Car Insurer Not Recognising My NCD After 2 years This is criminal.

midimanuser

Hi, 
I have over 25 years driving experience and 18 years NCD. 

I have never made a claim  in 25 years or lapsed in my insurance until this thing called Covid and lockdown came along. 

During that time my company sent me home and they have only just recently allowed us back to the workplace. Because I had to sell my car because I was losing money on and there was no point on me taxing and insuring something just to sit on the drive. 

This meant that when I went to get a new car I had not been insured on my own car for 2.5 years. 

My new insurer has just written to me thanking me for sending in my 18years proof of NCD but have said that they can't accept it as there rules state that I must have been on my own policy for no less than 2 years. 

This means that I have lost my 18yrs of NCD and I will have to start again. 
Now they also want an extra £300 on top of the £1300 that I am already paying! to keep it going!!

I am fuming because during that time I have been insured on a Van and a brand new Mercedes that I was sharing to keep our costs down until my work situation resolved. I even gained 2 years NCD on the VAN.  

These insurers need to be taken in by the Government and dealt with because they are getting away with murder in times that have been difficult for us all. 

I am thinking about writing to the Insurance bodies or someone like that.  

 

Dave_5150

NCD has expired after a two year gap for a very long time. 

SandyShores

Have a look around.  I just found this on the Admiral website and it says they accept NCDs up to 3 years old:

 https://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/car-insurance/how-the-no-claims-bonus-works#:~:text=A%20no%20claims%20bonus%20or,retain%20your%20no%20claims%20bonus.

Aretnap

It's not remotely criminal. It has been the industry norm for many years that no claims discount expires if it hasn't been used for two years.

Even that's a concession - as originally conceived NCD was a form of loyalty bonus which you would only get if you renewed your policy year after year. Albeit it no longer functions as a loyalty bonus as insurers realised that if they wanted to attract new customers they would have to offer to match their rivals' NCDs. But if you are not renewing a policy then you won't have a current insurer who is offering you a loyalty discount - so there's no string incentive for another insurer to offer you one either.

But if you want help rather than just a rant, Admiral are an outlier who will accept NCD for up to 3 years from when it was last used - so you might want to work out whether it would make financial sense to cancel your current policy and switch to them for a year.

prowla

Funnily enough I had a discussion with someone today and said that ISTR the NCD expires after 2 years.

midimanuser

SandyShores said:

Have a look around.  I just found this on the Admiral website and it says they accept NCDs up to 3 years old:

 https://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/car-insurance/how-the-no-claims-bonus-works#:~:text=A%20no%20claims%20bonus%20or,retain%20your%20no%20claims%20bonus.

Thanks.

I just tired doing a quote with Admiral and they could not quote and I have to phone them. 
Thanks for your help but this is madness given my circumstances. 
I have been driving non stop on two policies and earning 2 years NCD on the VAN in the same period too.

 

midimanuser

prowla said:

Funnily enough I had a discussion with someone today and said that ISTR the NCD expires after 2 years.

This would not be an issue under normal circumstances but Covid and Lockdown forced most people to either SORN their vehicles or sell them until they knew more about their travelling situation. 

Now I am being punished by the insurers for essentially not paying them to have a car sitting around. 

Nebulous2

Who were your previous insurers? 

Some companies will extend it to 3 years if you go back to them. Directline are one company who do, or did previously. 

tasticz

I believe cooperative also do 3 if they are still doing car insurance 

Flugelhorn

midimanuser said:

prowla said:

Funnily enough I had a discussion with someone today and said that ISTR the NCD expires after 2 years.

This would not be an issue under normal circumstances but Covid and Lockdown forced most people to either SORN their vehicles or sell them until they knew more about their travelling situation. 

Now I am being punished by the insurers for essentially not paying them to have a car sitting around. 

I wouldn't say MOST people - SORNed or sold their vehicles. most carried on with what they had - Lockdown was actually only a few months at a  time and not years in a block. Many did lots of travelling, work, moving house, kids back from Uni, driving lessons etc etc within a few months of the start of it all 

WellKnownSid

Flugelhorn said:

midimanuser said:

prowla said:

Funnily enough I had a discussion with someone today and said that ISTR the NCD expires after 2 years.

This would not be an issue under normal circumstances but Covid and Lockdown forced most people to either SORN their vehicles or sell them until they knew more about their travelling situation. 

Now I am being punished by the insurers for essentially not paying them to have a car sitting around. 

I wouldn't say MOST people - SORNed or sold their vehicles. most carried on with what they had - Lockdown was actually only a few months at a  time and not years in a block. Many did lots of travelling, work, moving house, kids back from Uni, driving lessons etc etc within a few months of the start of it all 

Agreed.  I made the bold decision to carry on eating during lockdown.  As I recall, supermarket doorstep deliveries were very much a fictional part of the Government's plan to feed the nation, so we definitely needed a car for that bit.