Losing no-claims when downsizing from two cars to one.

onejontwo

As the title suggests we have a bit of a dilemma now that we are both retired and have reduced to one car. To keep things simple we moved house about 15 months ago and sold my car,  we then lapsed my car insurance and I continued as a named driver on my wife's insurance . We have  25 years plus of never making a claim which reflects significantly on our no-claims bonus.           About one year ago the time came to renew the insurance and as I pretty much always change insurance each year for the best deals, I put me down as the main driver and my wife as the named driver (although it is pretty equal we have to nominate one of us as the main driver) 
   Now the insurance is due again I have a dilemma that if I were the main driver and my wife the named driver she would lose all of her no-claims bonus come this time next year due to the 2 year rule of not being a main driver, and if something happened to me she would have to start from scratch as it were. But if I put her down as the main driver I would start to lose my no-claims bonus within a 2 year window if anything happened to her. This might sound very callous but I am trying to simplify things and at the same time keep things practical if the worst happened and save my wife any unnecessary expense.
   Is there any such thing in place where you both earned no-claims bonus? Or another thought if we alternated the main driver each year I imagine we would both keep our no-claims bonus that way?

Aretnap

No claims bonus generally follows the policyholder - not necessarily the main driver.

But that aside yes, the best way to preserve both is to alternate so that you are the policyholder one year, your wife is the policyholder the next year etc. That way you can keep both NCDs live indefinitely, or at least until one of you makes a claim.

You should read the questions and assumptions about who is the registered keeper, who is the vehicle owner and who is the main driver etc carefully, but most insurers will not have a major issue with you insuring a car that is owned by your wife, or vice versa.

chrisw

I think you are making it over complicated. You might have 25 years claim free, but you will only have a maximum of 5 or possibly 9 years NCD. If you have a single fault claim it will likely drop to 3 years anyway.

As you are both now retired and unless you are trying to insure a Ferrari in central London, you will probably find the difference with/without a NCD is not that great.

I'm in a similar situation but rather than worrying about all the what-ifs, will deal with it when the time comes.

Aretnap

True, NCD may not make as big a difference as you think. Also, most insurers would allow NCD to be transferred to a spouse in the event that one of you did die or stop driving permanently for health reasons.

Still, two NCDs are handy if there's any possibility that you might go back to running two cars in future. So for the sake of a minor bit of hassle changing the policy over once a year (and you should of course be shopping around and switching regularly anyway, like a good MSE type) I would be inclined to keep both going personally.

onejontwo

Aretnap said:

True, NCD may not make as big a difference as you think. Also, most insurers would allow NCD to be transferred to a spouse in the event that one of you did die or stop driving permanently for health reasons.

Still, two NCDs are handy if there's any possibility that you might go back to running two cars in future. So for the sake of a minor bit of hassle changing the policy over once a year (and you should of course be shopping around and switching regularly anyway, like a good MSE type) I would be inclined to keep both going personally.

Ah, I didn't even know that was possible.
When you say "keep both going" I take it as you favour alternating each year rather than setting up two insurances?

onejontwo

chrisw said:

I think you are making it over complicated. You might have 25 years claim free, but you will only have a maximum of 5 or possibly 9 years NCD. If you have a single fault claim it will likely drop to 3 years anyway.

As you are both now retired and unless you are trying to insure a Ferrari in central London, you will probably find the difference with/without a NCD is not that great.

I'm in a similar situation but rather than worrying about all the what-ifs, will deal with it when the time comes.

I know the savings are not a fortune but I like to save a few quid wherever I can (Hence being on this site) so whenever I go on a comparison site and the figures are up to 70% cheaper with our current no-claim discount as opposed to none, it seems worthwhile to try and retain the discount.

400ixl

One year insure it with your NCD and the following year with your wifes NCD, then back to yours and continue.

Provided there is no huge price difference between you both then that will maintain both NCD's.