Belgian car insurance: BA, mini and full omnium

Which car insurance is compulsory in Belgium?

Every owner of a motor vehicle must hold BA cover (burgerlijke aansprakelijkheid, liability) before the vehicle goes on a public road. That duty comes from the law of 21 November 1989 on compulsory motor liability insurance. The Insurance Commission, which sits with the FSMA, still advises the government on this law, most recently on 2 June 2025.

BA pays the victims of a traffic accident, never your own car. The at-fault driver is the one person BA does not compensate for their own injuries. Pedestrians, cyclists and passengers are paid even where they share blame, because BA sits on the vehicle and follows the victims rather than the fault.

The content of BA is fixed by law, not by the insurer. Minimum conditions laid down in the royal decree of 14 December 1992 bind every insurer selling BA in Belgium, and cover for bodily injury is unlimited under article 3 of the law. As of September 2026 that legal frame still stands, so a BA policy from any Belgian insurer starts from the same floor.

What do BA, mini-omnium and full omnium cover?

Next to compulsory BA you can add cover for your own car by choice. Assuralia, the Belgian insurers association, describes two standard flavours: mini-omnium for a fixed list of damage types, and full omnium which adds your own material damage on top. Unlike BA, omnium terms are contractual, so each insurer writes its own wording.

What does a mini-omnium cover exactly?

Mini-omnium, also called mini-casco, covers the bad-luck list and nothing else: fire, theft, glass breakage, natural forces such as storm and hail, and collision with an animal. A stolen car, a windscreen cracked by gravel, or a roof dented by hail all fall inside. A parking scrape you make yourself falls outside.

Because the list is fixed, mini-omnium costs less than full omnium while still protecting the risks no driver controls. Assuralia notes that insurers sell different formulas under the name, so two mini-omniums can differ on details such as glass repair limits or theft protection demands. Read the list in your contract rather than trusting the label.

When does full omnium fit a new EV?

Full omnium adds the one risk mini-omnium leaves out: material damage to your own car, including damage you cause yourself. For a new EV that gap is the expensive one. The purchase price is high and body and battery repairs pass through specialised shops, so a single at-fault crash without full omnium lands on you in full.

Most buyers of a new car therefore pair BA with full omnium for the first years, then step down to mini-omnium or BA alone as the value falls. If a loan still rests on the car, the lender often expects full omnium until repayment, so check the credit terms. Either way, compare how each insurer values the car after a write-off, because that clause decides your payout.

How does bonus-malus work in Belgium today?

Until 2004 Belgian insurers shared one compulsory bonus-malus scale. That scale is gone. Each insurer now runs its own system and must describe it in the contract, so your step after a claim depends on the house you insure with rather than on a national ladder.

What the law does standardise is your claims history. When a contract ends, or whenever you ask, the insurer must hand you a statement of your claims record within 14 days. Your next insurer prices on that record. If you lose the statement, a duplicate is available through Datassur. Switch houses and your history travels with you.

What to check before you sign

Read the omnium wording the way you would read BA law: it is the only thing that binds the insurer. Check the excess per damage type, the theft protection the contract demands, the value used after a write-off, and the exclusions such as drink-driving. Note that most insurers want your BA policy under the same roof as your omnium, so a combined quote is the normal shape.

Separate options worth a look are driver cover for your own injuries, legal aid after a dispute, and breakdown assistance. None belongs to omnium proper, but insurers sell them beside it. If the car drives with FSD (Supervised), declare it honestly as with any driver aid, as explained in FSD crash in Europe: who pays for the damage?.