How your Crit’Ait vignette rating correlates with insurance costs
Energy-efficient vehicle owners are unlikely to see cheaper insurance premiums
Owners of newer vehicles are likely paying more for insurance cover
Dmitry Kalinovsky/Shutterstock
Drivers of the least polluting cars in France are not only unlikely to benefit from cheaper insurance but may pay on average some €200 more for cover, a recent report has revealed.
The study compared insurance costs for vehicles based on their Crit’Air level.
Many drivers in France now need a Crit’Air sticker for their vehicle as these are required to drive through dozens of urban areas in the country where low-emission zones (zones à faibles émission or ZFE) are in place.
The stickers range from a level of 5 (the most polluting vehicles) to 0 (electric and hydrogen vehicles).
Many cities now restrict vehicles above a certain level from entering ZFEs.
Read more: 2025 MAP: France’s new clean air driving zones and their rules
Drivers who break these rules – or do not have a sticker – face fines.
Read more: Make sense of Crit’Air car stickers in France
Insurance prices
Contrary to popular belief owners of vehicles with a lower Crit’Air level will not necessarily benefit from cheaper insurance.
Vehicles with a lower Crit’Air rating are generally of a higher value than those vehicles with a more polluting rating. This is because they are likely to be newer vehicles and contain more expensive and complex equipment and components.
Subsequently they can be more expensive to repair than older vehicles and also, in general, the higher the value of a vehicle, the higher the insurance premium.
Online French insurer Leocare found a fully comprehensive policy covering a vehicle with a Crit’Air 5 sticker was €212 cheaper on average than the same for a vehicle with a Crit’Air 0.
Average costs for each vehicle type were as followed:
|
Vehicle type
|
Tiers (standard thirty-party cover)
|
Tiers+ (third party, fire and theft)
|
Tous risques (fully comprehensive)
|
| Crit’Air 0 | €561.20 | €709.84 | €1,126.02 |
| Crit’Air 1 | €551.95 | €760.65 | €1,099.03 |
| Crit’Air 2 | €565.21 | €768.06 | €1,095.36 |
| Crit’Air 3 | €513.12 | €676.10 | €900.12 |
| Crit’Air 4 | €498.58 | €648.46 | €854.14 |
| Crit’Air 5 | €443.12 | €640.96 | €913.30 |
Source: LeoCare
These higher premiums are partly due to repair costs for vehicles of a Crit’Air 0 and 1 level.
Leocare calculates that costs to repair a Crit’Air 0 and 1 level vehicle after vandalism can be almost double those for Crit’Air 2-5 level, €6,151.92 compared to €3,303.68.
Repairing a cracked windshield is slightly cheaper on newer vehicles although this is a significantly less usual occurrence on these than on older cars, the report added.
Read more: How does vehicle breakdown cover work in France?
