Buy a car just to retain full NCD or not...help

zuggy

It's quite a complicated equation to work out the cost effectiveness and getting quotes data is a labourious hassle.
I don't want a car but may need to drive to Spain with a van one day and it may prove cheaper in the long run to get the cheapest (most all round economic) car to maintain my full NCD. I would love to have a trusted someone have me as name driver for a year. (Must I be the registered keeper too or whatever it takes to have me accepted as insured and accruing NCD. & would it take a full year to set my NCD up to gain another 3 years logged?) [I get 3yrs. from CIS.]
It's not in the Insurer's interest as I will still be losing familiarity with my driving skills. Any ideas?

rev_henry

If you really wanted to couldn't you just have some ridiculous banger that doesn't work sat on your drive, but insured once every 3 years?

Quentin

Being a named driver won't help keep your NCD alive. You need to be the policyholder!

thenudeone

Many insurers allow NCD up to two years old so you don't need to have a car continually.
You could buy a cheap banger for £100 then immediately declare it off-road and buy specialist low-mileage insurance policy.
Not sure it would be worth it though. You might get nearly as good a deal by just shopping around when you need it.

thenudeone

Quentin wrote: »

Being a named driver won't help keep your NCD alive. You need to be the policyholder!

I think some insurers will allow NCD for someone who was a named driver on one of their policies. Direct Line springs to mind.

victor2

Can't you take out the cheapest policy you can find on somebody else's car? You don't have to be the registered keeper to be insured. Don't know what insurers would make of it being normally kept at an address different to yours though.

rev_henry

victor2 wrote: »

Can't you take out the cheapest policy you can find on somebody else's car? You don't have to be the registered keeper to be insured. Don't know what insurers would make of it being normally kept at an address different to yours though.

I don't think they'd mind. Moneysupermarket has a box asking 'is it kept at your home address? If not where is it [postcode]' Just means the premium is based on this other address and they send the paperwork to your home address.

Quentin

thenudeone wrote: »

I think some insurers will allow NCD for someone who was a named driver on one of their policies. Direct Line springs to mind.

Yes they do, but that's not "proper" NCD.

You can only use it to buy a policy with DL, and the existing "proper" NCD that has been earned as a policyholder wouldn't be kept "alive".

mikey72

thenudeone wrote: »

Many insurers allow NCD up to two years old so you don't need to have a car continually.
You could buy a cheap banger for £100 then immediately declare it off-road and buy specialist low-mileage insurance policy.
Not sure it would be worth it though. You might get nearly as good a deal by just shopping around when you need it.

Some allow three, so it's worth shopping around. But they could change year on year, without notice.

zuggy

Hi,
Thanks all.
You have floated all the options and concerns I had arrived at.
A car on my 'drive' is not an option, so factor in a £120pa. PZ permit.
I reckon on £12 a week minimum costs plus the vehicle price plus depreciation.
Insurance cheapest at £375, so if that's with full NCD at say 75%, thats avoiding an extra £1125 when I eventually need insurance for keeps and an ongoing yearly saving minus 10% if I retain a vehicle.
Someone mentioned that the initial NCD offered with a new premium kicks in at 40% but I am not sure.
So, insuring a car for a year or two represents a massive saving.
So much for the ecological incentive to have no vehicle.
Similar to the 'incentive' of the fact that a high mileage makes insurance a much cheaper proposition as you only pay the same as someone driving a very low mileage. Okay, a few policies use onboard SP boxes.
Same with the CZ. You pay as much to enter a street 10 yards in the CZ as to drive round in it all day long. Pathetic bludgeoning and oppressive and absolutely useless for solving congestion, but the coffers are filling.
I had hoped that within MSE this topic would already be well covered.

benjus

I recently got a car after not having one for about 2.5 years (4 years NCD when my old insurance expired). I did a search on confused.com, selecting the "No NCD in the last two years" option and Admiral came up cheapest. When I called them to accept the quote I mentioned my old NCD and she gave me 2 years NCD on the new policy. It only reduced the overall premium by about 10%, but it's better than nothing, and I don't have to start again with zero NCD.