Company car insurance - protected no claims?

Big Chris

Big Chris

Big Chris

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Do company car insurance policies generally include protected no claims? I appreciate this probably differs from company to company, and I've asked my company car team to advise - just wondered if there was a general way this is usually done?

Prior to having a company car I had 9+ years protected no claims on my own policy. I moved onto the company policy at my current job when I took a company car 2 years ago. Having just had a bump over the weekend (my fault) that will need to go through insurance, I'm worried I'll lose my no claims if/when I ever need to get my own insurance policy again.

Does anyone have any experience of this?
 
Your private no claims bear no relation to company car claims

Your company has the policy for your car not yourself, so whilst they will record that you were the driver it means little more than this.

If it's been over two years since you last had a private car you will start on zero no claims unless you can get the new company to provide you with some introductory binus. Sometimes stating you've had a company car for x years is enough to do this, though obviously be very careful with wording and don't suggest that you have not been involved in any incidents
 
You've probably already lost your no claims bonus I'm afraid. From my experience 2 years is the max companies will accept for NCB.

You may get lucky with the odd one, but I'd expect them to be more.
 
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Well when I joined the company, they advised me to keep the certificate from my previous personal insurance which proved the 9 years no claims. They then said that upon leaving the company or choosing not to take a car for whatever reason, they'd provide a letter to say that I'd been driving a company car for X years which I could add to my 9 years no claims from my previous personal policy - for continuity.
 
Were you a name driver on the company insurance policy with a specified car only driven by you?

Sounds nice of them to do that, but you are still at the mercy of what your chosen insurance company will accept.
 
Not a named driver per car no, but having spoken to our Fleet team they've said the same thing, they'll provide a letter to show I've been driving a company car for X years when required.
 
Which is great, but again you're still at the mercy of if your chosen insurer will accept that.

I know when I worked in a car dealership for a year and after I left I sorted out my own insurance again, everywhere I rang (whilst getting quotes) said it was a maximum of two years that they would honour my NCB for, after that I was SOL. Luckily for me I was nowhere near that.
 
So you mean having not had my own policy for more than 2 years, it'll have lost any NCB I might have built up, regardless of if I'd had an accident or not?
 
I was in a similar situation. Aviva offered me 4 years introductory NCD earlier this year when I switched from company car to the allowance upon showing them a letter from my employer's car insurer. If I have another claim free year this will then be the same as max NCD.
 
Big Chris said:
So you mean having not had my own policy for more than 2 years, it'll have lost any NCB I might have built up, regardless of if I'd had an accident or not?
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I dont think that's true. It's up to the insurance company you end up going with for your own policy, but a certificate of 9yrs NCB + a letter from your company's company saying you have had one small claim while on their policy, should stand you in good stead.
 
Big Chris said:
So you mean having not had my own policy for more than 2 years, it'll have lost any NCB I might have built up, regardless of if I'd had an accident or not?
Click to expand...

It may or may not be the case, but most (if not all) insurance companies will have some cut off point that any "unused" NCB essentially expires.

Some insurance companies will give you an introductory discount in the form of an NCB based upon company car history, but the one and the other are separate issues.
 
Big Chris said:
So you mean having not had my own policy for more than 2 years, it'll have lost any NCB I might have built up, regardless of if I'd had an accident or not?
Click to expand...

Generally, yes - NCB elapses after 2 years.

A letter from the company isn't of much use if that letter say 'Bob has been driving our company cars but he crashed them'.

So, if you've still got NCB - ie it's less than 2 years - this accident wont affect them, but they will expire anyway and you won't have a claim free driving letter to use to try and get them back in the future..
 
Sounds like I'm buggered then. My last personal policy was in Nov 2013 which had the 9yrs NCB so that would effectively have been lost anyway by the sound of it.

My only hope was that the company insurance somehow protected against claims, so I could show any new insurance companies a letter from the company insurer to say I had a bump but the NCB is protected so it might then tie directly into the 9yrs I had.

Wishful thinking perhaps it would seem :(
 
If you think about it Protected NCB is a bizarre thing anyway really. You've crashed and made a claim, yet you can pay extra to keep a 'no claims' bonus :confused:
 
I guess you're right when you put it that way, although what you pay to protect is probably less than having no discount at all.

Is it going to be hilariously more expensive going in at 0 years no claims? I'm 33 with no points on my licence, driving 15 years.
 
I had a company car for a few years after building up 7 years NCB. When I went back to my own insurers, they let me have my 7 years back after I got proof I wasnt involved in accidents whilst in the company vehicle...

Its worth asking (this was Admiral for my case)
 
I've read on a few random insurer websites that they 'step back' your discount entitlement a couple of years with each claim you make, so perhaps all is not lost.

I have a doc confirming 9 years from Nov 2013 (from Admiral too as it happens) and my company will provide a letter confirming I was insured with them and had one claim, so perhaps I won't go all the way back to 0 after all?
 
normally you don't get no claims on a company policy, if you haven't had your own policy for 2 years then you are probably going to be considered by a lot of insurers to be at 0 no claims
 
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