Car Insurance: Keeping 2 no claims bonuses

whibble

My wife and I are expecting the new arrival of a mini-whibble to join the whibble household so we want to economise. We currently have 2 cars but want to sell one and share.

Thing is, both of us have a full, protected no claims bonus and it seems a shame for one of us to just go onto the other's insurance policy as a named driver and then lose the no claims bonus.

Does anyone have any advice on motor insurance policies that will allow two drivers to keep their no-claims bonuses? To us it would be worth paying a little more for this facility as we may go back to owning 2 cars again in the future.

Any suggestions?

Paul

lisyloo

Assuming you both share the car relatively equally then could you alternate the insurance?
I believe NCD is valid for 2 years(?).

You would need to check up on this and of course it wont work if one of you genuinely is the main driver.

I am pondering this myself as I may be in a similar scenario where we both drive 50/50 on one car.

blueye

dont quate me on it but i think if your wife was to go on your insurance policy as a named driver she would keep her no claims if she took out her own policy within two years and vice versa so you basicly just swap around every couple of years with regards to who takes out the policy and who is a named driver, i think thats how my mum and dad do it.

whibble

Wow! What a brilliant idea... and one that I had completely not thought of! I will definitely look into this.

I wonder, with only insuring for a year and then taking a break, if the NCD stays at maximum and up to date... I wonder who could answer this.

Paul

shelly

My only thought is to buy the cheapest banger you can find and one of you insure it to keep your NCB live. Park it on a private driveway or in garage and declare it SORN so you don't have to pay road tax on it.


Edit to add~ everyone beat me to it (got distracted by a phone call)

Thats an even better idea than mine, swap the policy holder over every year. I'm sure that even with having a break your NCB would stay max and up to date so long as you keep any renewal notices as proof should you need them.

blueye

my folks have max no claims and still do even with the swapping around

whibble

My Dad has some old bangers but he likes to run them which would mean if I took one on to insure it would have to be a runner and therefore not SORN. I can't think of a place I would keep one if buying one myself.

I do like the swapping idea. It almost seems too good to be true. I wonder if it's safest to swap every year or every two. Do you know for sure, blueye, that this is what your parents do, and is it definitely every 2 years?

Thanks.

blueye

just checked they do it every year but im 90% pos that your no claims are valid for up to 2 years

lisyloo

just checked they do it every year but im 90% pos that your no claims are valid for up to 2 years

My own personal interpretation of this is that you need to renew every year.
If you try to renew in the 3rd year (2 years and 1 day later) then the NCB will be invalid.

I could be wrong but I think it's safer to switch every year than every 2.

Quentin

There is no reason why you couldn't do it every 2 years (to get round the concern over the 2 years and one day, get the policy to start a day early).

blueye

yeah thats the reason they do it every year, they arnt very good with dates so its easyer for them to renew every year without the risk of slipping up.