A premium is the price of the risk an insurer carries. Claims history, the statutory step ladder, risk profile and the width of cover each move that price under rules set out in Turkish legislation.
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Who Sets the Premium, and Can an Agent Quote a Price?
A premium is the price of the risk the insurer carries. That is why two people insuring an apparently identical car, home or business receive different figures: what is priced is not the object but the risk attached to it.
Article 12 of Insurance Law No. 5684 states that tariffs are set freely by insurance companies in line with insurance principles and generally accepted actuarial techniques. The party that calculates the premium is the insurer carrying the risk.
The same article carves out compulsory classes: for compulsory insurances created by statute, the sums insured together with the tariffs and instructions are fixed by the Minister and published in the Official Gazette. This is why maximum premiums in compulsory motor third party liability (trafik sigortası) sit in a separate regulation.
RYL Sigorta Aracılık Hizmetleri is an insurance agency; it does not set tariffs. Our work is to obtain quotations from the insurers we act for and to show, line by line, where two quotations diverge. The policy is issued, and any claim is paid, by the insurance company.
How a premium is calculated in the first place is covered in a separate article. The focus here is narrower: which events push an existing premium up at the next renewal, and which provision each one rests on.
How Claims History Turns Into a Motor Premium
In compulsory motor third party liability, claims history is converted into a number. Article 5 of the Regulation on Tariff Application Principles for Compulsory Motor Third Party Liability Insurance sets the no-claims discount and the claims loading against a step ladder running from 8 down to 0. Insurers set the discount and loading percentages freely; what is fixed and common to all of them is the step itself.
A person registering as a vehicle operator for the first time starts at step 4. If no indemnity is paid during the policy period, the discount for the following contract is set one step higher. Each material damage payment moves the operator one step down, while each disability or loss-of-support payment moves them two steps down.
Both ends carry special rules. An operator held at step 7 for five policy periods with no indemnity paid moves to step 8; one at step 1 causing payments from three or more accidents in the period drops to step 0.
The step attaches to the operator, not to the vehicle: the regulation states that the discount and loading follow the operator. Yet where one operator owns several vehicles, a separate contract is issued for each and the step is determined individually per vehicle. That is why a second car starts again at step 4.
A SEDDK press release dated 19 December 2025 changed one part of this. The rule in force from 1 January 2026 covers the case where the new vehicle is bought first and the vehicle held at the favourable step is sold afterwards: the policyholder may apply to their agency or insurer for a step correction, and where no application is made the system performs it automatically at renewal. The same treatment applies at an unfavourable step.
Event
Step movement
Source
Registering as a vehicle operator for the first time
Starts at step 4
Tariff Application Principles art. 5/2
No indemnity paid during the policy period
One step up
art. 5/3
Each material damage payment
One step down
Provisional art. 11/8
Each disability or loss-of-support payment
Two steps down
Provisional art. 11/8
Five policy periods at step 7 with no claim
Step 8
Provisional art. 11/14
Three or more accident payments while at step 1
Step 0
Provisional art. 11/14
Second vehicle of the same operator
Its own step is set separately
art. 5/5
What Late Renewal Adds to the Premium
Article 7 of the same regulation obliges vehicle operators to renew the contract as at its expiry date. For every 30 days the renewal is not carried out, the premium of the following contract is calculated with an additional 5%, capped at 50% of the premium.
Article 9 applies the same logic to those who newly acquire operator status. For every thirty days the insurance obligation is left unmet from the date that status is acquired, a further 5% is added, again capped at 50%. The gap between the day you take a vehicle over and the day the policy is issued resurfaces in the next premium.
Vehicles belonging to the State and to public institutions are exempt from this loading on late-renewed policies. Otherwise the rule applies to everyone alike, and a delay produces an increase even for a driver with a clean record.
What Makes Up Your Risk Profile
Article 4 lets insurers set the base premium freely by vehicle type on a province basis, while requiring contracts covering vehicles and operators of the same risk to be issued at the same premium. Freedom here is not arbitrariness: like risk, like premium.
The same article lists the factors that may feed into the calculation.
Province: the Authority may decide that the province of the operator's residence be taken as the basis instead of the province where the plate is registered (art. 4/5).
Traffic penalty points: penalty points imposed on drivers for traffic offences, together with the duration of and reasons for licence withdrawal, may be used in setting the premium (art. 4/7).
Fuel type and emissions: the Authority may introduce discounts or loadings of up to 20% over and above the rates in the regulation, based on fuel type and emission values (art. 4/8).
