Do you protect your NCB?

[kayzee]

Okay I've been driving 10 years and have never protected my NCB. This year I had my first ever crash, which was entirely my fault, and I was worrying about how much the premium was going to go up by.

I got my quote through the other day... total increase? £28! happy with that. To me, it confirms that it's utterly pointless protecting them as it costs more per year to do so, than you would save by not.

For instance it costs on average, what, about £50 per year to protect them? 10 years paying that would have cost me £500 compared to the small loss I took. I know it's not properly proportional because the amount would be different every time you got an additional year... but still, the point stands. So, what do you do?

[mybrainhurts]

No, you get nothing from it. If you have a claim, all they have to do is keep you on the same bonus but jack up the gross premium to stiff you.

Pure scam.

[KTF]

I have always protected mine thinking it was some sort of holy grail.

Interesting to hear the experience people have had when they haven't protected it and made a claim.

[AndyLB]

I had a collision once when I was a lot younger (my fault) and rather than lose the two years I had, I just did not earn a bonus for that year. (So still carried forward my two years).

Is this the way it has worked for other people?

(Or am I asking the wrong crowd - maybe a PHer is never at fault!)

[James_N]

Never protected mine. Was on 6ncb until last week when i had a bump. My fault.

so now i will lose 2 of those ncb. I've only just renewed but i put my details into confused, but a year older and 4ncb rather than 6 and it made £60 difference only.

[williredale]

Never bothered in nine years of driving. Am I going to be bent over and shafted in the event of a crash?

[Coolbanana]

Always protected mine - currently 10 years although that's only because they don't seem go higher, would be 20 otherwise!

Worth it? Who knows, doesn't cost much to have so got it.

[Rick101]

I've got 2 lots of ncb so worst case of me losing one in its entirety, I'll just use the other.

Makes a mockery of the system but just using their rules to my advantage.

[MGgeordie]

Its a scam!!

[BigTom85]

Purity14 said:

Incorrect.

You will be on 3 NCB now, 5 is maximum.

Errr, thought it was 7 years?

[kambites]

BigTom85 said:

Purity14 said:

Incorrect.

You will be on 3 NCB now, 5 is maximum.

Errr, thought it was 7 years?

There is no standard, it varies from insurer to insurer. Most are five, in my experience.

And no I don't. I've had one "fault accident" in my driving career and the vast majority of the premium rise was from the fact I'd had an accident, not the loss of the NCB.

[foxmeister]

Never bothered with it, always thought it seemed pointless, never trusted ins co to totally honour it TBH!

[kambites]

foxmeister said:

Never bothered with it, always thought it seemed pointless, never trusted ins co to totally honour it TBH!

I don't see how they could partially honour it - either you get the discount or you don't. Protecting the NCB has never had any effect on how much the claim causes your base premium to rise.

[Garvin]

Protected NCB means nothing except paying more for your premium in the first place! If you have a bump the insurance company will keep your NCB years/ % untouched but just adjust the next premium accordingly! If you change insurance company you can give them the notice of earned NCB but you will still have to tell them of any accidents and claims and they will calculate the premium accordingly. Protected NCB is, IMHO, a game for mugs only.

[av185]

BigTom85 said:

Purity14 said:

Incorrect.

You will be on 3 NCB now, 5 is maximum.

Errr, thought it was 7 years?

Nein its nine years.

[buggalugs]

It takes around 5 minutes to run two quotes through your favourite online insurer, one with protected ncb and an accident 6 months ago, and one with no protected ncb, 2 years less ncb and an accident 6 months ago. When I did this myself I found it was not worth 'protecting' my ncb, so I don't do it.

[aka_kerrly]

buggalugs said:

It takes around 5 minutes to run two quotes through your favourite online insurer, one with protected ncb and an accident 6 months ago, and one with no protected ncb, 2 years less ncb and an accident 6 months ago. When I did this myself I found it was not worth 'protecting' my ncb, so I don't do it.

Do you use all of your correct personal details when running these quotes? I often wonder what impact this has and if insurance companies penalise those who run multiple theoretical quotes.

I ask as I have heard of cases where people have run quotes for modified cars or contacted their insurer to enquire about the cost of a change only to get accused of having the modifications and threatened with having the premium put up/invalidated.

[matthias73]

Useful if you have a younger driver on your policy who is likely to crash, as you then lose your no claims.

[RB5Bird]

kambites said:

There is no standard, it varies from insurer to insurer. Most are five, in my experience.

And no I don't. I've had one "fault accident" in my driving career and the vast majority of the premium rise was from the fact I'd had an accident, not the loss of the NCB.

I've just had a quote and when asked I said I had 15 years, but know that there is a maximum. He said the max was 9 years, and this was a broker so must be almost a standard.

[The Moose]

To be honest mine is protected, not in the event of a single issue in each year, but if for some reason I have 3+ claims in a single year. Unlikely I know. But just in case.