Car insurance for 2 cars, 1 driver

Mickey666

AdrianC said:

Credz4 said:

This is an issue that makes me nutty. I have 2 vehicles but as a single person trying to insure the 2nd vehicle using my 20 years of NCD, I was told I could not use the NCD on both vehicles, it had to be one or the other.

Correct. That's the way NCB works. Always has done.

so by the logic of the insurance company then NCD should restart if you change your car.

No, because there's continuity of a single policy, a single risk.

It might be the way NCD works but it's hard to see a logical reason for it.

What about a couple with two cars, each a main driver & 'other' driver on both cars?  A fairly common scenario, I'd guess.

Both accumulate NCD in their own name, as a main driver.  One of the couple then dies and the survivor wants to keep the two cars but they can only use their NCD on one vehicle and have to start with no NCD on the other vehicle.  What's the logic for that?

The biggest risk in motoring must surely be the driver.  Obviously for the actual driving but also things like how they use the vehicle, where they choose to park, etc etc.   A driver that accumulates NCD has demonstrated they are a reduced risk, hence the discount.  So why, if they get an additional car are they suddently not worthy of that NCD?

Sandtree

Mickey666 said:

It might be the way NCD works but it's hard to see a logical reason for it.

What about a couple with two cars, each a main driver & 'other' driver on both cars?  A fairly common scenario, I'd guess.

Both accumulate NCD in their own name, as a main driver.  One of the couple then dies and the survivor wants to keep the two cars but they can only use their NCD on one vehicle and have to start with no NCD on the other vehicle.  What's the logic for that?

The biggest risk in motoring must surely be the driver.  Obviously for the actual driving but also things like how they use the vehicle, where they choose to park, etc etc.   A driver that accumulates NCD has demonstrated they are a reduced risk, hence the discount.  So why, if they get an additional car are they suddently not worthy of that NCD?

Nothing about NCD makes any sense, its an artificial construct and each insurer has their own rules and arguably a marketing ploy given the percentage of people that have 4 or more years NCD (by which point the discount is almost maxed out).

Many home insurers as
a) How long have you held insurance
b) When were all the claims in the last 5 years
c) How many years NCD do you have

C should be a totally superfluous question because if it was simply a measure of how long since the last claim it could be worked out from a and b. Instead you have special rules... you can protect the NCD so had a claim in each of the last 2 years but still have 5 years NCD. Some insurers would step 6 years NCD down to 3 after a claim whereas others would take it to 4 etc.

As to your scenarios, in most cases insurers have compassion and allow the NCD to be transferred from the deceased to the widow(er).

Again the experience of the driver is gained from length of license and number of claims not the NCD.... NCD could be max despite having claims every other year because they buy NCD P. Someone could have 0 years NCD because they've for 30 years had a company car and never had a claim.

Mickey666

Yes, NCD protection would seem to make a mockery of NCD as a measure of the driver's general risk.  Plus, it doesn't actually prevent premiums from increasing after a claim anyway, which I think confuses some people from what I've read on forums.

It's good to learn that in most cases insurers would be compassionate about transferring NCD as in my scenario, though in a way it also seems to reinforce the impression that insurers just make it up as they go along.  Compassion is always welcome but in a fairer system should really be unnecessary.

Sandtree

Mickey666 said:

Yes, NCD protection would seem to make a mockery of NCD as a measure of the driver's general risk.  Plus, it doesn't actually prevent premiums from increasing after a claim anyway, which I think confuses some people from what I've read on forums.

It's good to learn that in most cases insurers would be compassionate about transferring NCD as in my scenario, though in a way it also seems to reinforce the impression that insurers just make it up as they go along.  Compassion is always welcome but in a fairer system should really be unnecessary.

Absolutely... NCD is a discount, what its a discount on is free to move. You may also struggle to actually find what discount you are receiving. Some insurers are still overt that 5 years is 65%, 4 years is 60%, 3 years is 50% etc but many aren't. We used to give 70% for 5 years NCD but one notable competitor gate 65% for 5 years, 66% for 6 years, 67% for 7 etc. We used to get customers complaining that we didn't recognise their 7 years NCD even though we were giving them more at 5 years. Now some companies its another rating factor so a high risk driver gets a lower percentage discount than a high risk one.

Insurers are making it up as they go along... I spent several days in meeting rooms designing how Named Driver NCD and transferred Company Car NCD would work. Plus after deciding that how do we make it clear on our letters that this isn't normal NCD in the hope that other insurer's wouldn't honour it so the customers stay with us.