Car insurance in Luxembourg: what is compulsory, the bonus-malus and how to switch
Skimming?
We've prepared the shortcut for you.
Third-party liability car insurance is compulsory
The law of 16 April 2003 is clear: a vehicle may only be driven on a public road, or on land open to the public, if its civil liability is covered by an insurance contract. The contract must be taken out with an authorised insurance company. The obligation to insure lies with the holder (or future holder) of the registration certificate.
What this means day to day:
- No insurance, no plate. The SNCA only issues the registration certificate if a contract is in force. The insurer informs it electronically, and also notifies it when the contract ends.
- The green card (the certificate of insurance) is a compulsory vehicle document, to be shown during a roadside check. Since 1 January 2026, the government allows insurers to issue it in electronic form, in addition to paper.
- Driving uninsured is punished by 8 days to 3 years in prison and a fine of 500 to 10,000 €, or one of these penalties. The driver is targeted, but so is the owner or holder who lets the car be driven.
Insurance comes on top of your car's other fixed costs, like the vehicle tax and the roadworthiness test.
What liability car insurance covers, and what it does not
It covers the damage your car causes to others, whenever the liability of the owner, keeper, holder, driver or a passenger is engaged:
- injuries and material damage caused to others in Luxembourg;
- damage suffered by the passengers in your car;
- damage caused abroad, under the law of the country of the accident, in the countries set out by regulation.
It does not cover, or may exclude:
- compensation for the insured person responsible for the accident themselves;
- material damage to your own car, and damage suffered by the policyholder, the owner or the driver;
- goods carried in the car;
- damage during a race or speed contest.
The possible exclusions are set by a Grand-Ducal regulation: a contract cannot invent others for compulsory liability cover.
The gap liability cover leaves
You cause a fender bender: liability insurance pays for the other person's car, not yours. Your car is stolen, a tree falls on it, your windscreen shatters: liability insurance does nothing.
For that, insurers offer additional cover: accident (damage to your car), fire, glass breakage, theft. The more your car is worth, the more the gap matters. Is it recent, leased or bought on credit? Also check what your financing contract requires.
These covers, the excesses and the prices vary a lot from one contract to another.
How much does car insurance cost in Luxembourg?
There is no official rate: each insurer sets its own prices. Your premium is built in two layers. First a base premium, which the insurer sets freely according to its own risk criteria. Then your bonus-malus level, which applies a percentage to that base premium (the full table is a little further down).
What moves your price:
- Your bonus-malus level: from 45% of the base premium at best to 250% at worst. It is the only element whose rules are the same at every insurer.
- Your car, how it is used, who drives it: the insurer asks you questions to assess the risk, and the law requires you to answer them accurately. An inaccurate answer can reduce your compensation, and a deliberate false statement makes the contract void.
- The package: liability is the compulsory minimum. Each extra cover for your own car (accident, fire, glass breakage, theft) adds to it, and before signing the insurer must tell you, where appropriate, the premium for each cover.
- The excess: this is the part of the damage you pay yourself. Taking one can lower the cost of insurance. For liability cover, it cannot exceed 1,500 € per claim when you are a private individual.
- What does not count: your sex. The law forbids using it to calculate the premium.
Since the base premium changes from one insurer to another, two offers for the same car and the same level can give different prices. The most effective approach: an advisor compares offers for your situation (your car, your level, the package that suits you) and calls you back.
An advisor from the agency will call you back.The bonus-malus, simply
When you are a private individual, your premium is calculated in two steps: a base premium, set freely by the insurer according to its criteria, multiplied by a percentage that depends on your bonus-malus level. The rules of the scale, however, are set by Grand-Ducal regulation and apply at every insurer:
- You start at level 11, which corresponds to 100% of the base premium. The same applies if you insure an additional car.
- Each claim-free year, you go down one level, to level -3 at the lowest. A claim-free year does not move you down if your car was insured for less than 10 months over the period observed (suspended contract, for example).
- Each claim where the insurer compensates a third party moves you up 3 levels, to level 22 at the highest. Damage to your own car (glass breakage, theft) does not count.
- After 4 consecutive claim-free years, your level cannot go above 11: if claims had pushed you higher, you come back to level 11 at most.
- Changing car or insurer does not change your level.
A claim does not count if it stays below your excess, or if you repay the insurer yourself within 4 months of being notified of its payment. The percentage for each level is in the table just below.
Play with your bonus-malus
How much you pay at each level
Only an accident where your insurer compensates a third party counts: broken glass or damage to your own car does not move you up. A year only moves you down if your car was insured for at least 10 months. Source: Grand-Ducal Regulation of 11 November 2003, Art. 11.
