Good experience with Axa car insurance re NCD

LilyLarkin

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would report the positive experience I recently had with Axa when I moved policies with my car insurance, as good service with insurance companies seems so rare! :j

After my renewal quote came through with Aviva (£480), I went searching for other quotes and found a comparative policy with Axa, based on ten years NCD, for nearly £200 less, at £295.

However, once I had paid, I realised that with Aviva, no claims discount is capped at 5 years, so even though I have almost a decade of NCD, my renewal letter (and therefore proof of NCD) just said "5 years or more".

I sent my renewal letter to Axa anyhow, explaining that Aviva had capped it, but requesting they check through my claims history to see there were no other claims. THEN I realised that I had added up wrong, and that my NCD was actually 9 years!

So I emailed Axa to let them know this, still not even knowing if they would grant my additional NCD anyhow (since I only had 'proof' of 5 years), and to see what the increased premium would be.

As it turns out, the additional premium would only be £1.97, and Axa decided to waive it. But even better, they decided to grant me the 10 years NCD! So they've in effect given me an extra year, and which means when it comes to getting proof of NCD from them, I'll have the full proof, not the miserly 5 years that Aviva cap at.

It may end up I'll stay with them, of course, but I was just very happy that they were willing not to make a fuss over the mistake regards to me getting my NCD wrong, and also that they were willing to grant me my full NCD, regardless of Aviva's policy to cap! :rotfl:

InsideInsurance

LilyLarkin wrote: »

But even better, they decided to grant me the 10 years NCD! So they've in effect given me an extra year, and which means when it comes to getting proof of NCD from them, I'll have the full proof, not the miserly 5 years that Aviva cap at.

For a start, AXA's NCD maxes out at 5 years and so if you had 5, 9, 10 or 30 years the discount would still be the same (see http://www.axainsurance.com/car/advice/no-claims-discount/)

Unless anything has changed recently, no one is giving any discount for anything above 9 years NCD and so again having 9 or 10 or 30 years makes no difference. Depending on their systems you may still find that the renewal notice comes through with a number other than what you "have" listed on it, but looking at their ecommerce site it would suggest they stop counting at 20 years rather than the normal 9

It is however a nice change to get a positive rather than negative thread.

As an aside, Aviva will provide a full proof of NCD upon request rather than the normal 5+ years

LilyLarkin

InsideInsurance wrote: »

For a start, AXA's NCD maxes out at 5 years and so if you had 5, 9, 10 or 30 years the discount would still be the same

In that case, why was there a slightly different premium cost for 9 years NCD, than for 10 years NCD?!

Oh well, if there has been no benefit for me, I still feel happy that the renewal was so much less than with Aviva.

InsideInsurance

LilyLarkin wrote: »

In that case, why was there a slightly different premium cost for 9 years NCD, than for 10 years NCD?!

Oh well, if there has been no benefit for me, I still feel happy that the renewal was so much less than with Aviva.

A savings a saving and you're happy with the service which is what matters.

Different insurers and their systems work in different ways. With some at least making any change causes the whole policy to be rerated even if that change itself doesnt cause a change in this instance (though normally things like change of name dont trigger a rerating) and so the small premium movement could be just a slight change in one of their rating factors between the day you got the quote and the day you called them about the issue.

Pre-aggregators driving all business we used to review our rates on a weekly basis and most weeks at least some small changes were applied. Since aggregators became so big there are people monitoring rates on a daily basis (though most strategic decisions are still reviewed weekly)

NorthernOne

I have just had nearly the identical situation with AXA myself over the last week. The difference is I had 12 years and kept the certificate with Esure and for the year before showing 12 years. The last years insurers Hastings only showed 9 years as that's their "company policy" but it should be 13 years. I emailed everything over and AXA validated my 13 years NCD no problems. I am happy I kept my certificates now!

Oh and the premium was considerably cheaper.