Parts preference: where certified equivalent parts or reusable parts are preferred in repairing damage, a discount of up to 20% may be applied (art. 4/9).
Vehicle group and use: taxis, minibuses, coaches, lorries and tractor units sit in separate maximum premium tables.
Cover Width and Mid-Term Premium Adjustments
Premium grows with the width of cover bought. Under article 11 of the Insurance Law the contract follows approved general conditions, special conditions may be added where the business requires it, and they must appear on the policy under a distinct heading. The same article adds a decisive rule: excluded risks must be stated expressly, and any risk not so stated counts as covered.
Road haulage shows the effect of cover width most clearly. For vehicles operating intercity and international transport within the scope of Road Transport Law No. 4925, the limits of the motor third party liability policy apply at twice the relevant limits set out in the annexes to the regulation. Same vehicle, same driver, different ceiling.
Premium is not fixed once and for all at inception. Article 1445 of the Turkish Commercial Code allows the insurer, on learning that the likelihood of the risk occurring has increased or that the existing position has worsened, to terminate the contract within one month or to request an additional premium; if that request is not accepted within ten days the contract is deemed terminated. Article 1444 places the duty to notify on the policyholder.
The reverse direction is also in the statute. Under article 1433, where changes reducing the risk arise in the factors affecting the premium, the premium is reduced and, where appropriate, refunded. Installing fire detection, adding theft protection or ending a hazardous activity on the premises are all worth raising before renewal.
Why Health Premiums Do Not Stay Flat
On the health side questions gather around the Lifetime Renewal Guarantee (Ömür Boyu Yenileme Garantisi), a Türkiye-specific undertaking obliging the insurer to keep renewing the same plan for as long as the insured asks. SEDDK's April 2026 guidance note sets out its limits.
Under that guidance, an insurer may not impose conditions harsher than three uninterrupted years on the same plan with a total claims to total premium ratio below 80%. Setting easier conditions in the insured's favour is permitted; setting harsher ones is not.
Once the guarantee is earned, the insurer may not narrow the scope of cover or reduce limits because of illnesses that later emerge, may not apply an illness loading, and may not charge an additional premium tied to the ratio of claims paid to premium. Heavy use of the policy at that stage does not affect the following period's premium.
The guarantee is not, however, a promise about price. The guidance treats renewal with standard premium increases as normal and states that the insurer remains bound by actuarial principles when calculating premiums. Your cover is protected; the figure is not frozen.
Where We Come In as an Agency
The quickest way to understand a premium gap is to place two quotations side by side and compare the cover, limit, deductible and step lines. That is what we do as an insurance agency: we obtain quotations from the insurers we act for and show which line the difference comes from.
The two questions we hear most often are whether the step carries over to a new vehicle and how late a policy has run. Both answers sit in the legislation, and both belong to a conversation a month before expiry.
If you would like us to work through your own figures, the links below lead to the relevant product pages. Any claim is paid by the insurer that issued the policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does My No-Claims Step Move to a New Vehicle?
The Regulation on Tariff Application Principles states that the discount and loading follow the operator, yet where one operator holds several vehicles the step is determined individually for each. Under SEDDK's release of 19 December 2025, from 1 January 2026 policyholders selling a vehicle held at a favourable step may apply to their agency or insurer for a step correction; where no application is made, the correction is carried out automatically at renewal.
If I Pay a Small Repair Myself, Does My Step Survive?
What triggers a step drop in the regulation is an indemnity payment made during the policy period. An incident for which no indemnity is paid does not move the step. For small losses the effect of claiming should therefore be weighed against the increase in the next policy, and that calculation belongs before renewal rather than after it.
I Renewed a Month Late, Why Did the Premium Rise?
Article 7 of the regulation adds 5% to the premium of the following contract for every 30 days the renewal is not carried out after expiry, capped at 50% of the premium. Article 9 applies the same rule to those who newly acquire operator status and delay taking out cover.
Why Does Each Insurer Quote a Different Premium for the Same Car?
Article 12 of the Insurance Law establishes that tariffs are set freely by insurers in line with actuarial techniques. The step ladder is common to every company, but the discount and loading percentage attached to each step, and the base premium by province, vehicle group and type of use, differ from insurer to insurer.
Will Heavy Use of My Health Policy Raise the Premium?
Under SEDDK's April 2026 guidance, once the Lifetime Renewal Guarantee has been earned, frequent use does not affect the following period's premium and no additional premium tied to the claims to premium ratio may be charged. Before the guarantee is earned, that same ratio is the test that decides whether it is granted.
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