Protected No Claims, is it worth it?

tinalives

Hunnymonster wrote:

Regardless - there are too many clowns out there driving without insurance - protecting against that antisocial element is reason enough for me to protect my NCB....

VERY good point!

derrick

Hunnymonster wrote:

Regardless - there are too many clowns out there driving without insurance - protecting against that antisocial element is reason enough for me to protect my NCB....

I have no probs you doing it,that is your choice, just bear in mind it will still cost you in increased premiums, they will increase it in some guise. And as i said if you phone round for cheaper insurance the following year and you have had a claim you will pay extra for the new insurer,if you know you will stay with your present insurer for ever,then you will still pay extra, they have it sussed, and surely you do not just pay the renewal every year without comparing prices against others,

Mumstheword

I used to work in motor insurance, and the first bit of advice i give to friends and family is to PROTECT YOUR BONUS !!

depending on the rules of the company you insure with, as little as 2 claims could send you from 4 or more years ncd, to NIL eek!

in response to arguments against:

these days, you may actually find insurers who will transfer protected ncd at full. the market is fierce and everyone is after your business. i can't say this for sure tho as i don't have enough knowledge of all the products on offer.

following a claim, i would rather stay with a company who charges slightly more, with my ncd intact having been protected, than not protect it at all, and move to someone more competitive but with less ncd.

you will not necessarily see a price rise because of claims on your policy. check with insurers what they would usually do. for example, if you have 2 theft claims, they may put a higher excess on your policy. if you are in 2 fault accidents in the year, they could say you must pay a higher premium because you are a higher risk. but your ncd will be intact. that should still be cheaper than moving to another company who
doesnt charge extra because you are a higher risk, but with no ncd.

These days, insurance is so expensive that losing ncd even after one claim can cost you hundreds of pounds. and you have to take this into account. if your insurance is say £100, then it's not worth paying £50 to protect the chance of your premium going up to £160 say following a claim. But if you pay £1000 per year, then £50 is worth it to protect you from paying £1600 the next year, then maybe £1300 the following year whilst it builds up again. Also take into account that even if your insurance is cheap now, one day you may attract higher premiums (eg, higher rated car, higher cover, young drivwers, move of address, etc, etc) and then it will be worth your while to have protected your ncd now!

i've gone on a bit now, and this is a very boring subject!! but feel free to ask (pm if i dont reply in case i havent seen your comment) if you need me to clarify/expand

Mumxx

tinalives

Thanks Mum!

That clarifies things.

Mumstheword

you are welcome.
on another note, a thought re house insurance...
some companies give a discount for insuring your contents and buildings on the same policy. however... these days, you can build up ncd on house insurance too. if you make a claim on a joint policy, you've lost ncd on the whole lot. if you have seperate policies and make a claim on just one, then only that policy will lose it's ncd. obviously you have to weigh up whether it's more beneficial to put them together if the discount for doing so is big enough!
it's also a good idea, if not too expensive, to have the 2 policies with the same company. that way, if you have say a fire claim and some parts are covered on buildings, some on contents, you haven't got two companies fobbing you off saying that the other must deal with this, that or the other!

i used to work in house insurance too.

my what a truly exciting life i have lived. anyone need technical construction advice? (actually, that was sooooo boring that i can barely remember any of it!!)

Mumxx

jawa1

Can anyone recommend a website for car Business cover car insurance.

Only needed a couple of times a month and normally hire a car but would prefer to use my own. (can claim 45p a mile expenses!)

Mumstheword

bump to answer new thread

MarkyMarkD

Mums' example re the £50 isn't right. NCD protection normally costs 15% of the basic premium - it's not a fixed amount. So it's equally good/bad value for customers with any size of policy.

Whether it's worth having or not depends very much on the way your insurer calculates their NCD and the loading they apply for claiming.

e.g. £1,000 policy (without) or £1,150 policy (with protection). 60% (full) NCD at start, which reduces to 40% on one claim. So the gross premium is £2,500.

If you don't claim, it costs you an extra £150 per annum.

If you do claim, your gross premium will likely rise by 20% to £3,000 say. So your premiums become £1,800 if you didn't protect, and £1,200 if you did protect: plus the 15% = £1,380.

In the following year, assuming premiums remain constant, you have 50% NCD if you didn't protect = £1,500, and £1,380 again if you did protect.

So, for paying an extra £150 per year in premiums, you save yourself around £720 in additional premiums for one claim.

So, if you expect to claim more than once every 5 years, it's worth paying for the protection. If you don't, it's not worth it.

I DO NOT buy NCD protection. My wife and I have two cars. We've had no blame-worthy accidents in all of our joint 30 years of driving (and having insurance).

But if you have a huge premium, and are risk averse, or have a bad claims history, or live in a bad area prone to vandalism, or whatever, it's probably a different decision for you.

I would also point out that there are a very few insurers who charge significantly less than the standard 15% for NCD protection, and with those insurers it's a lot better value.

I also don't agree with the posts that you can't transfer protection. If you have protected NCD, your renewal notice will state that you have the full amount of NCD, and therefore it can be transferred.

steady__eddie

My car insurer (Saga) gave me "free" protected no claims. I am not so naive as to believe there is such a free thing as a free dinner but I had my car stolen 18 months ago. They broke into the house and took the keys, a Skoda, what is the world coming to ?, anyway when I came to renew this year, my renewal from Saga was at least £80 cheaper from all the quotes I obtained over the net. As soon as you mention that a claim has been made in the previous 12 months, you are requested to ring them. Discounts for buying online are then null and void.
p.s. I am not connected in any way to the aforementioned company except as a customer.

Mark7799

jawa1 wrote:

Can anyone recommend a website for car Business cover car insurance.

Only needed a couple of times a month and normally hire a car but would prefer to use my own. (can claim 45p a mile expenses!)

Unless you are looking to do something more than just driving on business use (e.g carrying business goods) then your existing surer should be able to help (I think it's called class 1 business use) all they'll really want to know is your anticipated total mileage, including business use.