Policyholder, Named Driver and NCD . Is this FRONTING?

johnny_c

tifo said:

In my experience adding an additional driver, esp if they're young, makes no difference to 'fronting' as a main driver because the premium will be based on them anyway.

This is where I got confused.

I have taken out a policy with me as policyholder and was quoted utilising the benefit of my NCD. However I have stated  I will be the named driver.

So , the main driver (who will be my partner with zero NCD ) is benefitting from my NCD.

But this is what has been permitted. 

johnny_c

The other odd thing is that my existing insurance allows me to choose if I am the main or named driver, and also to choose who is accruing the NCD. Currently I am accruing the NCD as the named driver. 

Whereas the insurer I am moving to will not allow this, and states that the named driver only will accrue NCD.

Aretnap

johnny_c said:

tifo said:

In my experience adding an additional driver, esp if they're young, makes no difference to 'fronting' as a main driver because the premium will be based on them anyway.

This is where I got confused.

I have taken out a policy with me as policyholder and was quoted utilising the benefit of my NCD. However I have stated  I will be the named driver.

So , the main driver (who will be my partner with zero NCD ) is benefitting from my NCD.

But this is what has been permitted. 

If you're the policyholder then you're the one paying for the policy so you're the one benefitting from the NCD. (Of course your partner might benefit indirectly if she contributes to the cost - but ultimately you are the one responsible for ensuring that the policy is paid for).

NCD is little more than a marketing gimmick - best understood as a form of loyalty bonus which went wrong. The original idea behind it was to encourage customers (particularly the good ones who didn't make claims) to renew year after year and the plan was that you would only get it if you started with the same insurer. However it didn't take long for insurers to realise that if they wanted to attract new customers they would have to offer to match their competitors NCDs. For much the same reason as Tesco might offer to accept Sainsbury's money off vouchers - not because they're under any legal or moral obligation to accept them, but purely because they think it's a good way to poach Sainsbury's customers.

johnny_c said:

The other odd thing is that my existing insurance allows me to choose if I am the main or named driver, and also to choose who is accruing the NCD. Currently I am accruing the NCD as the named driver. 

Whereas the insurer I am moving to will not allow this, and states that the named driver only will accrue NCD.

The norm is that the policyholder (ie the one who takes out, pays for and ultimately decides whether to renew the policy) accrues the NCD, regardless of who is the main driver. Similarly if you do the shopping you get the Clubcard vouchers, regardless of who actually eats the food that you are buying.

Other arrangements are possible but they are non-standard and can cause complications if you change insurers. It's just a loyalty bonus after all - insurers don't have to change their own systems to accommodate the way their competitors do things.

Bigwheels1111

I always put my Mum on my insurance, made it cheaper.
I think she parked the car for me on one occasion.
When she hit 70, I took her off as cost more.

tifo

johnny_c said:

tifo said:

In my experience adding an additional driver, esp if they're young, makes no difference to 'fronting' as a main driver because the premium will be based on them anyway.

This is where I got confused.

I have taken out a policy with me as policyholder and was quoted utilising the benefit of my NCD. However I have stated  I will be the named driver.

So , the main driver (who will be my partner with zero NCD ) is benefitting from my NCD.

But this is what has been permitted. 

There's no confusion, I said if another driver, especially younger, is added then the premium is based on them also, so in my case we added a child as a named driver, the quote was £500 without and £4,000 with, so they based the premium on the younger driver. So it makes no difference if we said the policyholder is the main driver or the child.

If you're the policyholder then by definition you can't be a named driver. What you mean is that you said the named driver is the main driver.