Switching Car Insurance in Germany: The 30 November Deadline Explained

Every autumn, people in Germany start mentioning the 30th of November, and if you are new here it is not obvious why. It is the day most car insurance contracts can be cancelled for the coming year. What nobody tells you is that the date is about when your letter arrives, not when you send it. Here is the plain version.

Use our free cancellation letter template.

Why 30 November matters

Car insurance, the Kfz-Versicherung, is usually a yearly contract that renews on its own. For most policies the insurance year is the calendar year, and the notice period, the Kündigungsfrist, is one month. So your cancellation has to reach your insurer by 30 November for the contract to end on 31 December. In 2026 it falls on a Monday.

Miss it, and the contract runs another year, unless one of the special rights below applies.

Check that your date really is 30 November

Not every policy follows the calendar year. Some insurers start the insurance year on the day the car was registered, or on another date such as 1 April. The notice period is usually still one month, counted back from that date.

Look for the Hauptfälligkeit, the main due date, on your Versicherungsschein, the policy document. If it says 1 January, your deadline is 30 November. If not, it is one month before the date shown.

New contract first, then cancel

You cannot drive a registered car in Germany without liability cover, the Kfz-Haftpflichtversicherung. So sign up with the new insurer first, wait for their confirmation, and only then cancel the old contract.

When your old insurer reports that cover is ending, the registration office, the Zulassungsstelle, needs the new insurer's details. If the end-of-cover notice arrives first, the office can order a stop on using the car, and that comes with a fee.

You can also cancel liability and comprehensive cover (Teilkasko or Vollkasko) separately.

How to cancel so it counts

An ordinary cancellation needs no reason. A short letter with your name, address, policy number (Versicherungsscheinnummer) and a line saying you cancel at the next possible date is enough. If you cancel early because of a price increase or a claim, name that reason. Use our free cancellation letter template.

Since receipt counts, send it in a way you can prove: registered mail with return receipt (Einschreiben mit Rückschein) or fax. If your insurer accepts email, ask for confirmation that it arrived. The insurer does not have to confirm in writing, so your own proof protects you. A phone call is not enough. Our guide to cancelling a contract in Germany covers the general rules.

Missed it? The Sonderkündigungsrecht

German insurance law gives you a special right to cancel, a Sonderkündigungsrecht, in a few situations:

• Your premium goes up without better cover. You can cancel within one month of receiving the notice. The insurer must send it at least one month before the increase takes effect and point out your right to cancel. These letters often arrive in late November or December.
• After a claim. Once the claim is settled, you have one month to cancel. The insurer has the same right.
• When you buy a car still insured under the seller's contract, you can cancel it within a month of the purchase.

A higher bill is not always a price increase in this sense. If it comes from changes you made, such as more annual kilometres or extra drivers, or from being moved down after your own claim, the special right usually does not apply. Our guide to reading a German cancellation clause explains the words you will see in these letters.

Typklasse and Regionalklasse: why the price moves

Each year the German insurance association, the GDV, publishes two ratings. The Typklasse rates your car model by how many and how expensive its claims were. The Regionalklasse rates the registration district where the car's keeper lives.

In its latest type class statistics, published in September 2026, the GDV moves about 7.4 million drivers into a higher liability class and about 5.1 million into a lower one; for roughly 71 percent nothing changes. Insurers are not bound by these ratings, but can apply them to existing contracts from the next insurance year, for most people 1 January. According to the ADAC, an increase caused only by a type or regional class change still gives you the special right to cancel, as long as your letter clearly refers to the price increase.

Your no-claims class: Schadenfreiheitsklasse

The biggest factor in your price is usually your no-claims class, the Schadenfreiheitsklasse or SF-Klasse. Each claim-free year moves you into a cheaper class.

When you switch, your history comes with you, but not as a fixed number. The new insurer asks your old one for your claims record and places you in its own system, and discounts per class differ between insurers. Give the old insurer's name and policy number exactly as written, and ask your old insurer to confirm your class in writing.

If you had a claim this year and your contract includes discount protection (Rabattschutz), think twice. That protection only applies with your current insurer, and a new one will usually rate you including the claim.

Do you need an eVB number?

The eVB, the electronic insurance confirmation, is the code you need to register a car or change its keeper. For a straight switch of insurer on a car that stays registered to you, you normally do not need one. The new insurer sends the details to the registration office electronically. If you are still working through your first registrations here, our first 90 days checklist covers the deadlines that usually come first.

Keep the date where you will see it

Car insurance is one of several German contracts that renew on their own, and 30 November is easy to remember in October and easy to forget in the last week of November. And if your new contract's first bill is higher than agreed, consumer advisers suggest paying it under reservation so your cover is not at risk, then sorting out the difference.

Notenz keeps your car insurance renewal on one calm list with your other dates in Germany. Tick "Car insurance renews" on the Germany checklist and add your renewal date once. Notenz reminds you 45 days before it, so for a 1 January renewal you hear from us in mid-November, with time to compare offers before the 30 November deadline. The reminder repeats every year.