Kathrin gotthold is a qualified lawyer. She completed her traineeship as a business editor in frankfurt am main and then spent six years covering consumer finance at a major daily and weekly newspaper in berlin. She also gained experience with the magazines "betriebs-berater" and "der steuerberater". In the finanztip editorial department, she is primarily concerned with insurance topics.
- Very rarely are the offers from the dealership or the manufacturer’s own car insurance really the better choice.
- Car insurance offers from car dealerships are often overly comprehensive in terms of the benefits they provide. They only recommend themselves for leasing and financing – if at all.
- Car manufacturers’ insurance policies meet our requirements for good rates, but cost significantly more than other recommended offers.
- On comparison portals or with direct insurers, you can put together your insurance cover individually and at a lower price.
- Ask the manufacturer or the dealership for advice on car insurance and a quote. Pay attention to the payment method and deductibles in the event of a claim.
- saving with a combination of comparison portal and direct insurer. First calculate the cheapest suitable car insurance on check24 or verivox. then calculate a quote with huk24.
In this guide
The number of new car registrations in germany has risen by half a million since 2013. Insurers love to insure new cars. The owners cherish their new acquisition, and the cars still have warranty and guarantee. The groups therefore insure little risk for comparatively a lot of money. Insurers have long since stopped leaving the competition for these good risks to chance. Together with the car manufacturers, they have set up their own insurance companies.
Cooperation between car manufacturers and insurance companies has always existed. Some manufacturers have now gone a step further and set up their own insurance companies. Behind the tariffs of VW and its subsidiaries audi, skoda and seat is allianz. Mercedes and porsche work together with HDI, the car insurance policies of volvo and opel are run by allianz, and toyota is backed by the european branch of a well-known asian insurer.
While competition among "normal" car insurance companies is mainly based on price, insurers are focusing entirely on performance – at the expense of price – when it comes to insurance packages from car dealerships. So the question is: how much insurance does your new car really need??
Insurance coverage for the new car directly from the dealership
The dealership presents the new cars perfectly to get you in the mood to buy. Is this the right place to take out car insurance??
Car dealerships offer special insurance for certain models – these are called cover, piece-rate insurance or fixed-price offers. Compared to the purchase price of the car, they seem like peanuts. And it sounds so simple: a monthly flat rate without any individual calculations. The price is fixed for the duration of the contract. always extrapolate the monthly flat rate to the year, maybe even to the total contract period. This money is spent in any case.
The Ingolstadt-based carmaker is targeting its "audi all in one" offer at drivers aged 23 and over with at least no-claims class (SF) 1 for certain models. The price per month starts at an audi A1 and a yearly driving distance of up to 12.500 kilometers at just under 50 euros. This contribution increases by at least 10 euros per month depending on the mileage and vehicle class. drive your audi Q3 up to 50.000 kilometers per year, you already pay 140 euro per month. The deductible for the partial cover is 150 euro and for the fully comprehensive 500 euro. During the term of the contract, the insurer also downgrades the no-claims bonus. However, this also means that you have no possibility of saving your no-claims bonus (SF class) in the event of an accident during the term of the policy. If, in addition, the discount is so heavily burdened by damage that it falls back to class 0 or worse, even the flat-rate insurance offer no longer applies.
The munich-based carmaker offers flat-rate solutions ("mini smile") for its mini brand starting at 30 euros a month, depending on the model. In the event of a claim, however, you always pay 1 euro for fully comprehensive insurance.000 euro yourself.
BMW customers have the choice of how comprehensive their car insurance should be. A special feature is the "assistance service", which goes far beyond a conventional comprehensive insurance – and costs.
Mercedes
The all-inclusive solution from mercedes is called piece-rate insurance. If you have at least the SF 2, you pay in the best case just under 80 euro monthly. You have to bring in your no-claims bonus in any case, just like with audi. Unlike the competition from ingolstadt, the fixed price is guaranteed until the end of the term. Depending on the age of the driver, the deductible in the fully comprehensive insurance is high 1.000 or even 2.000 euros, and 500 euros across the board for partial casco.
