How much difference does no claims discount make as an older driver?

Mr.Boy

I'm in my early 40s and been driving since I was 21 but for many years I have only been a named driver on my wife's insurance.
I'm looking to get a 2nd car in my own name and I have no idea if I can put any NCD or not for the years I was insured... I don't even know when this was, I probably had 10yrs NCD but haven't been the main driver for about 10yrs so does it lapse?

At my age, will lack of NCD make such a huge difference to prices anyway? Do my years as a named driver without accidents count at all? 

Martin_the_Unjust

Yes it lapses and no, if you have been a named driver on a policy (accident free) it won’t make much difference.

Veteransaver

Probably none, it's claims that matter.
As an experiment a few years ago I got quotes for my wife as the policy holder but all other details being the same. I had about 20 years no claims (though only about 9 years max is recognised anyway).
The price of the policy was virtually identical no matter who's name it was in.

DullGreyGuy

Mr.Boy said:

I'm in my early 40s and been driving since I was 21 but for many years I have only been a named driver on my wife's insurance.
I'm looking to get a 2nd car in my own name and I have no idea if I can put any NCD or not for the years I was insured... I don't even know when this was, I probably had 10yrs NCD but haven't been the main driver for about 10yrs so does it lapse?

At my age, will lack of NCD make such a huge difference to prices anyway? Do my years as a named driver without accidents count at all? 

Most insurers accept NCDs that have been unused for 2 years, Admiral on last check accepted them up to 3 years. At 10 years yours is well and truly gone. 

Phone your current insurer, unlikely they'll do anything but occasionally they'll mirror NCD or give you some credit for ND years but only really works if you've been a loyal customer and much more likely to happen if you've wife had just died etc forcing the situation. 

Traditionally maximum NCD used to give 65%-70% however if someone was a good risk but didnt have any NCD they'd get introductory NCD which was a 25%-30% discount. 

These days the logic is more complex and the discounts lower, you have to remember over 90% of people have maximium NCD so it's a bit of a farce really. One poster a couple of weeks ago here found it made £5 if they had 20 years NCD or 0 years NCD when they were trying to work out which car to apply th eNCD to having just gotten a second vehicle.