Temporarily freeze car insurance

arciere

The contract of my leased car has recently expired and I will have to return it in a couple of months or so, which is approximately half way of my insurance year.
A new car has already been ordered and should be delivered shortly after (however, the dealer is different so it can't be done on the same day).

How should I approach the car insurance swap? I will definitely need to call the insurance company, but has anybody been through this before and can advise? If they do say 'yes, we can freeze your insurance for 2-3 weeks', could that void my NCB?

Aretnap

Definitely inform the insurance company as soon as the old car is no longer under your control. If you keep your policy running and the new owner doesn't insure the car and has an accident, there is a possibility that your insurer, as the insurer with the closest connection to the car, could end up having to pay out to third parties for harm caused by the uninsured driver. And if you hadn't told them that you no longer had the car they could subsequently demand that you pay then whatever they had to pay out to the third party as a result of you not cancelling your policy.

It's not very likely of course that someone will drive it without insurance in the couple of weeks after you have it back as the lease company will take time to sell it on, but don't risk it - there is no harm in wearing both belt and braces.

If you want to transfer the policy to the new car then most insurers will be willing to pause the policy for a short period if there's a gap, assuming the new car is one that they are willing to cover you to drive. Worst case you have to cancel the policy and take out a new one when you get the new car - in which case your NCD will remain valid so long as the gap is less than two years 

chrisw

Yes, usually they ask if I want to cancel the policy or suspend it until I get a new vehicle. If it's a similar vehicle there's a small premium adjustment either way but I guess if it's too expensive or they won't insure the new vehicle then you can cancel at that point.

Suspending will not affect your NCB, cancelling will stop you accruing an additional year's NCB for the current year.

arciere

Thanks, I'll give them a ring today. Obviously I'd like to cancel/suspend the current policy as soon as I give the dealer the keys back, since they'll be driving the car away. Having said that, I'm not sure I can stop the policy with the car still on the road (I don't have a private parking spot), so there will likely be an overlap between the policy suspension and the car no longer being in my possession.

I guess another question to ask the company that will collect it.

arciere

So apparently they don't suspend policies anymore. I was advised to call them on the day that my car is collected, give them the details of the new car, including the delivery date, and they will transfer the policy, with a note that the policy will only be effective from the day of delivery (what's this then, if not a suspension?).

The person I spoke with said that he has never received a request like this and didn't actually know what to say. I find it really unlikely.