Car Insurance, what does Coefficient actuel mean?

[Buster_Gutte]

I am buying my first car in France and have started looking for insurance quotes . I've read all the current threads in the Forum and it seems like there's a wide variation of experiences, so I thought I'd try 'internet on-line' quotes and direct contact with my local (in France) agents. On the web-site for an insurer, they asked for ""..Coefficient actuel : (Ex. 0.75 ou 1.15) ...". I'm sure that it's to do with the No Claims bonus, but ho do I decide my coefficient ( I have 5 years no claims in UK). By the way, what's french for 'no-claims-bonus' in french insurance speak?

T.I.A.

Buster

[Will]

No claims bonus is just 'bonus'. The French bonus is very different from the English so I doubt if any of the few French online services would be able to cope with a transfer - you will do much better talking to a local agent.

In fact a good insurance agent can be a very useful ally in many respects when dealing with French officialdom. And as in our experience the agents have so much hassle getting their own online quotation systems to work properly the average English punter without comprehensive knowledge of French insurance stands very little chance on his own. Remember that if you make a false declaration, even inadvertently, your insurance policy could be null and void, whereas if your agent makes an error it's down to him to sort it out.

[Richardbk]

[quote]I am buying my first car in France and have started looking for insurance quotes . I've read all the current threads in the Forum and it seems like there's a wide variation of experiences, so I though...[/quote]

The coefficient is the discount (or additional premium) you pay on the basic price. E.g 0.75 in effect means you get a 25% discount - 1.15 means you will pay 15% more. Any accident involving personal injury will cause your current coefficient to be multiplied by 1.25. The coefficient goes down by around 2-3% per year for each no claims but this system will be reviewed after investigation  by the European Commission as all insurance companies give the same discounts for the same period of no claims and this is deemed uncompetative.

 

regs

 

Richard

 

 

 

 

[Teamedup]

Ours most generously gives 2.5% per year, so five years no claims is not a lot here.

[makeiteasy]

Hi,

Richard's answer is good, but i 'll give you more explanations:

In France, the bonus goes down each year if you don't have any "responsible accident"(if you don't cause it).

The 1st year(when it's the 1st time you take it out) you begin with 1.00 and each year your insurance company goes down with a special calculation wich is:

your bonus x 0.95 = your new bonus

(example: 0.74 x 0.95 = 0.70 is your new bonus)

So the 2nd year, your bonus is 0.95, then 0.90, 0.85, 0.80, 0.76,...

The maximum is 0.50 and to get it , it means that you don't have any responsible accident during 13 years!!!

If you want more explanations, contact me on www.makeiteasyconsulting.com

Regards and sorry for my english if i've made some mistakes, i'm french!

 

[Buster_Gutte]

Thanks for the advice- much appreciated-

Buster

[cheryl]

Don't forget that you can use the no claims bonus from your UK insurance to start off with the maximum 50% NCB

Cheryl

[Richardbk]

[quote]Don't forget that you can use the no claims bonus from your UK insurance to start off with the maximum 50% NCBCheryl[/quote]

This depends on the insurance company - not all will do it. Really French insurance companies are oblidged to give a discount based on the number of years without  a claim. with a faster discount rate and protected no claims it is obviously the case that you can get to 50+% UK NCB without having 13 years claim free. However, some french insurance companies I agree will provide additional incentives to get you to join up.

 

regs

 

Richard