No claim bonus from abroad

nurbz

Hi guys,

I bought my first car about 2 yrs ago, and I got an insurance from Quinn direct. I was previously living in Spain, and I obtained 10 yrs of no claim bonus from there. I informed quinn direct of that, and they honored the deal, and I got a really cheap insurance.
I then bought a new car, and found a cheaper insurance: admiral. While talking with them today, I was informed that I only have a 3 yrs no claim bonus, because they were informed by my previous insurer, quinn direct, that I only had 2 yrs no claim. I informed them of my spanish no claim bonus, but they told me they can only get the info from my previous insurer. So I called Quinn direct, and they told me that my 10 yrs no claim was only valid for 1 year. After the 1st year, they made it go down to 1 year?!

Surely that is wrong. With all EU laws these days, there should be no differences between no claim bonuses, be they spanish or english. Does someone know more about that? What can I do now?

Thanks in advance

A

Quentin

It is the norm that you need to have "earned" any NCD in the UK when wanting to use it for a new policy, though I do know Direct Line accept NCD earned from a EU country.

Quinn may have given you an introductory discount in view of your driving record, not accepted the foreign NCD.

property.advert

It is down to their ability firstly to be able to check and secondly whether they believe and can trust the company providing them with the information. I found that my history in SE Asia was just ignored on the positive side but had I had an accident abroad, then answering no on their questionnaire would lead to a false declaration. Essentially they want their cake and to eat it !

I do wonder however whether some assistance could be given if you could use the same company. I for instance could have used Axa and as they operate in the UK, it might be a long shot at asking them to honour the no claims built up with their company subsidiary. That is the only way I think you could get around their rules and even then I think you would have to be very lucky.