New Car mid insurance term - should I switch or stick?

el16bt

Hi all, 

Looking for advice. I bought my first car in December and paid for a year's insurance outright. Unfortunately since I've had problems with it and need to sell, buying a new car which will (hopefully) be more reliable. 

The cost of my insurance in December was 1140, and with my new car being a 1.6 diesel, its roughly the same to fork out for another 12 months from now if not slightly more (and I would lose the 6 months NCB I've already built up which as a first time driver I was hoping would drop my insurance a little come this December). 

I rang my current provider and they're quoting an extra £400 to insure my new car until December, which is obviously steep but would keep my No Claims to reach a year and in the future hopefully save me money. OR I can cancel, lose my no claims and get a refund for the rest of this term, and start from scratch. 

Unsure which is more practical / beneficial, or if they're much of a muchness. Have thought about ringing my current provider to haggle also as I've had my insurance a year this week and so their current quote is 1250 for 12 months, so logically if I am to keep it til December with them, £400 seems unrealistic to pay the difference. 

Hope all of this makes sense! Just a newbie so don't want to get caught out by paying more through my own naivety. 

Thanks in advance! 

E

iwb100

The £400 is covering the difference in risk between your current car and the new car based on your initial premium.

Month on month basis it would obviously be cheaper to cancel your insurance get a refund for the outstanding months then pay the 12 months full insurance premium.

You shouldn’t lose NCB though…I’ve no idea why you would. 

Grumpy_chap

iwb100 said:

You shouldn’t lose NCB though…I’ve no idea why you would. 

Current car is the OP's first car, so they have zero NCB but are half a year towards the first year NCB.  So that half year won't now accrue.  It will therefore take 18 months rather than 12 to accrue the first year of NCB as they will "lose" the NCB that they have not yet accrued but would expect to accrue by the end of the year.

Sandtree

iwb100 said:

The £400 is covering the difference in risk between your current car and the new car based on your initial premium.

Month on month basis it would obviously be cheaper to cancel your insurance get a refund for the outstanding months then pay the 12 months full insurance premium.

You shouldn’t lose NCB though…I’ve no idea why you would. 

Because NCD is measured in whole years and so by cancel mid term they'd lose the 7 months they've accrued so far this year. 

el16bt said:
OR I can cancel, lose my no claims and get a refund for the rest of this term, and start from scratch. 

You will potentially get a refund for cancelling mid term however many insurers charge a cancellation fee, some brokers charge their own fee on top of that, and the refund of premiums is not always linear. Certainly worth checking how much refund you'd get if you went down the cancellation route before committing to a new policy.

iwb100

Grumpy_chap said:

iwb100 said:

You shouldn’t lose NCB though…I’ve no idea why you would. 

Current car is the OP's first car, so they have zero NCB but are half a year towards the first year NCB.  So that half year won't now accrue.  It will therefore take 18 months rather than 12 to accrue the first year of NCB as they will "lose" the NCB that they have not yet accrued but would expect to accrue by the end of the year.

But if he stays with current insurer which is what I thought we were talking about and takes a new annual policy that NCB shouldn’t be lost? 

sheramber

I bought my first car in December and paid for a year's insurance outright.

Have thought about ringing my current provider to haggle also as I've had my insurance a year this week

That does not make sense.

Ectophile

iwb100 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

iwb100 said:

You shouldn’t lose NCB though…I’ve no idea why you would. 

Current car is the OP's first car, so they have zero NCB but are half a year towards the first year NCB.  So that half year won't now accrue.  It will therefore take 18 months rather than 12 to accrue the first year of NCB as they will "lose" the NCB that they have not yet accrued but would expect to accrue by the end of the year.

But if he stays with current insurer which is what I thought we were talking about and takes a new annual policy that NCB shouldn’t be lost? 

I think you may be talking pedantry here.  If the OP has bought their first car, then they have 0 years' NCB.  If they cancel the policy mid-year, then they still have 0 NCB, so they haven't actually lost anything.

But if they paythe extra £400 and waited until December to shop around for a better deal, then they will have 1 year's NCB.

el16bt

sheramber said:

I bought my first car in December and paid for a year's insurance outright.

Have thought about ringing my current provider to haggle also as I've had my insurance a year this week

That does not make sense.

I meant my license a year this week haha. Complete accident, sorry if that was confusing. 

el16bt

Ectophile said:

I think you may be talking pedantry here.  If the OP has bought their first car, then they have 0 years' NCB.  If they cancel the policy mid-year, then they still have 0 NCB, so they haven't actually lost anything.

But if they paythe extra £400 and waited until December to shop around for a better deal, then they will have 1 year's NCB.

Exactly this. I think if I can discuss with them lowering the £400, it would make more sense to stay with them until December and then shop around with 12 NCB.