See the full table
| Level | % of base premium |
|---|---|
| 22 | 250 % |
| 21 | 225 % |
| 20 | 200 % |
| 19 | 180 % |
| 18 | 160 % |
| 17 | 140 % |
| 16 | 130 % |
| 15 | 120 % |
| 14 | 115 % |
| 13 | 110 % |
| 12 | 105 % |
| 11 (start) | 100 % |
| 10 | 100 % |
| 9 | 90 % |
| 8 | 85 % |
| 7 | 80 % |
| 6 | 75 % |
| 5 | 70 % |
| 4 | 65 % |
| 3 | 60 % |
| 2 | 55 % |
| 1 | 50 % |
| 0 | 47.5 % |
| -1 | 45 % |
| -2 | 45 % |
| -3 | 45 % |
The bonus-malus table, level by level
The scale is set by article 11 of the Grand-Ducal regulation of 11 November 2003 (consolidated version of 6 April 2024). The percentage applies to your base premium.
| Level | Percentage of the base premium |
|---|---|
| 22 | 250% |
| 21 | 225% |
| 20 | 200% |
| 19 | 180% |
| 18 | 160% |
| 17 | 140% |
| 16 | 130% |
| 15 | 120% |
| 14 | 115% |
| 13 | 110% |
| 12 | 105% |
| 11 (starting level) | 100% |
| 10 | 100% |
| 9 | 90% |
| 8 | 85% |
| 7 | 80% |
| 6 | 75% |
| 5 | 70% |
| 4 | 65% |
| 3 | 60% |
| 2 | 55% |
| 1 | 50% |
| 0 | 47.5% |
| -1 | 45% |
| -2 | 45% |
| -3 | 45% |
The rules in one line: start at level 11, -1 level per claim-free year (if your car was insured for at least 10 months over the period observed), +3 levels per claim where your insurer compensates a third party (damage to your own car, like glass breakage, does not count), never above 22 or below -3.
How to read it: you start at level 11, i.e. 100% of your base premium. Three claim-free years: you go down to level 8, i.e. 85%. The following year, an accident where your insurer compensates a third party: you go back up 3 levels, to level 11, i.e. 100% again. A single claim wipes out three years of bonus. And two claims in your very first year? Level 11 + 3 + 3, i.e. level 17 and 140%.
Bonus-malus: Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Germany, and keeping your bonus when you arrive
Did you drive in France, Belgium or Germany before settling in Luxembourg? Each country rewards claim-free years in its own way, and it is not always the law that sets the rules.
| Country | System | Scale | Claim-free year | Claim | Document proving your history |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luxembourg | Statutory, the same at every insurer | Levels 22 to -3, i.e. 250% to 45% of the base premium, start at level 11 | -1 level | +3 levels per claim where the insurer compensates a third party | Claims certificate (at least the last 5 years, free, within 15 days) |
| France | Statutory, reduction-increase clause of the Insurance Code | Coefficient from 0.50 to 3.50, start at 1 | -5% (coefficient × 0.95) | +25% per at-fault accident (+12.5% if liability is partial) | Relevé d'informations (coefficient and claims of the last 5 years with your share of liability, within 15 days) |
| Belgium | Free since 1 January 2004: each insurer has its own system | Set by each contract, which must describe it | Depends on the contract | Depends on the contract | Attestation de sinistralité (claims of the last 5 years, within 15 days, also online on Carattest) |
| Germany | Free: each insurer ranks in its own Schadenfreiheitsklassen | Specific to each insurer | One class better, as a rule | Moved back, depending on the contract | Bescheinigung über den Schadenverlauf (within 15 days on request, and at the end of the contract) |
Mind the wording: in Luxembourg, a claim counts as soon as your insurer compensates a third party, whereas in France it is your liability in the accident that counts.
You arrive in Luxembourg with your bonus
The Grand-Ducal regulation does not provide for automatic conversion of a French coefficient or a German class into a Luxembourg level. What the law has guaranteed since 2024: if a Luxembourg insurer takes your history into account, it must treat a certificate issued in another European Union country as a Luxembourg certificate, reductions included. Nor can it charge you more because of your nationality or simply because you lived elsewhere. Each insurer publishes a summary of how it uses these certificates.
Before leaving, ask your former insurer for your country's document: the relevé d'informations in France, the attestation de sinistralité in Belgium, the Bescheinigung über den Schadenverlauf in Germany. In all three countries, the insurer must give it to you within 15 days of your request, and hand it to you when the contract ends. Also keep the records from your previous contracts if you have switched insurer in recent years.