Renault, nissan, honda
Verti (formerly: directline) offers a fixed price insurance for some models of the manufacturers renault, nissan and honda. These cost between 20 and 50 euros a month, with a deductible of 500 euros for fully comprehensive and 150 euros for partially comprehensive.
With "seat4all", the Spanish brand from the VW Group offers discounts on insurance premiums if the car is financed via seat Bank. The discount is 30 percent if the driver is at least 23 years old and has one year without a claim. this offer is valid in november 2017 for the models mii, ibiza, leon and leon cupra. drivers under 22 years of age benefit from this offer only if they buy an ibiza. The discount is only valid for the first two years of the contract, after that the standard tariff applies.
You can – except with mercedes and audi – determine with these insurances whether you bring your no-claims bonus into the contract. But you have to do this already at the beginning of the contract. If you have brought your SF class, it runs in the background and you collect in the best case more claim-free years. But the discount is also burdened by damages during the term. You can revive a dormant discount. The expiry limit of at least seven years is standard, but some providers are more accommodating.
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Insurance cover via the manufacturer’s own car insurance company
Manufacturers do not offer special insurance packages for every model. In return, the manufacturer’s own car insurance is also open to other vehicles. the premium calculators of VW and its subsidiaries calculate allianz rates, the calculators of mercedes and porsche include HDI rates. Only a few entries are required for the calculation in all these premium calculators. You have even less effort with volvo and toyota, where the salesman calculates the insurance premium for you. On the basis of the questions asked, you can estimate the factors on which the amount of the premium depends. The direct insurer verti also offers a variable rate for customers of renault, nissan and honda.
When are the manufacturer’s offers worthwhile??
Very rarely are the offers from the dealership or the manufacturer’s own car insurance really the better choice. We found this out by checking the prices at the dealership and then comparing them with the cheapest rate on an insurance portal.
the result: only for leased or financed vehicles can the rates from the dealership be worthwhile in individual cases, provided that the insurer does not charge too outrageously. The advantage is that you are on the safe side to get rid of the vehicle at the end of the contract without any stress. In principle, there is nothing wrong with independent workshops or spare parts from independent manufacturers. But the dealership may see things differently – and in case of doubt, it’s in the driver’s seat. Not everyone has the energy for a dispute with the car dealership.
We also checked the offers from volvo and toyota with the broker tool nafiauto. Volvo has offered a 30 percent discount ("sweden discount") for three of the profiles. This discount is decent, but only applies to the first two years of insurance. If you set up similarly exaggerated services on the comparison portals as volvo offers, the rates that come out on the portals will also be expensive. It’s better to choose insurance benefits wisely. Then the premiums are significantly lower.
Although the manufacturers’ car insurance policies include extensive and sometimes unnecessary benefits, fundamentally important components are not necessarily included. We have noticed that with a manufacturer’s insurance policy, you often have no choice in which repair shop you have your car repaired after an accidental damage – you are referred to the manufacturer’s repair shop network. It is also problematic that the basic insurance cover does not always include the mallorca policy, which in our opinion is a minimum criterion for a good car insurance policy. Often you have to add and pay for additional modules. With VW you even have to have a comprehensive insurance and add "kasko mobil" to it, so that the insurance sums on German level are available to you, if you are responsible for an accident abroad.
Alternatives to the policies from the manufacturer or the car dealer
You can also take your own insurance for your new car or find one on a portal that offers good quality and is cheap.
on the portals you have to allow a little time to do all the entries that are foreseen. This is worthwhile. on average, the lowest price found on the portal is 27 percent lower than the prices offered by the manufacturer’s own insurers. In individual cases, the differences can be even greater and can amount to several hundred euros.
So you can put together your insurance cover as you need it. Even the heavily advertised assistance benefit can be at least approximately "replicated" on portals. The options on the portals are many and the good offers meet our minimum criteria.
Our advice: tend not to choose an offer from the dealership, but from another supplier.