Insurance - Cheapest way to keep no claims bonus alive after no longer driving

Pincher

There are no definites here. There are insurance companies that will look at special circumstances. Americans can start with non-zero NCBs when they relocate. You could have been driving a company car for years. zipcar.co.uk will provide driving history. One thing is for sure, the money you spend for three years or more on insuring an old banger will be hundreds of pounds, especially for a London postcode.

I bought a Vauxhall Viva twenty years ago to do what you are proposing: it's not worth the bother.

calypsored

I'd need to get the banger to my driveway so it would need to have some MOT and tax - just enough for that one journey; or I could find a banger with enough tax and MOT and then just use it until it broke (might as well if I have to get an insurance policy on it)

I've looked at streetcar and streetvan before - very interesting scheme but I know for streetvan the insurance excess you have to pay out is 1000 pound in the event of an accident which was enough to put me off - there may we ways to reduce it but I havent looked into these. Also using car club wouldnt keep my NCB going as it has to be a policy in my own name.

Aviva quotes are very high for my details so would be uncompetitive prices even with my NCB - the industry standard is 24 months until unused NCB expire.

I only need to insure for another year say from April 2010 until April 2011 to keep my NCB alive; then I dont need to get another insurance policy until March 2013. Cant be a motobike policy as NCB are not transferable between car and motorbike.

I'll phone insurance companies today and ask about the laid up policy and post later what they said because I havent been able to find anything on the internet about this specific point.

calypsored

Just to confirm in case anybody else has the same problem a 'laid up policy' (fire and theft insurance for a car off the road) will not work at keeping your NCB alive. Must be third party only policy at the minimum.

What a struggle though trying to find that out from the insurance companies - had to repeatedly ask to be put through to a more specialist departments and had many operators denying that such a policy existed when I knew for a fact from the motoring forums that the companies I were phoning did do such cover.

Oh well, guess it will be the old banger route - thanks for the help.

Pincher

A G-Wiz electric car is cheap to maintain and zero road tax,
and presumably cheap to insure.

Low annual milage classic car insurance is very cheap,
and you get to drive it. No depreciation. Anything 30 years old will qualify, so a Datsun Cherry for £300 is conceivable. Road tax high, though.

vaio

I suspected that would be the case on a specialist laid up policy as I think they are treated like most limited mileage classic policies, they don’t accept NCB and therefore you can’t gain any.

However, it might be worth checking that it’s the same for an ordinary policy that later has the road risks part temporarily removed if you see what I mean.

A couple of years ago one of the young guys working with me had a little bump in his car and decided to take it off the road and fit fancy suspension etc.

His insurance company removed the road risks parts of his policy which reduced his monthly payment dramatically. The plan was to be off the road for three months but it the event it ended up being closer to nine months.

He can’t remember the insurance company but his broker was Adrian Flux and he is adamant that he got a years NCB from the policy as normal.

DrScotsman

I doubt this will help in your circumstances but I thought it'd be worth mentioning, especially for any Googlers in the future.

I wanted to cancel my car insurance with Endsleigh and they offered to suspend it, where instead of refunding you the money they waive the admin fee and you get given credit for insurance with them in the future - although it has to be used up within 2 years (of the policy expiring or of the date of suspension, can't remember). I didn't take that offer, but I think they said that if I suspend the policy for less than 6 months then I'd still earn 1 years NCB for that year.

mikey72

Pincher wrote: »

A G-Wiz electric car is cheap to maintain and zero road tax,
and presumably cheap to insure.

Low annual milage classic car insurance is very cheap,
and you get to drive it. No depreciation. Anything 30 years old will qualify, so a Datsun Cherry for £300 is conceivable. Road tax high, though.

Classic car insurance won't give the NCB though.

blue_haddock

there are certain ways around this. Most legitimate and prob ably the cheapest way is to take out a cheap policy on your exisiting vehicle and send in your current proof of no claims to your new insurer, wait untill the documents come through the post and then phone up and cancel it. Your new insurer will then send you a new proof of claims document giving you 2 years from that date.

Overall will probably cost you one months premium and maybe a small cancellation fee.

iamana1ias

calypsored wrote: »

It is yet another rip off from the insurance companies as just because a driver stops driving does not diminish the quality of their driving ability especially if they have a proven record of being a safe driver in the past.

Insurance stats show that it does, actually.

calypsored

Insurance stats show whatever they want them to show especially as insurers fund and sometimes conduct the research themselves. If a driver has a proven safety record (5 years in my case) in the past then they wont suddenly become a boy racer during their gap from driving.

If the driver had developed illness/injury in the time off then I can understand it but other than this there is no reasonable excuse for it. You dont forget how to drive or act on the road; in fact I reckon I would be a safer driver now because I would be less complacent about driving.

I really think car insurance is an area that needs heavy reform by government but thats another post. Just to see what the situation would be if I let my no claims go I got a quote on a mondeo 1.8 with zero NCB and only two insurers were below 1500 pounds for third party only for a car worth 200 pound. Lowest I could get was 850 pounds. Ridiculous.

DrScotsman and Blue_Haddock raised some interesting ways around needing a full policy for a car I wont use. Im definately going to try the insurance for a year and then cancel the policy after a month then see from when my 5 years NCB certificate is dated from. If that works I let the forum know because that will save me a heap of hassle.