Car Insurance & NCB

Futuristic

Hello

Few questions if you can help me out!

1.
I have 2 cars (1=NEW, 2=OLD), 1 with insurance declared as no NCB since car 2 has 1 year NCB and I still have that car I couldn't declare the NCB on the new (correct?)

2.
I am now selling car 2, it has renewal due on 15th August. Refund due would be about £50 if I cancelled today. Is it worth it? Can I just let the policy run until the 15th to get my 2 years NCB and is this recommended so I don't lose a whole year?

3.
If yes to question 2, can I then declare 3 years NCB upon insurance renewal of Car1? (1 year from car 1 and 2 years from car 2)


PS. I am <25 and so NCB may be a big impact to renewal. Both policies are standard car insurance no fancy lock down NCB claims and so forth and can be transferred.

pappa_golf

you cannot have 2 x NCB !


NO claims bonus = have YOU had ANY accidents in "x" years ,


so if you have a claim on car No 2 , what do you tell insurer of car No 1?


do you say you have had no accidents or what?


the NCB is NOT on the car , its on YOU

forgotmyname

Dont leave a car that you dont own covered by your insurance. You may have claims that you know nothing about.

And if the police come knocking because the car was used for something illegal, you will need to explain why your insuring a car that you claim to have sold.

As above you cannot add them up and join them.

Are you sure your going to get £50 back after the cancellation fees, especially at this late stage or the policy.

maddogb

papa you can have two lots or even more of NCB, it's not defined in law and in a bid to improve profits insurers insist ncb is "per person per car"
but it's that same lack of legislation which means they can dictate how this is distributed and won't allow you to combine accumulated NCB

rudekid48

pappa_golf wrote: »

you cannot have 2 x NCB !


NO claims bonus = have YOU had ANY accidents in "x" years ,


so if you have a claim on car No 2 , what do you tell insurer of car No 1?


do you say you have had no accidents or what?


the NCB is NOT on the car , its on YOU

Ignore this OP.

You can have multiple NCB as it is accrued on a policy i.e. if you have 2 cars insured on separate policies then they will both earn NCB.

You cannot combine them into a single, higher NCB though. For example 2 cars insured claim free for 2 years would produce 2 lots of 2 years NCB. They cannot be combined to make 4 years.

mattk_180

As rudekid says, ignore the post by pappa golf. Although you earn the NCB through your driving, it is only applied to car that is currently on the policy. Hence if you get another car, you start from zero.


Most insurers will give an introductory NCB for the second car, and any claim you have on one will have to be declared on the other, however both sets of NCB will not be affected by the same claim. Might seem unfair when you have to start again on a second car but how would you feel if you had multiple cars, had an accident in one of them and lost your discount for every policy?


So yes number 1 is right.


In terms of number 2, you should cancel it even if there was no refund due. You shouldn't insure a car you no longer own, especially if it is now owned by someone else. Perhaps you could transfer the other car to that policy to continue with the higher NCB and cancel the policy with the lower amount? It's more complicated but may be beneficial.


In respect of point 3, unfortunately no, you can't combine 2 lots of NCB.

Aretnap

Futuristic wrote: »

2.
I am now selling car 2, it has renewal due on 15th August. Refund due would be about £50 if I cancelled today. Is it worth it? Can I just let the policy run until the 15th to get my 2 years NCB and is this recommended so I don't lose a whole year?

This is risky. If you don't tell your insurer that you've sold the car, and you leave the policy running, then if the new owner doesn't insure it himself your owner insurer can end up having to pay for any damage/injuries he causes while they're still covering the car. They could then hold you liable for the sum they've had to pay out on account of you not telling them that you've sold it - potentially a very large sum indeed if the new owner causes a serious accident. This risk is highlighted by a recent ombudsman case

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/132/132-things-that-go-wrong-with-cars.html#cs2

(We have occasional debates on here about just how legally watertight the insurer's claim against you would be if you refused to pay and they actually took you to court - but personally I wouldn't want to risk finding out for the sake of saving a few quid)

If you want to keep the policy with the longer NCD you could consider either (1) cancelling the policy on car 1, and transferring the policy on car 2 to car 1, or (2) wait until August 15th before you sell car 2.

3.
If yes to question 2, can I then declare 3 years NCB upon insurance renewal of Car1? (1 year from car 1 and 2 years from car 2)

No, generally NCD applies per policy and you can't combine them - so if you're only going to have 1 car in future you could use the 2 year NCD on it, or the 1 year NCD, but not both.

pappa_golf

a car does gain NCB , a PERSON EARNS NCB ,


I disagree with several of the postings above.

Futuristic

Thanks guys, well I can't be bothered with the hassle of cancelling/transferring policy and so forth so will just cancel car2 policy when the car is sold/handed over tomorrow.

mcjordi

ring insurer of the one your selling.. you may be able to suspend the policy for the couple of weeks remaining.. and thus getting your 2nd years no claims..
also ring insurer for the one your keeping/renewing and see what they say they may allow it they may not.
you need to remove insurance from the the car when you sell it..

mattk_180

Pappa Golf - try taking out several policies with only one proof of no claims bonus and see how far you get. Again, insurers may give an introductory discount, a few may even be kind enough to mirror it on the odd occasion, but the no claims bonus does NOT apply to the person, only the driving history does.


The person may earn it, but the application of it is on the policy being used.


mcjordi - I can see where you are coming from but as soon as you tell an insurer you don't have the car anymore and won't be replacing it, they will only usually give you 14 days to do something about it otherwise they may even cancel the policy themselves.