Second car, second insurance policy – there is no getting around that in Germany. But that doesn’t mean that you have to start with an expensive tariff for your second car. With these tricks, car insurance for the second car becomes cheaper.
If you want to buy a second car, the question of car insurance also arises. Because he has to be insured separately. The protection for the first car does not apply. In principle, it is worth registering the second car with the same insurance company as the first vehicle. Most insurers offer special conditions for second cars.
It starts with the no-claims class: Second cars are usually not sorted into the expensive class 0, but at least into class ½. That alone saves you around 20 percent of the premium for motor vehicle liability, for example, depending on the insurance company.
Many car insurance companies go even further with the SF class, especially if your first car already has a very favorable classification. Then classifications in SF classes 2 or 3 are definitely possible.
In the best case, your second car will even be classified in the same SF class as the first car. However, there are usually a few conditions that have to be met for this – in addition to accident-free years with the first car, depending on the insurance policy, only the policyholder may drive the car (or at most the spouse) and all registered drivers must be at least 24 or 25 years old. Other insurers require that the second car only drives a small number of kilometers per year.
Caution is also advisable with such offers: Some car insurance companies lure you with cheap SF classes for the second car, but cancel other perks, such as for a garage. In the worst case, the policy for the second car can even be more expensive than for the first car. So you should calculate carefully.
The same applies if you want to insure your second car with a different company than your first car. It is difficult for the insurers to see which of your cars is now being driven more frequently and why they should give the supposed second car more favorable conditions when another company is charging for the first car. Here you usually have to do some convincing, but with a little negotiating skill you can perhaps negotiate a cheaper contract than with your regular insurance.
In general, the same rules apply to your second car as to the first car as soon as it is insured. In other words: In the event of damage, you will be sorted into a less favorable SF class. Here’s a pitfall lurking in the fine print: Some insurance companies combine insurance for the first and second cars, so premiums for the primary car also go up if you have an accident with the replacement car.
Conversely, with the accident-free period, the second car is also promoted to increasingly cheaper classes. This can be used well, for example to register your child’s first car as your second car. In this way, the youngsters initially avoid the unfavorable no-claims classes for novice drivers and can collect accident-free years. He can then later take over the favorable no-claims class of the second car in his own car insurance. If you choose this model, you should be careful with the second car insurance that there is no minimum age for the driver.
