Policy for 6 months to avoid losing NCD

[blun]

Hi - I have 15 years NCD, but haven't held a policy since September 2019 as I sold my car and have been driving another car not insured by me.

Generally NCD is lost if insurance isn't held for 2 years. I don't want to lose my NCD as I will need it in the future.

If I were to use my NCD to take out a monthly policy on a vehicle, then cancel after say 6 months, would this effectively "reset the clock" giving me another 2 years before my NCD is lost?

Appreciate this is a bit of an edge case but if anyone has any experience here that'd be much appreciated.

 

[muon]

No it wont necessarily work as the company doesn't need to provide you with a new proof. They could very reasonably say you should be using your old one.

However, some will give you a fresh letter.

How old are you? What is the actual difference in price between 15 years and no years, with no claims in last 5 years.

 

[Vanilla]

Not an edge case, I was in the same boat as you. I *think* you need a full year of insurance to keep them running but happy to be corrected. They are all linked by database now (I have not been asked for proof of NCB for years) so it's not work risking it just to save 6 months of cash.

I was approaching the two years so I took a policy out. The way I see it is that policy protects my NCB for 3 years.

One year insured and then another two grace period.

 

[Nasher]

You have to do a full 12 months to get a year afaik. Even if you go from one of those policies which give you a year for 10 months etc, other insurers often recalculate it based on 12 months and knock incomplete years off.

 

[blun]

No it wont necessarily work as the company doesn't need to provide you with a new proof. They could very reasonably say you should be using your old one.

However, some will give you a fresh letter.

How old are you? What is the actual difference in price between 15 years and no years, with no claims in last 5 years.

Difference in price isn't huge - I'm 40 and it's a difference of about £300 going from 15 years down to zero years. However that is £300 in year one, maybe £150 in year two etc.. so adds up to maybe £500-£600 total. It's not the end of the world but for £600 it seemed worth doing if it was possible.

 

[muon]

Difference in price isn't huge - I'm 40 and it's a difference of about £300 going from 15 years down to zero years. However that is £300 in year one, maybe £150 in year two etc.. so adds up to maybe £500-£600 total. It's not the end of the world but for £600 it seemed worth doing if it was possible.

You don't yet know when you will need it though. Might have to spend money again in 2 years.

I agree if you knew you needed it soon, it might be worth it.

Aren't there other costs like getting a car?

 

[blun]

You don't yet know when you will need it though. Might have to spend money again in 2 years.

I agree if you knew you needed it soon, it might be worth it.

Aren't there other costs like getting a car?

It's a long story! Have a company car at the moment for the next 3 years but won't be able to get another one. Wife sold her car before Covid and we've not yet replaced it but we will do in the next 2 months.

Usually in this situation the wife and I would insure the car we own on alternate years, so we both keep our no claims. However because of the current situation one or the other of our NCB's is going to expire, unless I can "renew" mine by having a policy for 6 months or so, then the wife can do 1yr, then I'll do 1yr etc...

Like I said it's a bit of an edge case. I might try calling my previous insurer and see whether they would insure me for 6 months and issue a proof of NCD at the end.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Do you have a car you can even insure?

 

[Lethal`]

Couldn't you technically have a policy for a few days and then cancel in the cooling off period and get a proof of no claims? Quite a few companies send the no claims proof automatically. Maybe just try it.

Do you have a car you can even insure?

Most insurers don't require that you own the car to insure it.

 

[gc123]

in the old days we used to just get a cheap mini or something and park it on the drive and insure it .

 

[savagesam117]

Insure your company car?

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Most insurers don't require that you own the car to insure it.

No, but it makes things really complicated in the event of a claim.

You also might want to check the T&C's of insuring the company car before doing so.

 

[bainbridge]

I think you don't have to complete a full year to get NCD issued by that company. You won't accrue any more NCD by cancelling early, but once you take out a policy and proof of NCD is assigned to it, that's the policy your NCD are on.

I'd personally use them rather than lose them. As well as the obvious discount itself, if you were to have a fault accident, even in the car you're driving now which doesn't use the NCD, at least the loaded premium would be discounted.

 

[Lethal`]

Is there actually a standard discount for NCD? I've found it seems to make less and less difference over the years compared to age and a lack of claims/accidents.

 

[Vanilla]

Couldn't you technically have a policy for a few days and then cancel in the cooling off period and get a proof of no claims? Quite a few companies send the no claims proof automatically. Maybe just try it.


Most insurers don't require that you own the car to insure it.

No, they wouldn't not count that as a valid policy / year. They have a database now, the vast majority don't even ask for a certificate anymore - they just go look up the database. Cancelling after two days may be seen as not being valid insurance enough to grant the 15 years NCB as valid, so he'd lose them by risking it.

 

[Vanilla]

No, but it makes things really complicated in the event of a claim.

You also might want to check the T&C's of insuring the company car before doing so.

Depends if he ever uses the car. I did it on my dads car. I don't drive it. I'm never going to claim on my policy.

 

[Vanilla]

Is there actually a standard discount for NCD? I've found it seems to make less and less difference over the years compared to age and a lack of claims/accidents.

Not really. A number of factors come into play when deciding if this is the right route to take

- Age
- Location
- Car preference.

You may have age under your belt but live in London and like high insurance group cars. 15 years NCB could be the difference between £1800 and £700 for example.

Now, I took out a policy on my dads car to keep mine going. It's a 1.1 Micra. Paying about just over £400 (I think, I did a thread about it somewhere) even with 9 years NCB. Shows how much it can be just because of London.

That gives me three years grace period on my NCB. One year insured (never going to claim because I don't use his car), then another two years grace.

 

[blun]

It is interesting how the NCD really doesn't give the discount you would expect given some of the percentages that get mentioned by the insurance companies.

In my case I rand a few test quotes (I'm a low risk area in Lancashire) to see what the impact of letting my NCB expire would be:

Tesla Model 3 - No NCB: £900. 15 years NCB - £600
Mini Cooper S - No NCB: £400. 15 years NCB - £350

You'd think 15yrs NCB would be something like a 70% discount so there is obviously way more to the algorithm's than just applying a %discount based on number of years NCB.

 

[Lethal`]

You'd think 15yrs NCB would be something like a 70% discount so there is obviously way more to the algorithm's than just applying a %discount based on number of years NCB.

15 years of bad habits vs a newer driver that hasn't developed the bad habits perhaps. I'm sure it's all driven by data.

 

[blun]

15 years of bad habits vs a newer driver that hasn't developed the bad habits perhaps. I'm sure it's all driven by data.

They ask how long you have had your licence as a different question though and there’s lots of people who will be driving constantly but not have an insurance policy in their own name (company car, named driver etc..)