Things I didn't know about car insurance

[roachcoach]

Ran into two issues over the weekend, thought I'd share since they completely left-fielded us, might save some others some bother in future.

1) NCD expires, we didn't know this, my Mrs had 5+ years when we consolidated policies into mine, but after 2 years, they're gone. *poof*, never happened. Ouch. Back to 0 NCD for her.

2) NCD doesn't accrue against the policy holder alone, it's against policy holder's vehicle. Sounds stupid I know, what I mean is I have 10 years no claims, but I can only apply that to a SINGLE car. I can't take out two policies with the discount, I can only apply NCD to a single car. I also couldn't find a firm willing to let me split it (5 on one, 5 on another for example).

Anyway, we didn't know this and its been a bit of a pain in the arse to say the least.

[Barakka]

2) NCD doesn't accrue against the policy holder alone, it's against policy holder's vehicle. Sounds stupid I know, what I mean is I have 10 years no claims, but I can only apply that to a SINGLE car. I can't take out two policies with the discount, I can only apply NCD to a single car. I also couldn't find a firm willing to let me split it (5 on one, 5 on another for example).

Interestingly one person can build up two sets of NCD on two cars though.

Example would be years ago I bought a new car with 1 years free insurance - at the end of the year I had two sets of NCD - the one from the new car with 1 year NCD, and my previous NCD of 3 years.

[roachcoach]

Yes

One of these many thing I wish I'd known 5-10 years ago

[usxhe190]

Yes, insurance companies like to scam everyone. So when they say people are scamming them, I feel no sympathy.

[DanceswithUnix]

I consider NCD a protection racket, hell they even have protected NCD to make it sound the same.

If you have an accident, even if it isn't your fault, then your risk increases so your premium increases the following year. Lord help you if you lose your NCD, as you are losing the "discount" on a now massively increased premium. Wasn't like that in my youth, no idea when it changed to this crazy way.

[roachcoach]

I consider NCD a protection racket, hell they even have protected NCD to make it sound the same.

If you have an accident, even if it isn't your fault, then your risk increases so your premium increases the following year. Lord help you if you lose your NCD, as you are losing the "discount" on a now massively increased premium. Wasn't like that in my youth, no idea when it changed to this crazy way.

What I find VERY odd, is the NCD is a flat %age.

When my wife ran her details through to get a quote for a car, it was within about £10 of mine. Example, fiesta: both c250 quid. she amended her no claims from 5+ years after we realised it had expired and it only rose to £400....so...yeah../..not really the advertised discount is it you buggers

Rav4 quotes were both in the £400 mark, she drops no claims and it only rose to £600. EXPLAIN BITCHES! Oh wait, you don't have to

[Zak33]

to further cause confusion, a claim often results in a larger premium but not a total loss of the NCD %

Sair had her car smacked into while she was in the office working and when she came out, mammoth damage, no witness, CCTV not working etc.

The NCD was going to drop but NOT by the entire amount... only by a few years. However.. the premium DOES shoot up.

But the time I'd paid for a bonnet and wing replacement (nearly new Saab...not cheap.. we're talking into the 000's not a few hundred) the insurance was STILL going to outweigh the clai, over the next 3 to 4 years toregain the NCD and the lower premium.

In short... not worth claiming upon, even to the tune of £2000 repair bill

Sick isn't it?

And apparently we need everyone's age to be ignored now....

[roachcoach]

And apparently we need everyone's age to be ignored now....

They get that through? I thought it was just an implication of the gender thing?

[rox0r]

We ran into the 'NCD is per driver not per car' thing when we bought our latest car.

The usual route is to trade in your old car for a new one and start a new policy, transferring the NCD from the old car you no longer have. We kept the old car to use as a runabout and went on and insured the new one, we then get a letter from the insurance company asking for proof of NCD (as you expect) so we sent the insurance documents for the little Ka. They write back and say, "It appears you have not disposed of this vehicle and we cannot apply your NCD. Please write to us with proof you no longer own this vehicle"

Of course I ring them up giving it large 'wtf?' to which I'm told, "Sorry sir but NCD is per car not per driver so you'll have to start a new policy at zero NCD on the new vehicle unless you dispose of the old one"

Insurance jumped by £380 for the new car......not chuffed.

Went with a multicar policy though and brought it back down by £250. We're getting rid of the Ka shortly as it's too much running two cars now so we've got the wonderful prospect of trying to get the insurance company to transfer the NCD from the Ka onto the new Auris, which apparently they don't have to do if they don't want to......right laugh.

[roachcoach]

Pretty much exactly what happened to us, fortunately we noticed before buying anything.

To say my good lady was incandescent with fury would be something of an understatement


Where did you get a multicar from? I've not seen a decent drop there. Typically the multicar companies are whacking a good £100 on the best quotes I get individually which basically neuters the benefit and then some.

[rox0r]

Where did you get a multicar from?

Direct Line.

[roachcoach]

Ooof, they seem to HATE me. Never had a quote off them that didn't have clear blue ocean between it and the best available.

I check every 3 years or so to no avail. might be worth a peek tonight/tomorrow.

[Mblaster]

1) NCD expires, we didn't know this, my Mrs had 5+ years when we consolidated policies into mine, but after 2 years, they're gone. *poof*, never happened. Ouch. Back to 0 NCD for her.

I heard about this a while back, but didn't realise it was as little as 2 years. Looks like the 3 years of no claims bonus I have built up will be gone before I get another car...

[MadduckUK]

Of course I ring them up giving it large 'wtf?' to which I'm told, "Sorry sir but NCD is per car not per driver so you'll have to start a new policy at zero NCD on the new vehicle unless you dispose of the old one"

I would love to hear the reasoning behind that.

[roachcoach]

I've got £500000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 on "Because we can, now bugger off"