How is your bonus malus calculated?

How is your bonus malus calculated?

The bonus / penalty system allows you to adapt the amount of your car insurance premium to your driving. To put it simply, if you are a good driver, you will get a bonus which will lower the amount of your bonus. Conversely, if you are responsible for accidents, you will have a penalty which will increase the amount of your premium.

This bonus / penalty, also called the reduction coefficient increase (CRM), therefore makes it possible to assess the risk you represent in order to adapt the cost of your car insurance.
Auto insurance CRM: how does it work?

The CRM (reduction coefficient increase), otherwise called bonus / malus, varies according to your driving history. Depending on this history, your reference contribution will be revised upwards or downwards:

    you have a bonus if you have no accident, your contribution will therefore be reduced;
    you have a penalty if you are totally or partially responsible for an accident, your contribution will therefore be increased.

Only accidents with a share of responsibility are taken into account in the calculation of your bonus / penalty. Thus, are not taken into account: glass breakage, parking accidents or any other accident not responsible.

How is my bonus / penalty updated?

Your CRM is calculated over a 12-month period while applying a two-month lag compared to the anniversary date of your auto contract. For example, if the expiry date of your contract is May 1, your CRM will be calculated over the period from March 1, 2020 to March 1, 2021. Your bonus / penalty is therefore updated automatically annually based on your accident history.

By default, when you take out your first car insurance, your bonus / penalty is automatically set at 1.
Bonus penalty table: summary of calculation rules

The bonus / penalty changes depending on the accidents you cause. You always start your life as a young driver with a CRM of 1. Then depending on your penalty or your bonus, this coefficient can increase or decrease.

Here are the calculation rules:

    you have not caused any responsible accident: you have a bonus and therefore a reduction in the coefficient of 5%;
    you caused an accident and are totally responsible: you have a penalty and therefore an increase in the coefficient of 25%;
    you caused an accident but are only partially responsible: you have a penalty and therefore an increase in the coefficient of 12.5%.

Here is the evolution of your bonus malus if you have no responsible accident:
Years of driving Calculation of the coefficient Bonus Reduction of the premium
1st year without at-fault accident 1 - 5% 0.95 5%
2nd year 0.95 - 5% 0.90 10%
3rd year 0.90 - 5% 0.85 15%
4th year 0.85 - 5% 0.80 20%
5th year 0.80 - 5% 0.76 24%
6th year 0.76 - 5% 0.72 28%
7th year 0.72 - 5% 0.68 32%
8th grade 0.68 - 5% 0.64 36%
Grade 9 0.64 - 5% 0.60 40%
Grade 10 0.60 - 5% 0.57 43%
Grade 11 0.57 - 5% 0.54 46%
Grade 12 0.54 - 5% 0.51 49%
Grade 13 0.51 - 5% 0.50 50%
Bonus penalty table

The evolution of the bonus malus is capped at the 13th year of driving without a responsible accident. This then implies that you will only pay 50% of your reference premium decided upon when you took out your contract.
How to calculate the auto penalty?

When you cause an accident, your CRM will be impacted by a penalty:

    you caused an accident and are totally responsible: you have a penalty and therefore an increase in the coefficient of 25%;
    you caused an accident but are only partially responsible: you have a penalty and therefore an increase in the coefficient of 12.5%.
    If you are not responsible for the accident (glass breakage, parking accidents etc.), your bonus remains unchanged.

    Example of an increase in the bonus malus for a responsible accident:

    Your starting coefficient is 1. You therefore have a responsible claim to your credit. Your penalty bonus will therefore be 1.25 (1 + 25% = 1.25). If you are responsible for a second claim, you take this coefficient of 1.25 and multiply it by a penalty of 25%, i.e. 1.56 (1.25 + 25%).

    Imagine that your referral premium is set at € 800, it will then be increased by 56% or € 1,248.

To better understand how the bonus penalty is calculated, here is a summary table of the penalty:
Responsible accident Calculation of the Malus coefficient Increase in the premium
1st responsible accident 1 + 25% 1.25 25%
2nd 1.25 + 25% 1.56 56%
3rd 1.56 + 25% 1.95 95%
4th 1.95 + 25% 2.44 144%
5th 2.44 + 25% 3.05 205%
6th 3.05 + 25% 3.81 with cap at 3.50 250%
Calculation of the penalty

The penalty is capped from the 6th responsible accident. Thus, your auto insurance premium can never be increased by more than 250%.