Direct Line No Claims Discount.... doesn't

RobinS_2

I had a renewal from Direct Line which referenced a claim within 3 years, I had a no-fault in March 2012 so I phoned up to clear this up. D.L. checked and said yes, it was a no-fault and amended the system accordingly. The total insurance including protected NCD, hire car and legal was £471. After removing the "accident" it dropped to £401.(17.5%). I questioned this as I pay £58.30 to protect my 9 years NCD. What I was told was this paid to protect my _years_ not the policy. The accident loaded my policy but I still got 9 years discount. Not the way I assumed NCD works and feels a little underhand. I guess this is the way it works, but I had always assumed protected meant I could have 1 accident in three years without the policy being increased. Was I always wrong or have they moved the goalposts?

Foxn86

No in a round about way you are not wrong. Basically aviva, direct line etc offer this as a product. Like any product it makes them money, now to pay to protect your NCD is very true so if for instance it was a fault claim you would still keep ou NCD, however it does not mean the price has to stay the same. What happens is for example you are quoted £400 insurance you then get £100 taken off for having 9 years NCD, now same example but add a claim to this and the price would load at say £450 then you get your £100 discount so really you get the correct discount but the original price loads higher. Hope this makes sense i left aviva a good while ago. Honestly paying to protect it doesnt make a great deal of difference if you pay for a long period of time and don't claim as its actually not that cheap to protect it

InsideInsurance

Max NCD is normally somewhere between 65% and 70% discount.

With NCD protection you can have one fault claim and still retain this maximum discount but there is no promise that your underlying premium wont rise.

So making a few assumptions, if you had maximum NCD (70%) and had a fault claim and your new base premium went up to £1,000 then the new payable premiums would be:

With NCDP: £350 (£1,000 - 70% + NCDP price (£50))
Without NCDP: £500 (£1,000 - 50% (3 years NCD))

patman99

Never thought NCD protection worked that way. You learn something new every day.