No longer have own motor insurance, what happens to NCB?

Temrael

Hi there,

To save a bit of money we are considering getting rid of my car and us just making do with my wife's.

Up till now we have both had cars and both been insured on them (with the other being a named party on each others policy).

I'm trying to work out how much better off we'd be with just one car but I wondered about my NCB. If we go down to just the wifes car, and I am only named on her policy, rather than having my own, will all my NCB dissappear?

Or will it just stop growing? I have maximum NCB anyway so that'd be fine I guess, but if I need to get a car next year or something and find myself with no NCB due to not being continuously insured then I ought to factor that cost into my calculations, to see if it's worth doing.

Any ideas?

Quentin

Your NCB will stop "growing", though no problem if you already have max.

Most insurers honour NCB proof that was earned up to 2 years prior to insurance being taken out again.

If you wait longer than that, then the money saved by not paying for insurance will outweigh any extra you have to pay on a brand new policy (and if you have an incident free record, you should get a decent introductory discount when you restart).

Altarf

Or the year after next (but within two years of you cancelling your insurance), you insure your wife's car using your NCB, and then two years later she insures it, and continue as necessary.

Obviously you must ensure that the insurers are told the whole truth, i.e. that your wife is the registered keeper and who the main driver is etc.

anniecave

I know people who alternate from year to year, so one year the wife is insured as main driver and husband as named, the other year husband is main driver and wife named.
I would only do that if both parties do similar mileage though. If one does a lot more than the other then I would just keep main driver as main and lesser driver as a named driver and let ncb lapse.

As you get older, ncb makes less difference anyway. As an example, my mum didn't have her own insurance for years and years, she was just a named driver on my dad's car. She then bought her own car a few years back, and even though she had no no claims bonus, her premiums were still very cheap anyway.

anna42hmr

or another option, is to insure with a company who allows the nd to accrue their own no claims during the insurance year, so the ncd is applicabl when you re-insure in your name, (as long as it is with the same company for the new insurance)