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If you don't pay your car insurance in Sweden, the car normally stays insured for a while, as the insurance company sends you a reminder. If the reminder isn't paid either, the company can end the policy and hand the case over to TFF (Trafikförsäkringsföreningen, the Swedish Motor Insurers). TFF then collects the unpaid premium and also charges a traffic insurance fee for every day the car is uninsured. The due date on the reminder is the limit – after that, the insurance can be gone without you noticing.
How it happens
The premium goes unpaid. Usually because a direct debit (autogiro) failed – no money in the account, a changed bank account, or a mandate that stopped working – or because an invoice was left unpaid. The car is still insured, and the company sends a reminder with a new due date.
The reminder's due date passes. How long a company keeps the car insured while the premium is unpaid varies a lot between companies – for some it's a couple of weeks, for others a couple of months. Assume that the due date on the reminder is the limit.
The policy ends and TFF takes over. If the reminders don't work, the company ends the policy and hands the unpaid period over to TFF. TFF then collects two things: the premium for the period the car actually was insured, and a traffic insurance fee for every day after the policy ended. The fee keeps running until the car is insured again or taken off the road.
Where it goes wrong
Thinking a late payment fixes everything. If you pay the invoice before the policy has ended, the payment counts as normal, for the whole period on the invoice. But if the policy has already ended and the case has gone to TFF, you don't become insured after the fact. The payment instead counts as the start of a new policy, from the day the payment reached the company – and the days in between count as uninsured.
Not noticing that the insurance is gone. If you never cancelled your insurance yourself, you assume it's still valid. The reminder may have ended up in a digital mailbox, an old email address or a pile of post, and the next sign that something is wrong is the invoice from TFF – see invoiced despite having insurance.
How to avoid it
Pay by the due date on the reminder. If you've changed bank or account, check that the direct debit for the insurance moved with you. If you're unsure whether the insurance is valid, log in to the insurance company or call them and ask straight out whether it's paid and valid today.
If the due date has already passed, don't wait for the late payment to be registered. Take out new traffic insurance right away instead – fastest with a different company, since most companies won't restart an ended policy until they see the payment arrive. How to do it is covered in how to stop the fee right away. If you don't need the car, you can take it off the road instead.
Good to know
The unpaid premium doesn't disappear when you switch company or take out a new policy – it remains a debt, now with TFF. What happens if TFF's invoice also goes unpaid is explained in Do I have to pay TFF?. What it means for a car to have no traffic insurance is covered in what happens if the car is uninsured?
Sources: Swedish Motor Insurers, about traffic insurance. Swedish Motor Insurers, the fee for uninsured vehicles. Traffic Damage Act (1975:1410) §34. Last checked: 2026-11-01.