are listed. With some insurers this card is still green. Every year you receive a new insurance card. Nowadays, this insurance card is often delivered digitally by the insurance company.

In the Netherlands, it is not required to carry it with you, but it may be asked for abroad. Besides, it does come in handy to carry the insurance card with you when dealing with damage. This contains the information you (and any counterparty) need.

Trailer

A coupled trailer is also insured under the motorcycle insurance. This means that damage caused to a counterparty by this trailer (or load), is covered by the motor insurance of the towing vehicle. The damage to the trailer itself, is not covered. For this, separate trailer insurances exist. Taking one out is not required and unnecessary for most motorcycle trailers.

European damage claim form

If you have caused damage, you must fill in a damage claim form together with the counterparty. It is not required to carry one with you, but it is wise. A damage claim form consists of a fill-in sheet and blister sheet. After filling in and signing the form, both parties take one of the copies. You fill in the backside of the form at home and send it to the insurance company.

Nowadays, more and more apps exist on phones that make the paper damage claim forms redundant. Do keep in mind that not every driver is as handy with this.

No vehicle registration requirement

Not all motor carriages have a vehicle registration requirement. A couple of these vehicles, such as the motorised disability vehicles, do have to be insured and be provided with an insurance sticker. This sticker is issued by the insurer as soon as the vehicle is insured.

Lend a vehicle

If someone else is riding on your motorcycle because you have lent it out, it is insured under your motorcycle insurance policy. So, the damage caused by that person will be paid from your insurance. It may happen that by their doing, you suddenly have to pay more premium because you fall back in claim-free years. Therefore, know who you lend your motorcycle to and make proper arrangements on how such a case should be handled in advance.

Not insured

If your motorcycle is not insured, you are punishable. In that case, all damages will be recovered from you personally and this can be quite expensive. Also, if you cause damage due to negligence or irresponsible behaviour, the insurer is not required to reimburse the damages. Think of riding under the influence of alcohol or drugs, riding without a driving licence, or of the motorcycle for which it is not insured, like riding lessons or riding on a circuit. In those cases, the insurer does cover the damages to the counterparty, but will then recover those damages from you again.

Motor Traffic Guarantee Fund

If you have to deal with damages caused by a motor vehicle of someone unknown, or someone who has not taken out insurance, then in some cases you can claim compensation from the Motor Traffic Guarantee Fund. This is a nationwide fund created by the government, to accommodate who are put at a considerable disadvantage due to incurred damage, which they cannot do anything about and they cannot recover the damages from the counterparty.

Suspension

If you know in advance that you will not ride with your motorcycle for a longer period of time, you have the possibility to suspend the motorcycle. This means that you are no longer allowed to ride on public roads, and it is even not allowed to park on of along public roads. You must completely withdraw the motorcycle from traffic, which means you have you have to park it on your own property in, for example, a garage.

The biggest advantage of suspension is that, in that case, you do not have to pay road taxes and the vehicle is not required to be insured. You can apply for suspensions of one, two or three years. This application is made at the RDW.