Maintain car insurance no claims

stroke

Hi - I have 10+ years car insurance no claims history, but I have not had an active policy since Nov 2014 (sold my car as I was working from home, and had use of 3 other cars in the household).

Doing a little research, it seems I can only have a max of 2 year gap between policies before i lose my no claims history. So, I'm thinking of buying a cheap car (cheap to buy & insure) and SORN'ing it / parking it up.

I will probably buy another car to use properly, but this may not be until early next year.

Does this seem a reasonable plan, or are there better alternatives ?

My next proper car would likely be reasonably high on the insurance grouping, so I'm thinking it would be useful to have max no claims available.

Thanks

Morph4610

Stroke, you're right that the industry rule of thumb is typically 2 years however providing you have proof for the maximum accrued (and you've not had any claims in the interim) you should find plenty of brokers that could support the bonus. Might take a few calls to get the right price rather than relying on PC sites. Not sure buying a car just to maintain NCD is a good idea

Quentin

Much cheaper option.

Alternate each policy each year thereby each policy will ncd never be more than 12 months "old"

mattk_180

What would the OP alternate it against? They currently own no cars at all and by the sounds of it, this potential car is going to be solely used to maintain the NCB until he buys a proper car, at which point this cheap one would be disposed of.


I'd ring round some brokers first and find which ones will accept NCB over 2 years old. Zurich and Aviva generally accept it up to 3 as normal. Plenty of other insurers will also accept NCB over 2 years old but the discount won't be as much.


Do some research and try and find out whether it will be more cost efficient to buy a cheap car in the interim or just insure with a more expensive insurer for a year until your NCB will be back to "normal" at the next renewal.

forgotmyname

mattk_180 wrote: »

What would the OP alternate it against?
.

One of the 3 other cars in the household maybe?

mcjordi

insure one of the other 3 cars in the household for a few days cancel it within the cooling off period thus restarting your "2 years" i did this with more than a few years back when i didnt want or need a car

stroke

Thanks, I'll look at the options of getting a policy on one of the other cars in the household - although I thought you usually had to be the registered owner for this ? Maybe not !

Although I could leave it for a while and then ring round brokers when I actually need a policy, I don't know for sure exactly when I'll get a new car - it could be a while longer. And I'll probably forget about it in the meantime ...

I was thinking with a cheap car (I guess what i really need is just the V5 !) and a bit of cash back, I could pick up a cheap 1 year policy.

rs65

mattk_180 wrote: »

I'd ring round some brokers first and find which ones will accept NCB over 2 years old. Zurich and Aviva generally accept it up to 3 as normal. Plenty of other insurers will also accept NCB over 2 years old but the discount won't be as much.

Zurich and Aviva direct offerings are up to 2 years. Do they definitely accept up to 3 years old through brokers?

OP, Co-op accept proof up to 3 years old.

stroke

Got a few quotes based on the car I'm thinking of buying next year:

With 9+ years no-claims, annual cost: £230
With no no-claims history (i.e. lapsed after 2 years): £450

Co-op do accept NC history up to 3 years old, but I tried getting a quote from them and they would not provide one (online). I probably won't rely on them then !

So, if I can pick up a cheap as car, and insure it just as cheap, I think I'll go that route. My wife renewed hers not so long ago, so would prefer not to wait for that to come around again...

Aretnap

stroke wrote: »

Thanks, I'll look at the options of getting a policy on one of the other cars in the household - although I thought you usually had to be the registered owner for this ? Maybe not !

There's no particular reason why you have to be the registered keeper (there's no such thing as a "registered owner") though some insurers may not allow it - they all have their own rules. Read the questions and the assumptions about who is the owner/keeper/main driver carefully, but usually if it's a car registered to your wife then most insurers will not give a stuff whether the policy is in your name or your wife's. If it's registered to one of your children then you might have a bit more trouble finding an insurer willing to allow that arrangement, but provided you answer all the questions about who is the owner and who usually drives it honestly then there's no reason in principle why you can't take out a policy in your name.

I'd have thought that this approach would be cheaper than buying a car you don't need and an insurance policy you don't need. Even if it means cancelling your wife's policy early the cancellation fee will be less than a whole year of unwanted insurance.

Aretnap

mcjordi wrote: »

insure one of the other 3 cars in the household for a few days cancel it within the cooling off period thus restarting your "2 years" i did this with more than a few years back when i didnt want or need a car

Only works if the insurer will give you a new proof of NCD when you cancel after a few days. Some will, but not necessarily all.