No Claims Discount and applying it multiple vehicles
Discussion
I own several cars, each individually insured with different insurers, so not on a multi-car policy. (Social, domestic, and pleasure use only) However, after doing a bit of reading when shopping online recently for a renewal quote, I’m suddenly a little ‘cloudy’ on my understanding of how No Claims Discount (NCD) actually works when applied to multiple vehicles and how it needs to be correctly stated when obtaining an insurance quotation for each.
Below I’ve outlined my current situation and my understanding, rightly or wrongly, of how the NCD question should be answered for each vehicle in my case. Note that, prior to any renewal, I’ve always received proof of Protected NCD, for each vehicle, from the current insurer, to pass on to the next one, should I decide to change. However, that doesn’t mean I’ve been correct in how I’ve been advising my NCD all these years!
Vehicle One (daily use) has been owned for 2.5 years with 14 years NCD declared at last renewal. (Protected NCD carried over from my previous dailies). When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 15 years NCD.
Vehicle Two (occasional use) has been owned for 7 years. When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 7 years NCD. (Protected)
Vehicle Three (Occasional use) has been owned for 5 years. When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 5 years NCD. (Protected)
Have I got that right, or am I wide of the mark? Does the NCD continue to increase, year on year, (insurers maximum aside), against each individual vehicle independently, whilst it remains insured and is therefore transferable, to a different insurer, upon renewal, assuming proof of NCD is provided?
Based on what I’ve read, it’s a bit ambiguous to say the least. On the one hand, it’s clear that you can’t use your maximum, available NCD on more than one car, (multi-car, ‘mirrored’ NCD policies aside), hence my maximum is applied to my daily. But on the other, it’s less obvious what NCD you can apply to any additional vehicles. Am I correct in thinking that from ‘day-one’ of insuring an additional vehicle, you would start with an NCD of 0 years and build that up, year on year, as I’ve indicated in my own examples above? Surely it doesn’t remain at 0 years because your maximum has been, and always will be, allocated against another policy?
That then brings me on to what happens if your NCD is indeed accrued on any additional vehicle policies, and you then replace that vehicle. Whilst I’ve always understood that NCD can be carried forward where one vehicle replaces another, (with proof of NCD available), I’ve only ever applied that logic when changing my daily steer. Therefore, would the same apply to my other vehicles, were I to ever replace them? I.e., could I use the NCD built up on the previous policy for the car I’ve sold, (again supported by NCD proof from the insurer) when sourcing a policy for the vehicle that has replaced it? Or would I have to start from 0 years NCD again, in this case?
Finally, if a claim is made on one vehicle policy, does it only affect the NCD, (protected or not), for that vehicle’s insurance and any subsequent renewals? I.e., declaring the accident / claim aside, it won’t affect the NCD years I state when purchasing / renewing insurance for my other cars? FWIW, I did make a claim on my current daily during year two of ownership but, as my 13 years NCD was protected at the time, and I didn’t make more than one claim in 12 months, I wasn’t penalised in terms of it being reduced upon renewal and 14 years was granted. The premium still increased of course, due to the claim, (and I wuld expect this to happen on any other policies), but it would have been far, far greater had my NCD not been protected.
Apologies for the ‘War & Peace’ effort here and any replies are appreciated.
Below I’ve outlined my current situation and my understanding, rightly or wrongly, of how the NCD question should be answered for each vehicle in my case. Note that, prior to any renewal, I’ve always received proof of Protected NCD, for each vehicle, from the current insurer, to pass on to the next one, should I decide to change. However, that doesn’t mean I’ve been correct in how I’ve been advising my NCD all these years!
Vehicle One (daily use) has been owned for 2.5 years with 14 years NCD declared at last renewal. (Protected NCD carried over from my previous dailies). When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 15 years NCD.
Vehicle Two (occasional use) has been owned for 7 years. When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 7 years NCD. (Protected)
Vehicle Three (Occasional use) has been owned for 5 years. When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 5 years NCD. (Protected)
Have I got that right, or am I wide of the mark? Does the NCD continue to increase, year on year, (insurers maximum aside), against each individual vehicle independently, whilst it remains insured and is therefore transferable, to a different insurer, upon renewal, assuming proof of NCD is provided?
Based on what I’ve read, it’s a bit ambiguous to say the least. On the one hand, it’s clear that you can’t use your maximum, available NCD on more than one car, (multi-car, ‘mirrored’ NCD policies aside), hence my maximum is applied to my daily. But on the other, it’s less obvious what NCD you can apply to any additional vehicles. Am I correct in thinking that from ‘day-one’ of insuring an additional vehicle, you would start with an NCD of 0 years and build that up, year on year, as I’ve indicated in my own examples above? Surely it doesn’t remain at 0 years because your maximum has been, and always will be, allocated against another policy?
