Services Insurance Brokerage and Procurement Insurance Policies Business & Property Liability

No premium adjustment in general liability insurance

Good news: After a premium adjustment in the general liability insurance took place last year in accordance with the conditions, there will be no premium adjustment with the main due date from July 1, 2024.

According to the General Liability Insurance Conditions (AHB), insurers have the option of adjusting premiums in line with claims trends. If the average claims payments made by insurers in the past year have changed – whether up or down – compared to the previous year, the AHB provide for a conditional premium adjustment in line with a trustee's determination.

This means that every year, an independent trustee evaluates whether there have been any changes. To do this, the trustee compares the claims payments of all providers of general liability insurance from the previous year with those from the year before. This includes not only the insurance benefits themselves, but also expenses for determining the extent of the damage or the cause of the damage.

The difference calculated in this way is used to determine the percentage rate calculated in a fiduciary capacity. This value represents the percentage deviation, rounded down to a number divisible by five. The percentage rate published annually determines whether premiums will change in the following year.

Five percent hurdle: no adjustment below this level

A premium adjustment in line with the conditions can only be made if the figure is five percent or more. This then comes into effect at the next main renewal date. If the trustee determines a percentage rate of below five percent, the premium amount initially remains unchanged. However, non-premium-relevant values are not simply ignored, but are carried forward to the calculations for the following years.

No premium adjustment as of July 1, 2024 – Amount carried forward to the following year

The independent trustee has determined that the average of the claims payments made by the insurers licensed to operate general liability insurance in the 2023 calendar year increased by 3.2% compared to the 2022 calendar year. The increase is below 5.0%, so no premium adjustment is to be made on July 1, 2024. The trustee will take the carry-over into account for the coming year when adjusting premiums on July 1, 2025.

Please note: A distinction must be made between the premium adjustments made in accordance with the conditions and individual premium adjustments made by the insurers, which they can also demand independently of the AHB. This may affect hospitals, for example, whose insurance contract contains an individual premium adjustment clause.