Car insurance renewal time

egyptiancotton

My car insurance is up for renewal. Direct Line have offered a renewal price of £286, which includes legal cover and protected NCD. Guaranteed hire car cover is included as standard.

I had a look elsewhere and LV were competitive:

• Standard policy: £260 - £21 cashback = £239
• With protected NCD: £276 - £21 cashback = £255
• With legal cover and protected NCD: £301.03 - £21 cashback = £280
• With legal cover, protected NCD and guaranteed hire car cover: £320.93 - £21 cashback = £299.93

LV said that if I don't choose the hire car cover and mine is written off, then I wouldn't be provided with a hire car. My car came close to being written off in 2015 and I added the cover with the LV quote, just in case. Plus, my car is about 10-years old and so it would be at a greater risk of being written off.

Is it worth having protected NCD (currently have 10 years), legal cover and hire car cover? I used my legal cover for a non-fault claim a few years ago for personal injury and to fight the third party in proving the incident wasn't my fault (even though I was hit from behind). I suppose it's one of those things that you don't realise the importance of until you need it.

Quentin

Your legal cover probably saved you 25% of your compensation payment, so presumably you are quids in on that already - but all this is your decision


If you have a fault claim you will likely go down to 3 years NCD with no protected NCD


Do dummy quotes online with 10 and 3 years NCD (and a claim in your history) to see what difference it makes to give up the protected NCD

egyptiancotton

Quentin wrote: »

Do dummy quotes online with 10 and 3 years NCD (and a claim in your history) to see what difference it makes to give up the protected NCD

Good idea. Interestingly, Zenith came out the cheapest at £353 with the same excess, hire car cover, protected NCD and legal cover. That was with 3-years NCD.

I ran another quote with 10-years NCD. Hastings came out at £340 with the same excess, protected NCD, hire car cover and legal cover.


There's very little difference between the quotes despite a 7-year NCD difference. Work that one out!

Quentin

You say very little difference in quotes - but you aren't comparing like with like! (Especially with hastings in the mix!)

egyptiancotton

I don't understand. I thought the quotes were like-for-like; same level of cover. It sounds like I've misunderstood.


Edit: I re-ran the same quote with Hastings - 3-years NCD, protected NCD, legal cover and hire car cover - came to £420!

Quentin

Some would say you get what you pay for - there is more to comparing insurers than just who is the cheapest!

egyptiancotton

Quentin wrote: »

Some would say you get what you pay for - there is more to comparing insurers than just who is the cheapest!

Gotcha. The light bulb lit up moments after I replied when I originally said I didn't understand.

Like-for-like with Hastings, there's a difference of £80. Protecting my NCD costs an extra £31.52 with 3-years NCD. Whereas protecting my 10-years NCD costs an extra £14.


Edit: Did a comparison with LV. 3-years NCD (no option to protect) - £415.52. 10-years NCD (protected for an extra £15) - £333.34. Difference of £82.18. Surprising!


I think I'll protect my NCD. It's peace of mind.

peter12345678910

But if you do have an incident even a no fault one the insurance will still go up. I am no Eienstien but if you do a dummy 3 year ncb you also have to add a dummy incident with no potected ncb?

I am sure you can't just take away 3 years you also have to give a dummy incident at a made up date.

DUTR

peter12345678910 wrote: »

But if you do have an incident even a no fault one the insurance will still go up. I am no Eienstien but if you do a dummy 3 year ncb you also have to add a dummy incident with no potected ncb?

I am sure you can't just take away 3 years you also have to give a dummy incident at a made up date.

That's not the case for everybody.

egyptiancotton

I had a non-fault incident in 2015 which I left on the quotes when I checked prices with 3 and 10-years NCD.

At the time of the incident my premium didn't increase, but on subsequent renewals I think I was subject to a small increase.

FreddieFrugal

I'm with Directline - renewed last month - my policy and my wife's.

Their renewal price was the cheapest by far when I did comparison quotes. The other prices were higher than I had paid the previous year.

There's was lower by about £50.

Was very pleased - it's nice when your current insurer actually tries to compete for your custom rather than punish you with an overinflated price.