Retaining no claims bonus without a car

runciblespoon

I've just gone onto classic car insurance for my only car, which doesn't use the usual no claims discount system. I've got 4 years NCB, so that means I need to go back onto normal insurance within two years to retain my NCB. But I might not want to run a car in two years' time.

I was wondering... is there any way to retain a NCD past the two year point if you don't have a car? I know there are a few insurers who will accept NCD past two years, but the difference is probably going to work out more expensive than buying a year's insurance at the cheapest price.

I could imagine some harebrained scheme whereby I buy some old banger (without an engine is fine), leave it on a farmer's field and insure it third party for a year. Would that be breaking any rules?

That way I could keep the NCD by just paying the insurance, without having to have a roadworthy car.
(According to my current policy I wouldn't be covered if I claimed on an unroadworthy car, but a car without an engine off the public road is never going to have a claim).

Putting in a Citroen 2CV (the lowest-performance car I could think of) into the price comparison sites I get quotes for £130, which isn't that silly. On my current car, my insurance premiums started at £300 with 0 years NCD and with 4 years NCD are now £200, and searching with 5yNCD tells me it would be about £170. Classic insurance is £125 (inc breakdown and legal, which push the cost at a normal insurer to £250).

But this is all a bit silly. Are there any more sensible ways of protecting NCD without owning a car?

lisyloo

Would that be breaking any rules?

No, you can certainly do this.
If you don't want to pay tax you need to fill in a SORN (statutory off road notification) but obviously you have to weigh up whether it's worth it.

I get quotes for £130,

I've had quidco cashback of £120, so it can make it very low.

Are there any more sensible ways of protecting NCD without owning a car?

If you have a partner or spouse then you can take it in turns and maintain 2 NCDs on one car by swapping.
However I think this only works with spouses because otherwise you can't insure someone else's car as you have no "insurable interest" in it.

So basically no, there just isn't any other way of doing it.

I am not sure which bit of a car actually counts as the registered part.
I had a hot air balloon once, and the important part we had to keep for ownership was actually very small (about the size of a dinner plate). So your final option is a "car in a box" although I'm not sure how big that actually is.

Quentin

Is there much in it? (Buying insurance and a banger v not paying any insurance till you have to and possibly not getting any NCD?)

If you think it's worthwhile paying for insurance on an undriveable vehicle, then once insured, contact the insurer and ask to suspend the insurance as the vehicle is off road. At the end of the insurance year you will get a renewal notice (with your NCD shown) and a refund of a big part of your premium.

runciblespoon

This came about because when I took out the classic insurance they didn't tell me about the lack of NCB. Now I've had the paperwork through I'm wondering whether to go back to a conventional insurer, or if it's worth taking my chances with the NCB and some 'creative NCB management' in a couple of years if it turns out to be necessary.

It may be worth it... currently my NCD is worth about £25/year. So if I lose it I have to pay (4+3+2+1)*25 extra to get back to 4 years, ie £250. If I pay £125 to insure a piece of metal in a drawer (thanks lisyloo, I'll check that out) and go up to 5 years I'll save (5+4+3+2+1)*25-125=£250 over throwing it away and starting again. Plenty of money to buy and store a wreck.

Obviously there are somewhat diminishing returns here, but it's the fact that you have to pay several years' extra premium to get back to where you started.

And that's with a car that's cheap to insure. NCD is worked out on a percentage basis - at the moment it looks to be about 12%/year. If for some reason I feel the need to buy a Ferrari (unlikely) or a newer car (more likely) where the policy is say £500 not £200 then the NCD at 12%/year would be £60/year. Going from 5 years NCD to 0 years would be an extra 60*5=£300 on the premiums. So over 5 years of premiums I'd pay (5+4+3+2+1)*60=£900 more.

Thanks, Quentin, for the suspension thing. I may make some enquiries.

runciblespoon

Another thought... are car and motorcycle NCDs interchangeable? So could I switch to a bike for a year? Might be easier to store.

shelly

runciblespoon wrote: »

Another thought... are car and motorcycle NCDs interchangeable? So could I switch to a bike for a year? Might be easier to store.

No they aren't interchangeable.

We have asked the question previously as hubby was going to get rid of his bike when we first thought about getting a second car. As we were told no, he kept the bike.

zkw29

What about switching back to a 'normal' insurer in a years time? Sure - you pay a bit more for the cover but you dont have to pay for an old car and its insurance and all the SORN paperwork etc.

Otherwise Quentin's suggestion about suspending the policy for the old banger and getting a refund for most of the year seems like a possible solution.

runciblespoon

zkw29 wrote: »

What about switching back to a 'normal' insurer in a years time? Sure - you pay a bit more for the cover but you dont have to pay for an old car and its insurance and all the SORN paperwork etc.

Well, that's the obvious solution. But I may not need a car next year or the year after, or have space to keep a 'token' car off the road (if I keep it on the road it'll need to have MOT and tax too which push up costs a lot). I'm just exploring my options now to decide whether I cancel the classic insurance now and go back to normal insurance to keep earning the NCB. I'm calculating the odds of me being in the position of my NCB expiring and how I much I need to pay to prevent that.

Otherwise Quentin's suggestion about suspending the policy for the old banger and getting a refund for most of the year seems like a possible solution.

It does indeed. Anyone know how common the suspension/refund of policy thing is? I wouldn't want to do it without being sure that the insurer is still going to produce a NCD at the end of the year.
And it's not something you can find on price comparison sites.