Protected No Claims Bonus? Scam?

Wig

the link without the referral
http://www.non-standard-car-insurance.co.uk/types-of-cover.asp?

shelly

Tucker wrote: »

When a customer claimed on it, the premium was often loaded, so you were still paying more. It's just sneeky way of charging more. We always struggled to find companies that would honour it on transfer. Most wouldn't.

The fact you were shopping around after claiming on Prot NCD probably says alot!

I shop around every year, not only in the years we have claimed (which is only twice)

Of course the renewal premium goes up after a claim, we pay to protect the level of discount, we don't pay to protect the premium against rises. By shopping around we usually pay less and change companies rather than stay with the same co and pay the renewal price.

I can honestly say that I have never had a company decline to transfer it.

tobimorey

i've just tried a few variables on my renewal on the comparison sites, it seemed to be quite interesting: it would cost me £120 on average to protect my 7 years NCD but when i tried it again without any NCD it was only £100 more. ?? what would we be paying to protect?

Gloomendoom

tobimorey wrote: »

i've just tried a few variables on my renewal on the comparison sites, it seemed to be quite interesting: it would cost me £120 on average to protect my 7 years NCD but when i tried it again without any NCD it was only £100 more. ?? what would we be paying to protect?

That is quite a common occurrence with online motor insurance quotes. Play around with the variables too much and you will see the premium suddenly shoot up. It is probably nothing to do with the NCD.

cullen4040

birkee wrote: »

Just in case anyone doesn't know:-
Swiftcover (on-line insurers)
I insured with them one year, and with someone else the next.
Then I get a letter from Swiftcover saying they couldn't debit my account (changed cedit card) and unless I paid this years premium, the forces of evil would descend on me. (Bailif's etc)

They at no time sent me a new premium for this current year, so I had no idea what the premium was.
Nowhere did I read, that the premiums would be ongoing unless you cancelled. (Not even telling you what it was to be.)
What other company charges you motor insurance without being asked, and without telling you how much you have to pay?

I had to telephone them, and was told I must produce evidence of my current insurance, and they wouldn't charge me for the period between my old policy ending, and the new one starting. (Nice of 'em. Luckily it was same day year 1 to same day year 2, as required by law))

Do not deal with Swiftcover, you never know what they're likely to do.

SWIFTCOVER Exact same thing happened to me. Got a demand for money even though my policy was not yet up. They had tried to take money from my account without my permission. I was so angry that i changed insurance companies. But when I asked SWIFTCOVER for proof of NCB they sent me 3 years even though I had been driving since 1987 without any claims on my insurance at all and they had taken my NCB as 15+ years just a year earlier. Explains why they use an ex drug addict/former alcoholic in their add campaign. USELESS!!

Wig

cullen4040 wrote: »

SWIFTCOVER Exact same thing happened to me. Got a demand for money even though my policy was not yet up. They had tried to take money from my account without my permission. I was so angry that i changed insurance companies. But when I asked SWIFTCOVER for proof of NCB they sent me 3 years even though I had been driving since 1987 without any claims on my insurance at all and they had taken my NCB as 15+ years just a year earlier. Explains why they use an ex drug addict/former alcoholic in their add campaign. USELESS!!

They do have your permission to debit your card for autorenewal, lots of insurers do this. You give them the permission in the policy T&Cs when you buy the insurance by card at the beginning, but they have to show you their intentions before they take your money to give you a chance to deny payment, which in your case they did correctly. In the previous posters case they did not do this and had they charged him for any period as they said they would do he would have gone to the ombudsman and Swiftcover would have been told to refund the money.

Next point your NCB should have been given back to you as 16 years. What you should have done and should still do now if you have not sorted it out yet, is write to Swiftcover asking for a photocopy of the proof of no claims letter you provided to them (always photocopy yourself before sending them) If they can provide it ask them for a NC letter from them stating Number of years of no claims X + 1, You are not asking them for a NCB No Claims Bonus letter which could state their % discount or their maximum number of NCB eg 5 or 6 years usually.

If they are not able to provide you with the letter you provided to them then you go to your previous insurer and ask them again for proof of no claims stating 15 years, which you then photocopy and send to Swift cover again for them to give you a new no claims letter stating X years + 1.

Wig

tobimorey wrote: »

i've just tried a few variables on my renewal on the comparison sites, it seemed to be quite interesting: it would cost me £120 on average to protect my 7 years NCD but when i tried it again without any NCD it was only £100 more. ?? what would we be paying to protect?

Good question, AFAIK you would be protecting nothing, I think the other responder to your post did not understand your point.

However when you do play around with the variables you should always do it without a registration number entered and use a different address like a few doors down the road. and Mr Jones etc

avantra

pgilc1 wrote: »

I think the word 'scam' is overused on this forum.

Everyone seems to be the victim of some 'scam' that invariably turns out to be down to their lack of understanding of how things work.

Ha, how the times have changed since the above comment.

So what do we know today

1. The car insurance industry raise prices for the sake of their bottom line. See my other thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3673975

2. They told everyone and his dog that it's due to uninsured drivers/accident management companies/cars get expensive/young drivers drive carelessly etc' etc' it's nothing to do with us ... honest gov..

After the PPI scandal I am not surprised to see the regulator and OFT starting to make the right noises, maybe MSE should press for refund where no change in circumstances ended up with 40% increases.

OC MSE members knows that shopping around every year is mandatory but imagine how many just pay up?!!

mutley74

last year i had a chip on windscreen. i called one of the major autoglass companies who said there is no fee to repair as its charged to insurance company. they cited it does not affect my premiun of NCD. But i called my insurance company (morethan) - actually a few times as first call centre person did not have a clue if it would affect the premium. However, all the people i spoke to said it does not affect NCD but insurance company said it would still be listed as "claim on policy" and they could not gurantee premium would not rise, and they cannot afford to keep doing "free" repairs for auto glass companies.

motorguy

avantra wrote: »

Ha, how the times have changed since the above comment.

So what do we know today

1. The car insurance industry raise prices for the sake of their bottom line. See my other thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3673975

2. They told everyone and his dog that it's due to uninsured drivers/accident management companies/cars get expensive/young drivers drive carelessly etc' etc' it's nothing to do with us ... honest gov..

After the PPI scandal I am not surprised to see the regulator and OFT starting to make the right noises, maybe MSE should press for refund where no change in circumstances ended up with 40% increases.

OC MSE members knows that shopping around every year is mandatory but imagine how many just pay up?!!

??????

How is that relevant to the original thread?

I stand by my statement in its original context - the O/P couldnt grasp that protecting your no claims bonus doesnt prevent the insurance company weighting your insurance against you if you do have an accident.

That has always been the case. That isnt a 'scam'.