Car Motor Insurance NCD/NCB query

bery_451

Hello,

How long does a No Claims Bonus or No Claims Discount document is Valid for?

I got this document nearly 2 years ago and since then I don't have a car because used car prices have gone through the roof in the past couple of years, difficult to afford.

What must be done to extend the validity of this document if you don't have a car?

Don't want to lose and reset to 0 years you know what I mean.

Cheers,

Car_54

Most insurers accept NCD proof up to two years old.

AFAIK there is no way to extend that.

Goudy

Generally insurance companies will accept evidence of NCB for two years after the original policy ends, but some like Admiral will accept it up to three years.

There's no hard and fast rule and I don't think there is anything in the law regarding it.
It's a bonus and they can giveth and they can taketh away!

If it's two plus years old, there's nothing to stop your asking, but you'll likely need to talk to telesales rather than using online search engines.

It's a use it or lose it thing, so to extend it you need to use it.

 

CliveOfIndia

Yep, as per the previous posts, 2 years is the "industry standard", as it were, though you may find the odd exception.  But in terms of retaining it, your only option is to insure a car - which I suspect would not be worth the cost if you're doing it purely to retain the NCD.

One way around it, if you have a spouse/partner and you have one car between you, is to alternate each year.  One year you insure it in your name with them as a named driver, next year do it the other way round.  I appreciate this is probably not very helpful if you don't have a significant other !

DullGreyGuy

The only way to extend it is to buy insurance on a vehicle to make use of it. Unfortunately you can't just do it for a day or two and then cancel as in most cases for any short term cancellation they simply return your old proof of NCD to you rather than issuing you with a new one with a clock resetting date. 

bery_451

Goudy said:

Generally insurance companies will accept evidence of NCB for two years after the original policy ends, but some like Admiral will accept it up to three years.

There's no hard and fast rule and I don't think there is anything in the law regarding it.
It's a bonus and they can giveth and they can taketh away!

If it's two plus years old, there's nothing to stop your asking, but you'll likely need to talk to telesales rather than using online search engines.

It's a use it or lose it thing, so to extend it you need to use it. 

 

I have 9+ years with Churchill. Got this certificate in early July 2022.
If I go back to Churchill after 2 years do you know what's their time limit deadline is? Is it 3 years like Admiral?

bery_451

CliveOfIndia said:

One way around it, if you have a spouse/partner and you have one car between you, is to alternate each year.  One year you insure it in your name with them as a named driver, next year do it the other way round.  I appreciate this is probably not very helpful if you don't have a significant other !

Can you build NCD/NCB being the 2nd driver not the primary driver?

bery_451

DullGreyGuy said:

The only way to extend it is to buy insurance on a vehicle to make use of it. Unfortunately you can't just do it for a day or two and then cancel as in most cases for any short term cancellation they simply return your old proof of NCD to you rather than issuing you with a new one with a clock resetting date. 

Okay to clarify to get a new one issued I cannot cancel the policy you mean and let the policy lapse in a year?

DullGreyGuy

bery_451 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

The only way to extend it is to buy insurance on a vehicle to make use of it. Unfortunately you can't just do it for a day or two and then cancel as in most cases for any short term cancellation they simply return your old proof of NCD to you rather than issuing you with a new one with a clock resetting date. 

Okay to clarify to get a new one issued I cannot cancel the policy you mean and let the policy lapse in a year?

There will be a tipping point... if you want the guarantee of a new NCD resetting the clock you have to let the policy run for its full year and naturally expire. If you cancel before the years up you may get the old proof of NCD back or you may get a new one depending on that company's processes. 

Back in the day when everything was paper we kept the proof in the office for 3-6 months before sending it offsite for storage. If a customer asked to cancel and proof of NCD then if it was still in the office the old one would be sent back but if it had gone to offsite storage we'd just issue a new one rather than mess about getting the box back from the storage firm etc. 

bery_451

DullGreyGuy said:

bery_451 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

The only way to extend it is to buy insurance on a vehicle to make use of it. Unfortunately you can't just do it for a day or two and then cancel as in most cases for any short term cancellation they simply return your old proof of NCD to you rather than issuing you with a new one with a clock resetting date. 

Okay to clarify to get a new one issued I cannot cancel the policy you mean and let the policy lapse in a year?

There will be a tipping point... if you want the guarantee of a new NCD resetting the clock you have to let the policy run for its full year and naturally expire. If you cancel before the years up you may get the old proof of NCD back or you may get a new one depending on that company's processes. 

Back in the day when everything was paper we kept the proof in the office for 3-6 months before sending it offsite for storage. If a customer asked to cancel and proof of NCD then if it was still in the office the old one would be sent back but if it had gone to offsite storage we'd just issue a new one rather than mess about getting the box back from the storage firm etc. 

That's back in the day when insurance companies used Filing Cabinets for paper docs. What about nowadays of the Internet & Ai age?

bery_451

Its okay, managed to get through to Churchill. They say 3 years.