Type classes and regional classes 2027 explained: what changes for your car

Regional classes and type classes are two ratings that German car insurers use to assess the claims risk of your car. The Regionalklasse (regional class) depends on the registration district where the vehicle keeper lives, the Typklasse (type class) on the car model. For 2027, the German Insurance Association (Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft, GDV) has recalculated both statistics: in motor third-party liability (Kfz-Haftpflicht), the regional class goes up for around 4.8 million drivers and the type class for around 7.4 million. Whether you pay more is up to your insurer. If your total premium rises, you can cancel.

Key points

• Regional classes 2027 (GDV, 9 Sep 2026): in motor liability, 5.2 million drivers in 63 registration districts move to a better class and 4.8 million in 46 districts to a worse one. Nothing changes in 304 of the 413 districts.
• Type classes 2027 (GDV, 30 Sep 2026): in motor liability, around 7.4 million drivers move to a higher and around 5.1 million to a lower type class. For 71 percent, nothing changes.
• The GDV statistics are not binding on insurers. For existing policies, new classes apply from the next insurance year, usually from 1 January 2027.
• If a new type or regional class raises your total premium, you can cancel within one month of receiving the notice (AKB G.2.7 and J.4).
• You can look up your classes free of charge on the GDV consumer site dieversicherer.de.

What are type classes and regional classes?

Both classes show how many claims, and how expensive, occur compared with the average: the regional class for a registration district, the type class for a car model. The lower the class, the better for your premium.

For the regional class, what counts is where the car is registered, not where an accident happened. Under the GDV model conditions (AKB 2015, J.2), the decisive address is the one the vehicle registration authority reports to the insurer. The 2027 type class statistics cover the claims records for 2023 to 2025 for around 33,000 car models.

Both classes exist separately for motor liability (damage you cause to others), Teilkasko (partial cover) and Vollkasko (comprehensive cover), which pay for damage to your own car, for example from theft, hail or a collision with wild animals. A model can therefore have a low rating in liability and a high one in comprehensive cover.

Rating	Classes 2027	Number
Regional class, liability	1 to 12	12
Regional class, compre­hensive	1 to 9	9
Regional class, partial	1 to 16	16
Type class, liability	10 to 25	16
Type class, compre­hensive	10 to 34	25
Type class, partial	10 to 33	24

For regional classes, the GDV sets the national average at an index of 100. That corresponds to regional class 6 in liability, class 4 in comprehensive cover and class 7 in partial cover.

What changes in the regional classes for 2027?

For the vast majority, the regional class stays the same. According to the GDV press release of 9 September 2026, more than 32 million drivers in 304 of the 413 registration districts keep their liability regional class. Almost ten million get a new rating.

Statistics 2027	Higher	Lower
Regional class, liability	4.8 m (46 districts)	5.2 m (63 districts)
Regional class, own-damage cover	around 2.4 m	around 2.4 m
Type class, liability	around 7.4 m	around 5.1 m

Offenbach again has the worst claims record in liability, with claims almost 40 percent above the national average, followed by Gelsenkirchen and Berlin. The best result is in the Elbe-Elster district in Brandenburg, around 33 percent below average. GDV chief executive Jörg Asmussen puts it this way: where a car is registered makes a considerable difference to the claims record.

Large cities usually rank higher because denser traffic leads to more accidents. In Berlin, liability and comprehensive cover stay in the highest classes for 2027, with claims around 35 percent above average. In Hamburg, no class changes, and liability claims are around 22 percent above average. In Bavaria, the GDV lists Nuremberg among the districts with a lower liability rating.

What changes in the type classes for 2027?

In motor liability, the type class changes for more than 12 million drivers. According to the GDV press release of 30 September 2026, around 7.4 million move up and around 5.1 million move down. In comprehensive and partial cover, 67 percent keep their current type class.

Most models move only one or two classes up or down. The GDV names the VW T7 Multivan 2.0 TDI (two classes better in liability) and the Mercedes GLC 200 4MATIC (two classes better in comprehensive cover) as examples. In own-damage cover, replacement value, repair costs and spare-part prices matter. Small cars such as the Fiat Panda or VW Polo therefore often have low own-damage type classes, while models such as the Porsche Panamera or Range Rover have high ones.

A new car comes with its own type class. What happens to your policy and no-claims discount when you change cars is explained in Changing your car.

Will your car insurance cost more in 2027?

A higher class does not automatically make your premium more expensive. The GDV statistics are not binding, and each insurer calculates its own rates. According to the GDV, a changed class on its own says nothing about the total premium.

Other factors include your no-claims class (SF-Klasse), annual mileage, group of drivers, excess and the tariff itself. Repair costs also matter, and according to the GDV they have been rising faster than inflation for years. A car can therefore get a better type class and still cost more.

When the new classes take effect is set out in the AKB under J.1 and J.2: the premium change applies from the start of the next insurance year. For most policies, that is 1 January 2027; for new policies, the classes apply immediately. The building blocks of your premium are explained on the car insurance page.

Can you cancel because of a new type or regional class?

Yes, if your premium rises as a result. Under AKB J.4 in conjunction with G.2.7, you can then cancel within one month of receiving the notice. If several factors change at the same time, the total counts: you only have the right to cancel if your overall premium goes up.

The cancellation takes effect immediately, but no earlier than the date on which the higher premium would apply. The insurer must notify you of the increase at least one month in advance and point out your right to cancel. The statutory counterpart is § 40 VVG (Insurance Contract Act).

An example of the deadline, assuming an insurance year ending on 31 December: your premium notice for 2027 reaches you on 20 November 2026. Your cancellation must then reach the insurer by 20 December 2026. It takes effect on 1 January 2027, the date of the increase. Take out the new policy first.

Moving house yourself does not create a right to cancel under J.4. Under AKB K.3, the new regional class then applies from the date you re-register the car, but J.4 only covers the rate measures in J.1 to J.3. The 30 November deadline and how to switch are covered in Switching car insurance, the general rules in Premium increase.

How do you find out your type class and regional class?

The quickest way is the free GDV lookup tools on the consumer site "Die Versicherer" (German only). Your current classes are shown in your insurance certificate (Versicherungsschein), the new ones in your premium notice for 2027.

1. Regional class: in the regional class lookup, select your registration district on the map.
2. Type class: in the type class lookup, select make and model. Alternatively, enter the HSN and TSN codes from your vehicle registration certificate (Fahrzeugschein).
3. Check the premium: only the total premium in your premium notice shows whether switching is worth it.
4. Get quotes: if your premium rises, compare tariffs with the same features in the car insurance comparison, and only cancel once the new insurer has accepted you.