Car insurance and widows

Vorsprung_durch_technik

My father recently passed away and I am trying to sort our car insurance for my 74 year old mother.

Even though she has always been a joint owner and user of the family cars, because insurance companies insist on only one policy holder that has always been my father with my mother as named driver.

She has been driving for 50 years plus without one claim. She has never held an insurance policy in her own name. My dad had 9 years plus NCD.

My dad's policy was paid up and due for renewal at the end of this month. His renewal notice was for £440. My mother has now received a renewal notice in her own name for £660.

The company say my mother cannot transfer my dad's ncd.

This seems very unfair. Anybody have any suggestions?

dacouch

It's fairly standard practice for an Insurer to allow transfer of no claims bonus to a widow/widower assuming they've held a full licence for a few years.

Try ringing back and (Politely) speaking to a superviser.

Which Insurer is it?

lisyloo

I wouldn't personally go back to them as my first choice.
I'd go elsewhere.
If she has difficulty on her own finding companies then it might be worth trying to see what a local broker can do.

InsideInsurance

£440 -> £660 would not be explained by removing a 60-70% discount and so something else is at work, likewise if they are saying she cannot continue it then it wouldnt be a renewal notice but a new business quote.

What does the letter you have say about the amount of NCD?

The jump could simply be a combination of factors: 1) premiums are generally going up, 2) in old age premiums start to increase again (though not as much as very young drivers) 3) older female drivers tend to have higher premiums than their male equivs 4) Widowed tends to be a higher premium than married

forgotmyname

Cynical me.

Or a young driver, Using an older persons NCD ?


Insurance company think mmm geuine or not?

MattLFC

Of course you cannot transfer one persons NCB to another person - that person has not earnt the NCB. It may not seem a "nice" practice, but it's standard across the industry, and certainly makes sense.

Speak with the insurer, write a letter, see if they will budge, if not then it's just tough luck I'm afraid. It's not something to hold against the insurer, as I said, it's standard practice across the industry.

Another insurer "may" allow a named driver NCB as your mother has obviously on his insurance for a significant amount of time. As the current insurer if they will provide proof of named driver experience if it is needed, and speak with other insurance companies about it. Above all though, use an aggregator such as moneysupermarket, gocompare or comparethemarket, to find the best deals for your mother (without an NCB), and then use that as a starting point to see if any will offer a further discount for named driver experience.

System

Bad luck in choice of insurance company, unfortunately.
Privilege, for example, give full NCD to named drivers.

InsideInsurance

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

Privilege, for example, give full NCD to named drivers.

They dont give you full NCD, they give you a ND NCD which is only valid with them (they historically didnt even accept it within the other RBS Insurance/ Direct Line Group brands and I doubt this has changed)

It can work well IF you happen to also meet their target market but if you dont then it can be cheaper to buy elsewhere with just an introductory discount than stay with them using the NDNCD

McKneff

MattLFC wrote: »

Of course you cannot transfer one persons NCB to another person - that person has not earnt the NCB. It may not seem a "nice" practice, but it's standard across the industry, and certainly makes sense.

Speak with the insurer, write a letter, see if they will budge, if not then it's just tough luck I'm afraid. It's not something to hold against the insurer, as I said, it's standard practice across the industry.

Another insurer "may" allow a named driver NCB as your mother has obviously on his insurance for a significant amount of time. As the current insurer if they will provide proof of named driver experience if it is needed, and speak with other insurance companies about it. Above all though, use an aggregator such as moneysupermarket, gocompare or comparethemarket, to find the best deals for your mother (without an NCB), and then use that as a starting point to see if any will offer a further discount for named driver experience.

Im afraid you are wrong, last year my husband was advised not to drive any longer, I have been on his policy fo donkeys years and last year the Coop agreed to do this. He had to sign an affadavit to say he would not ever drive again and the whole of his NCD was transferred to me. I had never had a policy in my name with them.

no-oneknowsme

MattLFC wrote: »

Of course you cannot transfer one persons NCB to another person - that person has not earnt the NCB. It may not seem a "nice" practice, but it's standard across the industry, and certainly makes sense.

QUOTE]


Budget insurance allowed my Husband to transfer his full 7 years of NCB over to me (I had been a named driver on the policy up until then)
taking him from policy holder and main driver to named driver
All it took was a phone call although obviously the OP's Father in this case cannot call up to authorise the change

Vorsprung_durch_technik

Thanks for all the comments. I rang the insurers today and they were extremely helpful. It turns out they had transferred the NCD from my father to my mother. The problem was that my dad's policy got a special discount as it was for the policyholder and spouse. As my mother's new policy was for the one driver she could not get that discount.
The company have now very fairly agreed to honour the original renewal quote. Even better we discovered that the mileage estimate my dad had given them was far in excess of what my mother will now do and as a result the premium has fallen even further. It goes to prove it is worth ringing up compnaies and speaking to them politely sometimes.