The General Association of the German Insurance Industry (GDV) has announced the updated regional classes for the 400 or so registration districts in Germany. They apply immediately to new contracts and to ongoing motor vehicle insurance from January 2025.
Regional classes: Changes in 2025
“The classes are increasing for 49 registration districts and around 4.7 million drivers, 59 districts and also around 4.7 million drivers will benefit from better regional classes,” says Anja Käfer-Rohrbach, deputy general manager of the GDV. For the other 305 districts and around 33 million motor vehicle liability insurance policyholders, the regional classes from the previous year will remain.
“Registration districts in Bavaria in particular can improve: Here, 24 districts and almost one in four drivers achieve a cheaper class,” says Käfer-Rohrbach. Particularly good damage records in the As in previous years, Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have the highest motor liability insurance. Here, drivers cause fewer or less expensive damages than the national average. The Elbe-Elster district in Brandenburg has the best national damage record in motor liability insurance – here, damages are around 30 percent lower than the average.
“High regional classes, on the other hand, apply particularly in large cities: Offenbach has the worst damage record, closely followed by Berlin. In both cities, the damage is almost 40 percent above average,” says Käfer-Rohrbach.
Basically, the better the classification in the regional class, the better the effect on the insurance premium. However, a change in the regional class does not allow any statement to be made about the development of the overall car insurance premium.
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The current GDV regional statistics also mean that the regional classes for comprehensive insurance are changing for many drivers: around 5.8 million fully or partially comprehensive policyholders will be given higher classifications, and around 4.5 million will be given lower classifications. Partial comprehensive policyholders in Baden-Württemberg and Saxony in particular can improve their situation. In Bavaria and Hesse, however, many registration districts are slipping into higher fully and partially comprehensive insurance classes – which is in most cases due to regional hailstorms that caused significant damage to numerous cars last year.
What do the regional classes mean?
The regional classes are calculated once a year by the GDV and reflect the damage balance of the 413 German registration districts. The decisive factor is not where the damage occurred, but in which registration district the vehicle owner is resident.
In motor vehicle liability insurance, the insurance benefits for injured third parties after traffic accidents are decisive. In comprehensive insurance, the insurance benefits after self-inflicted accidents and for all other comprehensive insurance claims are included in the calculation, including car theft, glass damage, vehicle fires, accidents involving wild animals or damage caused by natural events. The loss balances calculated in this way for the registration districts are converted actuarially into an index value that determines the respective regional class.
Car insurance/regional classes: Video
This is how the risk of damage affects
The index refers to the national average with a value of 100. If the value is lower, the region’s loss record is better than the average; if the value is higher, the loss record is worse. There are 12 regional classes for motor vehicle liability insurance. The national average of 100 corresponds to regional class 6 in motor vehicle liability insurance.
How many regional classes are there?
Regional classes exist in both the Liability as well as partial and fully comprehensive insurance. In liability, the regional classes range from 1 to 12, in partial comprehensive insurance from 1 to 16 and in fully comprehensive insurance from 1 to 9.
Where are the regional classes high and where are they low?
The regional classes are usually particularly high in large cities. Traffic volumes are highest there, and therefore there are more accidents than in less densely populated areas. Comprehensive insurance claims due to Theft, vandalism or damage when parking are more common in cities than in rural areas. Berlin, for example, has the unfavorable regional classes 12 (third party liability), 9 (fully comprehensive) and 11 (partial comprehensive). In contrast, the regional classes are particularly low in Münster, for example (third party liability 4, fully comprehensive 1, partial comprehensive 1).
Many thefts in large cities drive up the insurance claims and thus the regional classes.
Image: DPA
The different weather conditions (snowfall, storms, hail) also play a role in the large regional differences in the damage statistics of the registration districts. In particular, several districts in Bavaria usually have higher regional classes than the national average.
Regional classes 2025 of large cities with over 300,000 inhabitants
How does a new regional class affect insurance costs?
Current model calculations from the comparison portal Verivox show how much the place of residence influences insurance costs. According to them, a 45-year-old resident of the capital pays 59 percent more for the fully comprehensive insurance of his VW Passat than a resident of the East Frisian town of Emden with the same vehicle. The price difference is 389 euros. For partial comprehensive insurance, Berliners have to pay 54 percent more – 220 euros – and for liability insurance 52 percent, or 144 euros. To illustrate the regional effect on insurance costs, Verivox compared two driver profiles that were identical except for their place of residence.
The GDV’s regional classes take into account damage after accidents, the frequency of theft, storm and hail damage, but also accidents involving wild animals and the average amount of damage in a region. These figures are particularly high in Berlin, but rather low in Emden. According to police crime statistics, for example, the number of car thefts in the capital in 2023 was 207 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to just 18 in Emden.
The association updates the classifications once a year and makes them available to motor vehicle insurers. “The GDV’s regional classes are not mandatory for insurance companies,” explains Wolfgang Schütz, Managing Director of Verivox Versicherungsvergleich GmbH. “Some insurers use their own classifications. But here too, loss ratios and costs are decisive.”
Insurance costs in comparison*
In big cities, denser traffic leads to more accidents – in rural areas, however, the damage rates are lower. For example, in Berlin-Nikolassee, people may share a garden fence with their neighbors from Kleinmachnow, but not the regional classes. People in the capital pay 32 percent – 243 euros – more for fully comprehensive insurance. Partial comprehensive insurance is 30 percent (140 euros) more expensive, and third-party liability insurance is 34 percent (104 euros) more expensive.
For individual drivers, the cost differences resulting from the reclassification of regional classes from one year to the next are usually not that great. Nevertheless, many policyholders will have to pay more for their car insurance next year. After double-digit percentage increases last year, drivers can expect further record prices for car insurance.
“Last year’s price increases were not enough to offset the loss-making business of motor insurers,” says Wolfgang Schütz. “That’s why premiums for many drivers will also rise this year. Nevertheless, there will again be good deals for those who switch insurance. Even in the current situation, insurance companies are still offering attractive deals to expand their customer base.”
For insurers, the costs per claim have risen sharply in recent years. This is partly due to the increased prices for spare parts, but also for working hours in workshops. On the other hand, many insurers charge relatively low premiums with low margins.
Special right of termination in case of change of regional class
However, it is important for the insured to know that for him a There is a special right of termination if the premium increases due to a change in the regional class. However, this only applies if the regional class of the previous registration district has actually changed. If the change in the regional class is due to a move from one registration district to another, there is no special right of termination.
