Multi car insurance - best way to buy?

6am

I am confused. We bought a second car and wanted to insure it. But the price is ridiculous. It seems that no claim discount can only be applied to one car and for that reason the best price is twice of our current insurance. How come they charge 400 pounds for powerful sports car but then want 1000 pounds for economical 1L car. It does not make any sense. What are our options?

scheming_gypsy

yep, no claims has always only been per policy. They charge you £400 because you have a no claims discount and £1000 because you don't have a no claims discount.
Your best option is to try somewhere that'll do you a multi car policy.

dunstonh

It does not make any sense.

Yes it does. One has a discount, the other doesn't

mikey72

If there are two of you, assuming one of you is the main driver, and the other a named driver on the first car, try insuring the second car with the other as the main driver, and see if either your existing insurer or anyone else will mirror your existing ncd.
This is also assuming you're going to have a car each, and you're not putting any kids on the second car, and it's not a third or fourth car.

6am

dunstonh wrote: »

Yes it does. One has a discount, the other doesn't

No, it does not. Premium should be based on the risk of claim, is it not? I do not see why it should cost twice as much to insure a second car. The risk for the second car is about the same as for the first car. Therefore insurance premiums should be comparable.

Direct Line for example recognises this principle partially. Here is quote from their website

We also offer a matched no claims discount as part of our great multi-car insurance deal. This means that if you are the only person insured on your Direct Line car insurance policy and you purchase a second car that will only be driven by you, we will apply the number of claim-free driving years on your first car to a second or subsequent policy you take out with us. A subsequent no-claims discount is then applied to a second or subsequent policy dependent on these years.

As far as I understand they apply no claims discount to any number of policies as long as the policyholder is the only person insured.

Based on this information I had an idea. What if
- insure both cars in DL for one person only
- both insurances will have no claim discount
- cancel both policies after a month
- we should have two cancelled policies both with no claim discount which we can use to buy policies where the second driver is allowed.

Do you think it will work? Or is it to fraudulent?

scheming_gypsy

6am wrote: »

No, it does not. Premium should be based on the risk of claim, is it not? I do not see why it should cost twice as much to insure a second car. The risk for the second car is about the same as for the first car. Therefore insurance premiums should be comparable.

how many people will be driving the two cars? if one person has built up an NCD then they can only drive one car at a time, so somebody else may be driving the other car... Which is double the risk, low risk on the one with x years NCD and a higher risk for the one without driving history.

Direct Line for example recognises this principle partially. Here is quote from their website

Asda do a price match if i go on to their website and stick in my receipt details yet Aldi doesn't. So if you're not with Direct Line, it doesn't matter what they do if you're not a client.

As far as I understand they apply no claims discount to any number of policies as long as the policyholder is the only person insured.

no, it applies to a single policy.

Based on this information I had an idea. What if
- insure both cars in DL for one person only
- both insurances will have no claim discount
- cancel both policies after a month
- we should have two cancelled policies both with no claim discount which we can use to buy policies where the second driver is allowed.


Do you think it will work? Or is it to fraudulent?

it won't work as you'll only have one proof of no claims to send to them and you can't use the same NCD on multiple policies... otherwise we'd all have a car for a different day of the week.


Your options are:
1 - pay the higher insurance and build up a new lot of NCD
2 - move to a company who'll match the NCD or do a multicar.

6am

mikey72 wrote: »

If there are two of you, assuming one of you is the main driver, and the other a named driver on the first car, try insuring the second car with the other as the main driver, and see if either your existing insurer or anyone else will mirror your existing ncd.

I have always been a named driver, for that reason I do not have ncb. When I try to insure a second car it does not make any material difference who is the main driver. I do not have ncb, my wife cannot move her ncb because it is already used on the first car. I am having trouble to find any company who will "split" ncb between policies. We are not fronting anybody. We usually travel together and bought a second car to save on fuel costs. I do not expect that the overall car usage will increase significantly. When we travel together the second car will be parked at home. The risk for the insurance company does not change significantly as far as I can see.

mikey72

There are a few that advertise they will "give" or mirror a ncd discount onto a named driver taking out a policy in their own name with them.
Direct Line, and the Co-op are two that spring to mind.

6am

mikey72 wrote: »

There are a few that advertise they will "give" or mirror a ncd discount onto a named driver taking out a policy in their own name with them.
Direct Line, and the Co-op are two that spring to mind.

Thanks, I will give them a call.

garethhanson

Does anyone know of an insurer that does a multi car policy where 1 vehicle is a van and the other is a car? Just in the process of buying a new surf van and I'm looking for the most economical way to insure.

My GF and I both have separate insurance policies at the minute, and as such both have pretty good NCD. Is it even worth having a multi car policy, or would we be better staying on separate policies?

Sorry - 2 questions there.

mikey72

I've never found a multi car policy that's cheaper than individual ones.
If you swop your car for a van, you can take your ncd over to use on the van, but insurers won't accept it back the other way, so if you go back to being a car driver you'll lose it.

A better way would be to see if any insurer will give you a discount or mirror your car ncd.
If they will, rotate the insurance on the car annually, to keep both your ncd alive.