Car Insurance - NCB lost after 3 years without a car? 8 September 2022 at 10:06AM in Insurance & life assurance 9 replies 192 views

Mike997

Hi Everyone,

So I sold my car in September 2019 (back then I had 5 years of NCB). After that I was abroad and didn`t have any car / insurance in the UK. I read that after 2 years without a car, usually you are losing all NCB you had. Just wanted to ask if that is a strict rule that every insurer on the market follows, or do I have a chance to get at least some of my NCB if I buy a car now? I have never had any claim or even a ticket.

Cheers

Mike

bengalknights

Its a general policy for insurers, however some make exceptions but best to try via a insurance broker unless you fancy calling around.

DullGreyGuy

Did you have insurance overseas? Some will consider giving some credit for it in the same way as people giving back company cars or switching from bike to car.

Mike997

DullGreyGuy said:

Did you have insurance overseas? Some will consider giving some credit for it in the same way as people giving back company cars or switching from bike to car.

Unfortunately I didn`t have any insurance abroad either. I was working remotely and didn`t really need a car over the last 3 years. Aviva (my last insurer) told me that they don`t accept NCB that is over 2 years old but said that it`s not a strict industry rule so I might find some insurers that will accept it. I will just contact few companies and see how it goes.
But I have got a felling that those that accept it will be more expensive with my NCB than those that I would start from scratch with  

DullGreyGuy

Mike997 said:
But I have got a felling that those that accept it will be more expensive with my NCB than those that I would start from scratch with  

It is a realistic prospect but to be honest never seen anyone that automatically accepts it over 3 years... there aren't industry rules about these things and so there will always be individual decisions made that go against the norm.

Before the new rules came in about new customer discounting it used to be the case that a new customer who is a good risk on paper but happens not to have any NCD to bring would automatically get an additional discount almost equivalent to 1 years NCD which in many companies is 50% of the discount anyway. I dont deal with Home/Motor any more so not sure if the new rules have removed the ability for them to award such a NCD bonus.

csgohan4

OP you are correct, 2 years is the standard time without car before it resets your NCD sadly.  What couples used to do is alternate the insurance between them so they wouldn't lose their NCD

Aretnap

A few years ago CoOp accepted NCD for up to 3 years after you last had an active policy, but they were always an outlier, and I have a feeling that they've now gone to 2 years. 

DullGreyGuy

Aretnap said:

A few years ago CoOp accepted NCD for up to 3 years after you last had an active policy, but they were always an outlier, and I have a feeling that they've now gone to 2 years. 

They've totally changed their setup and have gone down to 2 years. Marshmallow do accept up to 3 years

Fairly sure some aggregators allow you to declare how old an NCD is and therefore those in their panel can decide if they give any credit for it or quote ignoring it because its beyond their interest.

rickyroma

Sorry to hop onto this thread but I've a similar question. 
Me and my partner both have 20 years plus NCD. We are now reduced to one car between us for a while. How do we keep our no claims ms?  Is it possible to joint insure the car?   My partner is currently the main driver and I am a named driver 

Aretnap

rickyroma said:

Sorry to hop onto this thread but I've a similar question. 
Me and my partner both have 20 years plus NCD. We are now reduced to one car between us for a while. How do we keep our no claims ms?  Is it possible to joint insure the car?   My partner is currently the main driver and I am a named driver 

You take out the policy one year, she takes it out the next. That way you can keep both NCDs valid indefinitely (or at least until one of you makes a claim).

You will have to tell the insurer which of you is the main driver, but the main driver does not have to be the policyholder, and it is unlikely to make much difference unless there is a big age difference between you, or one of you has a string of motoring convictions etc