protected NCB question

anniecave

this may be an obvious question, but I can't find the answer anywhere.

I quote from the switcover website (just because I can find it)

"Protecting your No Claims Discount means you can make one claim in one year or two claims in a three year period, and your No Claims Discount will not be lost"

Are these guideline the same for all insurers?

And if so when they say claim, do they mean fault claim (by that I mean any circumstance where full costs can't be recovered, excluding windscreens), or does it mean accident claim of any sort (fault/non fault etc) and "fault" non accidents, like vandalism? Or does it also include windscreen claims?

In December 08 I reported an accident that was my fault but I didn't claim, and the other person didn't either, because the damage was so minor we sorted it out between us.

Would this count as a "claim" to be counted in with the two every 3 years?

I'm considering whether to try to protect my NCB, so information would be useful here!

Quentin

Some NCD is lost (or a strike marked against protected NCD) only when a claim is made against the policy.

Incidents which don't result in a claim don't affect NCD.

To answer your specific question - No.

Different companies operate the way they apply "strikes" against protected NCD differently. (ie The number of claims allowed, or the length of time before a claim is no longer used for totting up)

JonBoy_SCFC

i don't know why people bother paying extra for NCB protection when it doesn't promise anything in relation to the price you pay next year - surely it's protection against price increases that customers want???? (and often think they're getting!!)

anyway, if you are a fan of paying extra to make sure you keep a nice high number on your NCB proof (but not necessarily saving any money from that), then you might want to consider Guaranteed NCB which i think allows for even more claims than normal NCB protection

lisyloo

i don't know why people bother paying extra for NCB protection when it doesn't promise anything in relation to the price you pay next year

Hi JonBoy,

You are absolutely right about not knowing exactly what you get.
BUT I had a car claim last year and my car insurance did NOT rise after the claim (I had full no claims with NCD).
My bike insurance where I don't have it protected DID increase.
Therefore I summise that I did get some value for my money here.

BTW - I always check the price before purchasing.
I think it cost me about £7 for NCD protection so I decided to get it.
I wouldn't buy it at £50.

[

but not necessarily saving any money from that

With any insurance you never know whether you'll need it.
That doesn't mean your car insurance was a waste of time because you never had an accident.
People need to weigh up whether it's worthwhile in their particular case.
I do quotes with and without to ascertain the price.
It's usually between £5 and £15 for me so I tend to buy it, but wouldn't pay loads for it.

JonBoy_SCFC

lisyloo wrote: »

Hi JonBoy,

You are absolutely right about not knowing exactly what you get.
BUT I had a car claim last year and my car insurance did NOT rise after the claim (I had full no claims with NCD).
My bike insurance where I don't have it protected DID increase.
Therefore I summise that I did get some value for my money here.

you could be right, but you could be very wrong too - suppose you're car insurance was originally going to come down a lot (you're a year older, another year with no claims, the company had reviewed the rates for your postcode/vehicle etc). But now it's staying the same because of the claim

If that were the case you'd effectively be getting charged a lot for the claim but because you're overall premium hadn't increased you don't really notice it.

Hope this helps

lisyloo

you could be right, but you could be very wrong too - suppose you're car insurance was originally going to come down a lot (you're a year older, another year with no claims, the company had reviewed the rates for your postcode/vehicle etc). But now it's staying the same because of the claim

If that were the case you'd effectively be getting charged a lot for the claim but because you're overall premium hadn't increased you don't really notice it.]

I checked multiple companies by using a comparison site.
Firstly with zero claims then with one fault claim.
There was no difference in price across many companies.

I cannot be sure it's down to the NCD, but my bike insurance without NCD did go up and other factors (age, gender postcode) are the same across both policies.

I don't disagree with you that for some people it's not worth the cost.
But I don't agree that there is no point in it whatsoever.
It can be beneficial.
Whether it's worth the price is an individual decision based on cost and circumstances.

keith1950

Hi, isn't the question of whether or not to protect your NCD more to do with ensuring your next years premium is as low as possible. If you are protected and have an accident then your premium will not rise because of a reduction in NCD but will rise due to an increased risk. If you are not protected then the premium rises because of the increased risk and then rises even further because of a reduced NCD. The only downside is that you then need to stay with your current insurer because the protected NCD is not transferrable.

dacouch

You can actually transfer your protected no claims bonus to most other insurers subject to you being acceptable to their underwriting. You normally lose the same amount of "Lifes" off your protected no claims bonus as with the previous company

anniecave

Thanks for the replies everyone. I've only just got up to 4 years NCD so I've never had the option of protecting it before, so I was just checking my understanding is correct of how it all works!

And yes I do understand that protecting NCD isn't worth it for everyone, but for me I think it's worth it. Sods law means if I don't protect it then I will end up with a claim, whereas if I do protect it then I won't!

dacouch

Protected saves you even more money if you have two claims in a couple of years.

It means you can often afford to claim for small damage say where someone hits your car in a car park and drives off

anniecave

I would try to avoid claiming for small damage. My fault, another driver's fault, my neighbours dog, whoever. It would cost me more in increased premiums than the cost of just paying out for it myself.

Even a non-fault all costs recovered claim increases the premium with many companies.

And all claims (including windscreen and non-claims) count towards the number you have to enter on the "accidents" screen - and a lot of providers refuse to quote if you have more than 3 of these in 5 years.

Thanks for the input anyway!