Then, the question to ask each insurer is simple: at what level do you place me with this document? The answers can vary from one insurer to another, and that is where an advisor who compares for you saves time.
Switching insurer
When? Every year, on the due date of your annual premium (or the contract's anniversary date). You must notify your insurer 30 days before that date. The renewal notice must give you at least 30 days to cancel. If it does not clearly state the deadline, you can cancel without penalty from the renewal date, and up to 60 days after.
How? By registered letter, by bailiff's writ, or by handing in your letter against a receipt.
Price increase? The insurer can only apply it at the next annual renewal date, notifying you at least 30 days beforehand. You then have at least 60 days to cancel after the notice is sent.
Your history follows you. When you cancel, or simply on request, your insurer must give you within 15 days a claims certificate covering at least the last 5 years, free of charge. Your new insurer uses it, and your bonus-malus level stays the same.
Compare well before your renewal date: you will have time to receive offers and send your letter at least 30 days before the renewal date. An insurance advisor can do the comparison for you.
Also worth knowing: your contract may allow the insurer to cancel after a claim it has paid. It must then do so within a month of the first payment, and you can cancel your other contracts with it.
Your car is registered abroad
You are moving to Luxembourg with your car: you must register it here, and the SNCA asks for a Luxembourg certificate of insurance to do so. Your insurer can issue it as soon as you give it the chassis number and your future Luxembourg plate number. The time frames and the full file are in our guide registering your car in Luxembourg.
You are a cross-border worker, and your car stays registered and insured in your country. Vehicles normally based abroad can be driven in Luxembourg: in the event of an accident, the Luxembourg Bureau of motor insurers (Bureau luxembourgeois des assureurs contre les accidents d'automobiles, the body that brings together all the country's insurers) compensates the victims under Luxembourg law.
In the event of an accident
Notify your insurer as soon as possible, and within the time limit set by your contract. An insurer cannot hold a delay against you if you notified it as quickly as you reasonably could. You must also take reasonable steps to limit the damage.
Accident report, police, photos, time limits: it is all in our guide car accident in Luxembourg.
Accident with an unidentified or uninsured car? The Fonds de garantie automobile compensates victims in these cases, within the limits set by law.
A dispute with your insurer
Start with a written complaint to your insurer. With no reply, or no satisfactory reply, within 90 days, you can ask the Commissariat aux assurances (CAA) for an amicable solution, free of charge. You have one year from your complaint to the insurer to refer the matter to the CAA. Its opinion binds no one: if things are not resolved, court remains an option.
Common mistakes
Believing liability cover pays for your car
It pays for others. Your own damage needs extra cover.
Cancelling the old contract before having the new one
A car driven or parked on a public road without insurance, even for one day, is breaking the law.
Missing the renewal date
Without a letter 30 days before, your contract renews for a year (renewal never exceeds one year). Exception: if the renewal notice did not clearly state the deadline, you can still cancel up to 60 days after the renewal date.
Forgetting the claims certificate
When switching insurer: ask for it, it is free and due within 15 days.
Leaving the green card at home
It is a vehicle document to show during a roadside check.
Not comparing for years
Your bonus-malus level follows you, nothing forces you to stay.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, third-party liability (RC auto) is compulsory for every vehicle driven or parked on a public road. Cover for your own car (accident, theft, fire, glass breakage) is optional.
8 days to 3 years in prison and a fine of 500 to 10,000 €, or one of these penalties. The owner or holder who lets the car be driven is also targeted.
You start at level 11. You go down one level per claim-free year (to -3) and up 3 levels per claim where your insurer compensates a third party (to 22). Switching insurer does not change your level.
There is no official rate. Your premium is a base premium set freely by the insurer, multiplied by the percentage of your bonus-malus level (from 45% to 250%). The package chosen and the excess also play a part: the safest is to compare several offers for your situation.
Level -3, which corresponds to 45% of the base premium, like levels -2 and -1. You start at level 11 and go down one level per claim-free year.
By registered letter, at least 30 days before the annual renewal date. At the same time, ask for your claims certificate, which the insurer must give you free of charge within 15 days.
First declare the deregistration to the SNCA (within 5 working days), then notify your insurer and send back the green card: the contract is cancelled with a refund of the remaining premium, or transferred to another car, as you agree with them. All the steps: selling or buying a used car.
Not automatically: no text converts your French coefficient into a Luxembourg level. But if a Luxembourg insurer takes your history into account, the law requires it to treat your French relevé d'informations as a Luxembourg certificate. Ask your French insurer for this record before cancelling, and compare what each insurer does with it.