That then brings me on to what happens if your NCD is indeed accrued on any additional vehicle policies, and you then replace that vehicle. Whilst I’ve always understood that NCD can be carried forward where one vehicle replaces another, (with proof of NCD available), I’ve only ever applied that logic when changing my daily steer. Therefore, would the same apply to my other vehicles, were I to ever replace them? I.e., could I use the NCD built up on the previous policy for the car I’ve sold, (again supported by NCD proof from the insurer) when sourcing a policy for the vehicle that has replaced it? Or would I have to start from 0 years NCD again, in this case?
Finally, if a claim is made on one vehicle policy, does it only affect the NCD, (protected or not), for that vehicle’s insurance and any subsequent renewals? I.e., declaring the accident / claim aside, it won’t affect the NCD years I state when purchasing / renewing insurance for my other cars? FWIW, I did make a claim on my current daily during year two of ownership but, as my 13 years NCD was protected at the time, and I didn’t make more than one claim in 12 months, I wasn’t penalised in terms of it being reduced upon renewal and 14 years was granted. The premium still increased of course, due to the claim, (and I wuld expect this to happen on any other policies), but it would have been far, far greater had my NCD not been protected.
Apologies for the ‘War & Peace’ effort here and any replies are appreciated.
What would be more interesting is if you held a direct conversation with either an insurer or maybe a reputable broker in respect of a multi vehicle policy, explained your situation and history and asked for their opinions and advice.
In my experience if there's something you don't understand or needs interpretation a couple of direct adult conversations conducted honestly can be a perfectly acceptable route.
In my experience if there's something you don't understand or needs interpretation a couple of direct adult conversations conducted honestly can be a perfectly acceptable route.
JustCallMeMac said:
I own several cars, each individually insured with different insurers, so not on a multi-car policy. (Social, domestic, and pleasure use only) However, after doing a bit of reading when shopping online recently for a renewal quote, I’m suddenly a little ‘cloudy’ on my understanding of how No Claims Discount (NCD) actually works when applied to multiple vehicles and how it needs to be correctly stated when obtaining an insurance quotation for each.
Below I’ve outlined my current situation and my understanding, rightly or wrongly, of how the NCD question should be answered for each vehicle in my case. Note that, prior to any renewal, I’ve always received proof of Protected NCD, for each vehicle, from the current insurer, to pass on to the next one, should I decide to change. However, that doesn’t mean I’ve been correct in how I’ve been advising my NCD all these years!
Vehicle One (daily use) has been owned for 2.5 years with 14 years NCD declared at last renewal. (Protected NCD carried over from my previous dailies). When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 15 years NCD.
Vehicle Two (occasional use) has been owned for 7 years. When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 7 years NCD. (Protected)
Vehicle Three (Occasional use) has been owned for 5 years. When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 5 years NCD. (Protected)
Have I got that right, or am I wide of the mark? Does the NCD continue to increase, year on year, (insurers maximum aside), against each individual vehicle independently, whilst it remains insured and is therefore transferable, to a different insurer, upon renewal, assuming proof of NCD is provided?
Based on what I’ve read, it’s a bit ambiguous to say the least. On the one hand, it’s clear that you can’t use your maximum, available NCD on more than one car, (multi-car, ‘mirrored’ NCD policies aside), hence my maximum is applied to my daily. But on the other, it’s less obvious what NCD you can apply to any additional vehicles. Am I correct in thinking that from ‘day-one’ of insuring an additional vehicle, you would start with an NCD of 0 years and build that up, year on year, as I’ve indicated in my own examples above? Surely it doesn’t remain at 0 years because your maximum has been, and always will be, allocated against another policy?
That then brings me on to what happens if your NCD is indeed accrued on any additional vehicle policies, and you then replace that vehicle. Whilst I’ve always understood that NCD can be carried forward where one vehicle replaces another, (with proof of NCD available), I’ve only ever applied that logic when changing my daily steer. Therefore, would the same apply to my other vehicles, were I to ever replace them? I.e., could I use the NCD built up on the previous policy for the car I’ve sold, (again supported by NCD proof from the insurer) when sourcing a policy for the vehicle that has replaced it? Or would I have to start from 0 years NCD again, in this case?
