Saving No Claims Bonus

Andy_14

Up until 2 years ago (in September) we were a 2 car, 2 person family. However jobs and hobbies changing meant we went from needing 2 cars all the time to barely needing 1. The only sensible thing to do was to sell a car, which we did. Both cars were "jointly" funded, but the one we sold was in my name and the one kept in my partners.

So now my partner has full NCB, car owned in her name and I'm a named driver. However in September I will (as I understand it) lose all my NCB (many many years worth) and this could be so drastic that buying a nice 2nd car ever again could be prohibitively expensive to insure.

Is there a way to keep my NCB alive and ticking over ? I don't want to start buying a small 2nd car just for this purpose. I'm also aware that some insurance companies honor the NCB for 3 years, but we have no intention of buying another car before that time limit either. We've also thought of her selling the current car to me (just a paper exercise) and then myself insuring it; however if we use this approach then we'll be forever transferring car ownership and insurance otherwise she will have the same problem. The later approach also could devalue the cars a little as it appears to put another owner on the registration.

Thanks for any advice.

caprikid1

There is a large amount of NCB being a bit of industry BULL. Your premium will be based on risk, for years I drove classic cars and did not build NCB. When I bought a sensible (Lol) car, it was Age, Accidents , points etc IE my risk profile that ensured I did not pay too much.


That said when I split with my wife and had to go to a single policy her premiums went up but it was a high risk vehicle. She now ensures an AUDI RS4 and certainly does not have more than a few years NCB.


Anyway you attempt to keep your NCB will be more expensive than letting it lapse and paying 10% or so more.

martinthebandit

Just do a few quotes on comparison sites with and without your no claims bonus, I suspect you'll be surprised how little difference it makes.

Car_54

If you both use the car equally, you could insure it in your name next year, and then in her's the following year and so on, thus keeping both NCDs live.

Andy_L

You don't need to transfer the car ownership/registered keeper to insure the car in your name. Most (all?) companies are happy with the car being owned by a partner/spouse and insured in the name of the other partner. Its only if there is no direct relationship they get twitchy.

My partner & I have been haply bouncing insurance between each other to maintain our own NCB

Andy_14

AFAIK you have to be the owner of the car in order to insure it in your name properly and maintain the NCB. I did look at this and couldn't find a way to do it online.

Andy_14

Cheers. Can you give me insurance companies that you have used to do this and did you have to call up to do it ?

I looked online and there didn't seem a way to insure a car if the owner was not yourself and not your wife / husband (didn't check this as we are not married).

Andy_L

Andy_14 wrote: »

Cheers. Can you give me insurance companies that you have used to do this and did you have to call up to do it ?

I looked online and there didn't seem a way to insure a car if the owner was not yourself and not your wife / husband (didn't check this as we are not married).

Confused.com & money supermarket both allow you to put in owner & registered keeper as common-law partner

Geodark

I recently bought another vehicle, basically just a toy for me and my son to use when we go fishing. I already have a car with full no claims discount. Got a quote on the additional car, without any no claims since I was already using it, and it work out to around £30 more a year than I was paying! This is for a freelander 5 door, newer than the other car (which is only an astra estate)

I sometimes wonder if NCD is just a big con from the insurance companies and doesnt make as much different to our quotes as we think.

alan_d

Andy_14 wrote: »

AFAIK you have to be the owner of the car in order to insure it in your name properly and maintain the NCB. I did look at this and couldn't find a way to do it online.

Not true.
I am the registered keeper of 3 cars. One of them is insured by my wife, she is the primary driver, I am a named driver.
Just advised the insurance company when taking out the policy who the owner is, never an issue.

chrisw

alan_d wrote: »

Not true.
I am the registered keeper of 3 cars. One of them is insured by my wife, she is the primary driver, I am a named driver.
Just advised the insurance company when taking out the policy who the owner is, never an issue.

Yep, never had a problem.

Whilst I had a company car, I insured my wife's car in my name with my NCD, putting her as a named main driver. When I got rid of my company car, I changed that policy to my new car and got a named driver discount for her on her car.