Frequently asked questions about Sweden's motor insurance fee (TFF)

TFF isn't a government agency. It's an association jointly owned by Sweden's insurance companies – every insurer that wants to sell motor insurance is required to be a member. TFF was founded in 1929, when motor insurance became mandatory in Sweden, and its work is governed by the Traffic Damage Act and the Motor Insurance Fee Ordinance. The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority oversees the association.

TFF has three main tasks: compensating people injured by uninsured, unidentified, or foreign vehicles; charging the fee to owners of uninsured vehicles; and representing Sweden in the international Green Card system.

The fee you've received isn't a penalty TFF invents for its own profit. The money is used to compensate people injured by exactly the type of vehicle yours was, during the period it lacked insurance.

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The fee has to be high enough that nobody profits from skipping insurance. It's written into the law: the Traffic Damage Act allows a fee of up to 10 percent above the highest motor-insurance premium available on the Swedish market for the same type of vehicle.

A common objection is that the fee feels far more than 10 percent higher than your own premium. The explanation lies in which premium the comparison is made against. TFF doesn't calculate based on your personal premium, which might be low thanks to a no-claims bonus, low mileage, or where you live. The comparison is made against the highest premium any company on the market charges for the same vehicle type and use – in practice, the most expensive policy imaginable, like one for an inexperienced driver with a powerful car in a high-risk category. That's why the fee often feels many times higher than what you'd actually have paid, even though it's only allowed to be 10 percent above the market's ceiling – not your own floor.

That also explains the actual numbers. A full year's premium for a private passenger car often comes to a couple of thousand kronor, which works out to a handful of kronor a day. The fee, instead, is 202 kronor a day for the same car. The difference is deliberate: if the fee were lower than what a risky driver would otherwise pay in premiums, it would pay off to gamble and only pay up if caught.

The fee still steps down for anyone who's been uninsured a long time, to 50 percent after 90 days and 25 percent after 180 days, so the debt doesn't grow unreasonably for someone stuck in a long period.

TFF sorts all vehicles into 19 fee categories, based on vehicle type (passenger car, truck, motorcycle, bus, moped, and so on) and how it's used (private, taxi, rental, freight, and more). Each category gets its own daily fee, based on the actual premiums insurers charge for vehicles in that category – not on your specific vehicle's make, model year, bonus, or address.

The fees are reviewed at least twice a year and adjusted if insurers' prices change. Been uninsured a long time? The fee automatically steps down: to 50 percent of the standard amount from day 91, and to 25 percent from day 181, with a floor of 7 kronor a day. The lowest total amount TFF charges for a new fee is 200 kronor.

Want to see an estimate for your own vehicle? Use the TFF fee calculator.

Yes. If the fee is correct, it's a debt you're legally required to pay, just like an unpaid invoice. The fee is set under the Traffic Damage Act, and TFF has the legal right to collect it.

If you don't pay, a reminder is usually sent. If that goes unpaid too, the fee moves on to debt collection, with further charges added. If that doesn't resolve it, TFF can apply for a payment order through the Enforcement Authority, which can lead to a payment default entry that makes it harder to get a loan, sign a subscription, or rent a home for several years afterward.

The debt doesn't disappear by waiting it out. If the fee is correct, it's always cheapest to pay as early as possible, or contact TFF about a payment plan before it goes to collections.

Yes, but it takes a long time. The fee follows the general ten-year rule under the Limitations Act, not the shorter three-year rule that applies to ordinary consumer debts – a Swedish court has ruled that the fee doesn't count as a consumer claim (Svea Court of Appeal, RH 2007:6).

The clock resets every time TFF takes an action that interrupts it, for example sending a new reminder or moving the case to debt collection or the Enforcement Authority. In practice, that means the debt rarely gets the chance to expire on its own, since TFF typically acts well before ten years have passed.

So don't wait out a fee hoping it'll disappear by itself. If it's correct, it's cheaper to pay or agree on a payment plan than to let the debt sit and grow with interest and charges in the meantime.

As long as you pay or agree on a payment plan before the fee reaches the Enforcement Authority, it normally affects neither your creditworthiness nor your ability to take out insurance. An unpaid fee by itself, or one sitting with a debt collector, doesn't automatically create a payment default entry.

If the fee instead proceeds to a payment order through the Enforcement Authority and you neither pay nor dispute it, a ruling is issued and registered as a payment default entry with credit reporting agencies. Such an entry can make it harder to get a loan, rent a home, or sign certain subscriptions for up to three years.

The fee itself has no bearing on your no-claims bonus or your future premium with an insurer. Once you've taken out valid insurance, that premium is assessed as usual, regardless of any past fee.

TFF can answer questions about your specific fee – for example why it arose, exactly which period it covers, and how to pay or request a payment plan.

Before calling TFF: contact your insurance company first. It's their records on which vehicle was insured, by whom, and from what date, that TFF relies on. Compare those records against the fee from TFF, so you already know before the call whether the underlying data is correct.

Also make sure the vehicle isn't uninsured right now before contacting TFF. If it still is, you have an ongoing case where the cost keeps growing every day, regardless of how the old fee gets resolved.

Official channels:

• My Pages – log in to see your fee, current amount, and pay (Swedish only).
• Pay us – payment details and how to request a payment plan (Swedish only).
• Contact TFF – phone, email, and postal address (Swedish only).