Finally, if a claim is made on one vehicle policy, does it only affect the NCD, (protected or not), for that vehicle’s insurance and any subsequent renewals? I.e., declaring the accident / claim aside, it won’t affect the NCD years I state when purchasing / renewing insurance for my other cars? FWIW, I did make a claim on my current daily during year two of ownership but, as my 13 years NCD was protected at the time, and I didn’t make more than one claim in 12 months, I wasn’t penalised in terms of it being reduced upon renewal and 14 years was granted. The premium still increased of course, due to the claim, (and I wuld expect this to happen on any other policies), but it would have been far, far greater had my NCD not been protected.
Apologies for the ‘War & Peace’ effort here and any replies are appreciated.
NCD will accrue on each vehicle (until you reach the maximum) and can be transferred to the next car if you replace one. Below I’ve outlined my current situation and my understanding, rightly or wrongly, of how the NCD question should be answered for each vehicle in my case. Note that, prior to any renewal, I’ve always received proof of Protected NCD, for each vehicle, from the current insurer, to pass on to the next one, should I decide to change. However, that doesn’t mean I’ve been correct in how I’ve been advising my NCD all these years!
Vehicle One (daily use) has been owned for 2.5 years with 14 years NCD declared at last renewal. (Protected NCD carried over from my previous dailies). When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 15 years NCD.
Vehicle Two (occasional use) has been owned for 7 years. When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 7 years NCD. (Protected)
Vehicle Three (Occasional use) has been owned for 5 years. When obtaining a renewal quote, I’ll state 5 years NCD. (Protected)
Have I got that right, or am I wide of the mark? Does the NCD continue to increase, year on year, (insurers maximum aside), against each individual vehicle independently, whilst it remains insured and is therefore transferable, to a different insurer, upon renewal, assuming proof of NCD is provided?
Based on what I’ve read, it’s a bit ambiguous to say the least. On the one hand, it’s clear that you can’t use your maximum, available NCD on more than one car, (multi-car, ‘mirrored’ NCD policies aside), hence my maximum is applied to my daily. But on the other, it’s less obvious what NCD you can apply to any additional vehicles. Am I correct in thinking that from ‘day-one’ of insuring an additional vehicle, you would start with an NCD of 0 years and build that up, year on year, as I’ve indicated in my own examples above? Surely it doesn’t remain at 0 years because your maximum has been, and always will be, allocated against another policy?
That then brings me on to what happens if your NCD is indeed accrued on any additional vehicle policies, and you then replace that vehicle. Whilst I’ve always understood that NCD can be carried forward where one vehicle replaces another, (with proof of NCD available), I’ve only ever applied that logic when changing my daily steer. Therefore, would the same apply to my other vehicles, were I to ever replace them? I.e., could I use the NCD built up on the previous policy for the car I’ve sold, (again supported by NCD proof from the insurer) when sourcing a policy for the vehicle that has replaced it? Or would I have to start from 0 years NCD again, in this case?
Finally, if a claim is made on one vehicle policy, does it only affect the NCD, (protected or not), for that vehicle’s insurance and any subsequent renewals? I.e., declaring the accident / claim aside, it won’t affect the NCD years I state when purchasing / renewing insurance for my other cars? FWIW, I did make a claim on my current daily during year two of ownership but, as my 13 years NCD was protected at the time, and I didn’t make more than one claim in 12 months, I wasn’t penalised in terms of it being reduced upon renewal and 14 years was granted. The premium still increased of course, due to the claim, (and I wuld expect this to happen on any other policies), but it would have been far, far greater had my NCD not been protected.
Apologies for the ‘War & Peace’ effort here and any replies are appreciated.
If you make a claim for one car the NCD on the others won't be affected, but when you declare the claim the premium for the others may well get increased.
Putting it nicely they'll get you one way or another!
Let me cloud the issue:
If you insure a car with max NCD (whether that Insurer considers actual years, say 25 years, or does their standard 7 years as their system doesn't cope with more than that) with say Axa.
Halfway through the year you decide to buy another car and if you insure it on the general market, it effectively has 0 NCD. However Axa allow you to mirror your no claims on another policy, so you get 25 years NCD. Then a year later at renewal, you decide Axa are no longer competitive and insure elsewhere and you will have the benefit of 25 years NCD on the second car despite only having insured it for a year. I've done this 3 or 4 times.
If you insure a car with max NCD (whether that Insurer considers actual years, say 25 years, or does their standard 7 years as their system doesn't cope with more than that) with say Axa.
