Churchill car insurance - extra no claims year
TQM
Posts: 8 Forumite
Hi,
I have my car insurance with Churchill. When the renewal premium arrived, it said I had 2 years no claims bonus, instead of 1. I thought this was a mistake, so I rang them and was told this was a special offer for some customers, but it's not written anywhere or on their website. The offer gives an extra years' no claims discount "for free".
The gentleman on the phone confirmed that this was valid with other companies when I renew.
Has anyone else had this? I'm obviously pleased by it, but don't quite believe it!
Cheers,
I have my car insurance with Churchill. When the renewal premium arrived, it said I had 2 years no claims bonus, instead of 1. I thought this was a mistake, so I rang them and was told this was a special offer for some customers, but it's not written anywhere or on their website. The offer gives an extra years' no claims discount "for free".
The gentleman on the phone confirmed that this was valid with other companies when I renew.
Has anyone else had this? I'm obviously pleased by it, but don't quite believe it!
Cheers,
0
Comments
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Out of interest, did you get a statement of fact when you took the policy out? If so does it say 0 years NCB on it?0
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Hi,
I have my car insurance with Churchill. When the renewal premium arrived, it said I had 2 years no claims bonus, instead of 1. I thought this was a mistake, so I rang them and was told this was a special offer for some customers, but it's not written anywhere or on their website. The offer gives an extra years' no claims discount "for free".
The gentleman on the phone confirmed that this was valid with other companies when I renew.
Has anyone else had this? I'm obviously pleased by it, but don't quite believe it!
Cheers,
Insurers do occasionally have offers like these.
However, it can cause problems - if you have more NCB than the years you have held your licence, the online forms usually don't let you put it in, and then you have to phone the insurer to confirm the details. The insurer may or may not accept the NCB because of this, Admiral do a 10 month product that gives you a full year NCB, but a few insurers won't accept NCB from these policies.
If the insurer accepts your 2 year NCB, then it's great, as that will give you a rather substantial discount, especially if you're under 25. However, if they won't, then they might let you say you have 1 year, but some insurers won't accept it at all and will make you say 0. You may find that you have to stay with Churchill for your NCB to be honoured, or perhaps another company owned by the Direct Line Group (Direct Line or Privilege)0 -
Newfolder, I have never known an insurer to do this. The margins on car insurance are too small, and the discounts for NCB too great for this to be commonplace. My hunch is that the policy was possibly set up with one years NCB in 'error' and the NCB never chased from the OP, and it is too much work (read: possibility of a complaint) for them to put right. Or perhaps a 'named driver' NCB has been applied incorrectly.0
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I had this with my first year's car insurance with Directline many years ago. After only having insurance for 1 year they gave 2 years NCD.0
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my_names_dave wrote: »Newfolder, I have never known an insurer to do this. The margins on car insurance are too small, and the discounts for NCB too great for this to be commonplace. My hunch is that the policy was possibly set up with one years NCB in 'error' and the NCB never chased from the OP, and it is too much work (read: possibility of a complaint) for them to put right. Or perhaps a 'named driver' NCB has been applied incorrectly.
As far as I'm aware, no claims discount doesn't actually have a shared definition between insurers and there's no central database of it like there is for claims. Therefore, insurers sometimes do strange offers with NCB, like 2 years for 1 year, 1 year for 10 months, etc.
I seem to remember seeing an advert about the Churchill extra NCB offer. From what I've heard, as long as you have proof of it in the form of a renewal notice, it is valid, but it is best to check with insurers first.0 -
Hello! thanks for the replies.
I did immediately go back to check the policy schedule from last year and it does say 0 years NCD (I certainly paid enough!).
My real confusion was that I thought a no claims discount was based on the number of years without a claim, rather than a "number" that represents the NCD. I do know about Admiral's offer - earn a year's no-claims after 10 months - I remember looking at it last year. But with that one, I think you had to continue to use Admiral, so effectively, it was an "internal" offer and you bought insurance for 10month, then renewed and internally they gave you a year's worth of NCD.
Typing out the sentence above, I suppose this is a similar thing. But a bonus year seems rather extraordinary, especially when it wasn't written in the policy documents. Perhaps they didn't write it because they wanted me to drive "normally" and not lock the car away in a garage for a year.
I plan to call Churchill back and speak to a manager to confirm the details...0 -
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Hi,
just in case anyone visits later on and wants to know the outcome:
I rang Churchill again. I spoke to a different person, although not a supervisor (though I don't think that's important really). They actually had a record of my previous call and confirmed it was a special offer at the time I took out my policy, because I was a new customer. It wasn't advertised though. The NCD is confirmed at 2 years.
I'm delighted, needless to say, as I can change my renewal quotes to have 2 years' NCD.
On a side note, my renewal letter from Churchill quoted a very high number - when I rang them up, they reduced this by an astonishing £500 to match a quote I had got online with them! I know that all of the insurance companies do this, but it's pretty sneaky. But that's a matter for another thread...0
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