10 month bonus accelators

splutterbug

Looking to get my first lot of car insurance and I've come across something called a bonus accelator on both Diamond and elephant, we have zero no claims as it's a first car so are these advisable?

The amount doesn't seem much more per month so I'm wondering if the amount I would save on next years insurance, would offset the additional costs (on average over the year) of going for 10 months instead of 12 (and it would help reducing my costs this month being that I've just forked out on a car).

What do you reckon, I've never heard of these before so wondered if there was some kind of catch

Thanks

SteveScooby

I've had a bonus accelrator policy with Bell for the last 3 years, paying monthly it's hardly any difference. Essentially in my first years i was paying £85 a month instead of £80 and in the second i was paying £58 instead of £55, now I'm paying £38 instead of £35.

So at the end of 3 policies i'll have paid £1810 instead of £2040

dacouch

You would normally be best taking out 12 months cover

Quote

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=838819

danny69

SteveScooby wrote: »

I've had a bonus accelrator policy with Bell for the last 3 years, paying monthly it's hardly any difference. Essentially in my first years i was paying £85 a month instead of £80 and in the second i was paying £58 instead of £55, now I'm paying £38 instead of £35.

So at the end of 3 policies i'll have paid £1810 instead of £2040

Yes but wont that mean you also got 30 months cover instead of 36?

JonBoy_SCFC

danny69 wrote: »

Yes but wont that mean you also got 30 months cover instead of 36?

yes he made a bit of a basic error in the comparison

for the 12 month policy total cost, should have done 12 x £80 + 12 x £55 + 6 x £35 = £1830

still slightly better off then with the 10 month policy, although not sure if other things need need to be considered too?

danny69

How would he be better off? I dont understnad that, my understnading is that hes getting 30 months of motoring for £1830, which is £61 a month overall. 36 months of motoring would have cost £2040 - or £56.67 a month overall. I suppose the upside of the bonus accelerator is that if you are looking for a more powerful car in the future then it will be more obtainable sooner i guess?

danny69

Oops, just noticed the error was with the 12 month policy and not the 10 month one! 12 month policies are usually paid over 10 months anyway, so 12 month policies should cost more per payment. Even with the original figures, the 12 month policy still seems more attractive.

toptip

I work for a well-known insurance broker selling motor policies and we've been advised to watch out for No Claims Bonus from 10 month policies.

Simply put - if you did a quote online for a 12 month policy and put 3 years NCD and then decided to take up the policy, you'd then be asked to provide your proof from the renewal notice. If your renewal says its a 10 month policy then you really have 30 months NCD (or 2.5 years).

As NCD is only calculated in full years, you would only have 2 years, putting you in a worse position financially.

Has anyone had a similar experience with this?

dacouch

Thanks toptip, a lot of us have been explaining this! It is normally better to just take a 12 month policy out and then you can use the no claims bonus with any Insurer. If you take a 10 month policy very few companies will accept it...

JonBoy_SCFC

toptip wrote: »

I work for a well-known insurance broker selling motor policies and we've been advised to watch out for No Claims Bonus from 10 month policies.

Simply put - if you did a quote online for a 12 month policy and put 3 years NCD and then decided to take up the policy, you'd then be asked to provide your proof from the renewal notice. If your renewal says its a 10 month policy then you really have 30 months NCD (or 2.5 years).

As NCD is only calculated in full years, you would only have 2 years, putting you in a worse position financially.

Has anyone had a similar experience with this?

your brokerage has probably lost a lot of business already to direct insurers, and this stance would presumably result in more lost business. Do you think it makes sense to quote a customer with 10 months NCB the rate for 0 months NCB?

Also, i don't know the answer to this, but does the proof of NCB actually state the policy length on it? if not then how can you possibly look out for it? maybe tinkerbell can check her renewal notice when she gets a chance to go to her other home;)