Halfway through the year you decide to buy another car and if you insure it on the general market, it effectively has 0 NCD. However Axa allow you to mirror your no claims on another policy, so you get 25 years NCD. Then a year later at renewal, you decide Axa are no longer competitive and insure elsewhere and you will have the benefit of 25 years NCD on the second car despite only having insured it for a year. I've done this 3 or 4 times.
For further cloudage... 
I had a 3rd car a couple of years ago that I sold. POlicay had about 9 yars NCD on it. Bought a new car a few months back but 2 years had elapsed so old NCD not usable. Had a chat with the insurance company that Go-Compare listed and they checked what other cars I had been driving and agreed they could mirror my existing NCD.
I've just let my motorbike policy lapse this week. I've only kept it running for the last 2 years to keep NCD on that policy 'live' , but seeing as I'm not likely to use the bike this year I've decided to let it lapse this year and save myself £100, I'll take out another policy within 2 years to get it running again and avoid the 2 year gap.
I had a 3rd car a couple of years ago that I sold. POlicay had about 9 yars NCD on it. Bought a new car a few months back but 2 years had elapsed so old NCD not usable. Had a chat with the insurance company that Go-Compare listed and they checked what other cars I had been driving and agreed they could mirror my existing NCD.
I've just let my motorbike policy lapse this week. I've only kept it running for the last 2 years to keep NCD on that policy 'live' , but seeing as I'm not likely to use the bike this year I've decided to let it lapse this year and save myself £100, I'll take out another policy within 2 years to get it running again and avoid the 2 year gap.
It varies from insurer to insurer.
Some have different maximums so you earn 25 years NCD with insurer A and take it to insurer B who has a maximum of 9 years, and they cap it at 9 years. You’ve “lost” 16 years NCD.
Some will only dock you 2 years for a non-fault claim etc etc.
There are no hard and fast rules in my experience.
The biggest misunderstanding of all is that if you protect your NCD and you do claim, your premium won’t increase. It will because you’ve got the same discount off a higher premium.
Some have different maximums so you earn 25 years NCD with insurer A and take it to insurer B who has a maximum of 9 years, and they cap it at 9 years. You’ve “lost” 16 years NCD.
Some will only dock you 2 years for a non-fault claim etc etc.
There are no hard and fast rules in my experience.
The biggest misunderstanding of all is that if you protect your NCD and you do claim, your premium won’t increase. It will because you’ve got the same discount off a higher premium.
Its about time insurers standardised the whole NCB terms. I have nearly 18 years but my current (and previous) insurer only recognise up to 9years and thats all they show on any documentation, so I've effectively 'lost' 9 years because they don't recognise anything above their own maximums. Load of tosh.And yes I did raise the issue with both companies to no avail.
When I move from one insurer to another, I ensure my no claims bonus/discount declaration states the actual number of claim-free years...rather than a % or 'maximum'.
Not one of my insurers has failed to do this so far...and one where I had had a claim simply said that I came with 23 years of NCD and I'd had a claim which didn't affect my NCD.
Not one of my insurers has failed to do this so far...and one where I had had a claim simply said that I came with 23 years of NCD and I'd had a claim which didn't affect my NCD.
griffter said:
The biggest misunderstanding of all is that if you protect your NCD and you do claim, your premium won’t increase. It will because you’ve got the same discount off a higher premium.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Yes, because it's protected bonus, not protected premium. The clue is in the name. I don't understand how anyone could think prot ncb meant no increase in premiums.
This is twofold. A lack of understanding of what the NCB is and how it works (which to be fair isn't all that well described), together with a lack of understanding of risk factors. Seems easy to me to understand the lack of understanding 
In a similar vein! My son totalled his car through a wall on Christmas day. No-one was hurt! The car is on an Admiral Multi policy and I am the policy holder, there are 5 cars on the policy. It was TPFand T, so no claim for the car, just the wall. I am debating whether to claim or just pay for the wall to keep future premiums down. Admiral refused to tell me how a claim would affect the overall cost of the multi-car policy. i.e. if all 5 premiums would increase as they are all linked. Anyone had experience of this? Will assume, as already stated in earlier posts, they will get their cash plus a margin!! TIA Mark.
RoadToad84 said:
Each individually insured vehicle will accrue its own NCD year on year. Assuming a standard policy.
I have a similar situation and this is how mine has worked over the years. I have also found that if adding a completely new vehicle, often they will give you no claims to either match or start you off. Pretty sure it was Esure who I phoned and they realised that one car had less no claims than another and said he'd match it. I wasn't even talking about that car but they matched it anyway.
But ultimately each policy will accrue it's own no claims.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff