Multi vehicle insurance policy

HuskyDad

Hi, when I got a second vehicle in 2023 I went with a multi vehicle policy. It's renewal time and it's looking like 2 separate policies would be cheaper than going with another multi vehicle policy. I will have 6 years no claims from the first vehicle and the second will have been on a multi policy with no claims for 2 years. What do I put as the no claims number of years for the second vehicle? Thanks

flaneurs_lobster

Would seem logical to apply the longer period of no claims for any insurance quote because that's how long you've had car insurance without making a claim.

However, No Claims Discount (and Number of Years NCD) can be defined any way that the insurers choose, hence Protected No Claims Discount policies where they'll ignore a claim when telling you what your bonus/discount is because you've paid them more money.

Your prospective insurer will still need  to know about any claims (and will price accordingly) even though you've still got the same NCD/B.

I assert the whole thing is marketing flim-flam, and to argue against this you would have to show where a quote has been meaningfully altered because NCD/B has been added or withdrawn.

Bottom line, don't think it will make any difference.

MyRealNameToo

HuskyDad said:

Hi, when I got a second vehicle in 2023 I went with a multi vehicle policy. It's renewal time and it's looking like 2 separate policies would be cheaper than going with another multi vehicle policy. I will have 6 years no claims from the first vehicle and the second will have been on a multi policy with no claims for 2 years. What do I put as the no claims number of years for the second vehicle? Thanks

You need to check with your current insurer... if its really two seperate policies with a multi-product discount and harmonised renewal dates its likely you have one NCD of 6 years and one NCD of 2 years. 

There are a minority of providers that do actually do a true mutlivehicle policy in which case you'd likely have a single 6 year NCD in which case were you to insure separately one vehicle would be on 0 NCD. 

flaneurs_lobster said:

Would seem logical to apply the longer period of no claims for any insurance quote because that's how long you've had car insurance without making a claim.

However, No Claims Discount (and Number of Years NCD) can be defined any way that the insurers choose, hence Protected No Claims Discount policies where they'll ignore a claim when telling you what your bonus/discount is because you've paid them more money.

Your prospective insurer will still need  to know about any claims (and will price accordingly) even though you've still got the same NCD/B.

I assert the whole thing is marketing flim-flam, and to argue against this you would have to show where a quote has been meaningfully altered because NCD/B has been added or withdrawn.

Bottom line, don't think it will make any difference.

As you say it's a marketing tool not something that represents risk hence your first statement is totally incorrect. You can own a dozen vehicles and each one will have a different NCD, they cannot be merged, divided or copied. Were your statement correct someone would have the same NCD across all their vehicles but that isnt how it works. 

flaneurs_lobster

MyRealNameToo said:

As you say it's a marketing tool not something that represents risk hence your first statement is totally incorrect. You can own a dozen vehicles and each one will have a different NCD, they cannot be merged, divided or copied. Were your statement correct someone would have the same NCD across all their vehicles but that isnt how it works. 

My first sentence is not a statement, it's my opinion as to how NCD/B might be applied across coverage of several vehicles. The insurers choose not to operate the scheme this way.

It's rather illogical (at least to me) that you can have contiguous NCD/B when changing vehicles (or indeed insurance companies) but the same discount cannot be applied across coverage for multiple vehicles.

It's not as if a different NCD/B is applied if I change my vehicle from a Range Rover to a 10yo Dacia., why does the same discount not apply across all my cars?

It's a marketing gimmick.

Has anyone ever had an insurance quote where there was a discount rate or amount itemised as being due to the application of the claimed NCD/B?

MyRealNameToo

flaneurs_lobster said:

MyRealNameToo said:

As you say it's a marketing tool not something that represents risk hence your first statement is totally incorrect. You can own a dozen vehicles and each one will have a different NCD, they cannot be merged, divided or copied. Were your statement correct someone would have the same NCD across all their vehicles but that isnt how it works. 

My first sentence is not a statement, it's my opinion as to how NCD/B might be applied across coverage of several vehicles. The insurers choose not to operate the scheme this way.

It's rather illogical (at least to me) that you can have contiguous NCD/B when changing vehicles (or indeed insurance companies) but the same discount cannot be applied across coverage for multiple vehicles.

It's not as if a different NCD/B is applied if I change my vehicle from a Range Rover to a 10yo Dacia., why does the same discount not apply across all my cars?

It's a marketing gimmick.

Has anyone ever had an insurance quote where there was a discount rate or amount itemised as being due to the application of the claimed NCD/B?

Historically insurers used to list what the NCD levels represented as a fixed discount, a minority still do. 

These days insurers list what the average discount received is for NCD, for example Axa's is https://www.axaconnect.co.uk/siteassets/broker-documents/personal-lines/product-support-documents/2024-axa-personal-lines-intermediary-cma-table.pdf 

In practice NCD has been much more complex for a long time which is why insurers generally stopped stating what the discount is but the CMA determined an average must be posted. Axa is relatively generous with a 35% discount at the top end, some stick to the 65-70% top end as per the traditional scale and many more are lower, from memory DL used to be about 15% 

Of cause level of discount on its own is a little pointless, most people have maximum NCD and so get the biggest discount possible but you need to know what the underlying premiums are to work out if its a good deal or not. 70% off a big premium can still end up being more expensive than a 15% discount off a small premium. Its only those on lower NCDs where it makes a material difference but then those with the biggest scales often offer an introductory discount of around 30% for those with a clean record so the real scale is smaller than it first appears. 

flaneurs_lobster

Thanks @MyRealNameToo, far more factual post than my generalised rant.

My problem, that you allude to, is the lack of transparency on a mechanism that has become so embedded in the process of insuring vehicles that I suspect it is simply ignored each year.

Specifically, when I renew I am invited to pay additional premium in order to "preserve my no claims discount".

If I have no idea what this "discount" is worth, even when applied to the quote I am completing at the time, how can I make an informed choice as to the worth of "preserving" this discount?