Returned ex-pat - lost no-claims history!

[wolfsbaneracing]

I am recently returned from 15 years living in New Zealand.
Staggeringly, my clean insurance record of the last 30+ years appears to now be worthless since I have not been permanently resident in the UK.
Anyone else come up against this (major) issue ? I have 2 classics and a 'modern' to insure.
Is there a broker somewhere who will accept my recent insurance / driving history from NZ ??
Any help or ideas most gratefully received !

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I haven't used them recently, but I found the human beings at A-Plan Thatcham branch quite helpful with stuff like this.

But as I say, that was a while ago.

[SimonTheSailor]

Sadly you seem to lose your NCD after 3 years.

[kambites]

Yup, you might find a specialist who will take into account accident-free time driving abroad, but the generic transferable UK NCB only has a finite lifespan.

[996TT02]

When I insured with Stuart Collins, I had provided proof of foreign NCB. Good luck, ridiculous profiteering situation.

[Scrump]

I had similar after taking a company car for a few years.
Some insurers offered an introductory NCD which helped, but these didn’t come up on the comparison sites, I had to speak to a person at each insurer to ask.

[FMOB]

Suggest you try and talk to the underwriters and see what they can do. You are probably in a worse position than a 17 year old who just passed his test.

Black box anyone.

[grumbas]

Marshmallow claim to specialise in exactly the situation you describe.

Probably worth a try, I'd be curious to know how you get on. I suspect the modern car will be more up their street than the classics though.

[Griffith4ever]

As said, speak to insurance brokers on the phone (as opposed to internet comparisons). They matched my existing NCB for a second car, and did the same for the buyer when I sold it - so it shows they will apply a "NCD" comparable discount if the underwriter feels confident in you. I know it's a secondary NCD and not your primary one, but, as I said, speak to them. they'll phone the underwriter and hopefully do you a comparable deal.

After that, if you are a sensible age (offer 40) which I assume you are, policies tend to flatline after only a handful of years of NCD. I have about 30 years NDC but often when I move policy it's truncated to 20 years, or 15 years, as that's their max.

I have several NCDs

Car 1 (fast) 30+ years
Car 2 (dull) 4 years (prev have three Westfields and a TVR which were all classics, so technically no NCD at all on those cars)
Van (van) 4 years
Motorbike 4 years

The point I will make is that the policies on Car 2, Van and Motorbike are barely any different if I had 30 years NCD on them (I've entered it on comparison sites to check). I think being 54 and having a garage helps a lot.

One of the Westies I moved to a non classic policy to garner some NCD at one stage and it made no difference at all.

[Bob T]

Treat NCD like a marketing gimick.

I returned from abroad in 2020 and have 3 vehicles split between 2 insurers.
Just answer the questions honestly and the costs were reasonable, being old helps
For the classic (Footman James) they don't consider NCD anyway.
I now have 3 years NCD but guess what my insurance went up this year - like most other people.

[wolfsbaneracing]

Many thanks for the help and answers so far !
To give some feedback, I'll add a few details ;
2007 Audi TT mk2 3.2 DSG coupe, kept on a private driveway, rural area.
Driver aged 55, 3 months back in the UK, clean license and claim history for over 30 years.
Quotes however, all seem to be based on zero NCD ...
Best so far = A-Plan and Marshmallow, both around £600 pa fully comp.
Does that sound reasonable / silly / beatable ? (All I know is that it's an awful lot more expensive than little old NZ !)

[Xcore]

No claims makes little difference these days I have found

[trails]

wolfsbaneracing said:

I am recently returned from 15 years living in New Zealand.
Staggeringly, my clean insurance record of the last 30+ years appears to now be worthless since I have not been permanently resident in the UK.
Anyone else come up against this (major) issue ? I have 2 classics and a 'modern' to insure.
Is there a broker somewhere who will accept my recent insurance / driving history from NZ ??
Any help or ideas most gratefully received !

Gary Moulson at Keith Michaels.

[Jamescrs]

wolfsbaneracing said:

Many thanks for the help and answers so far !
To give some feedback, I'll add a few details ;
2007 Audi TT mk2 3.2 DSG coupe, kept on a private driveway, rural area.
Driver aged 55, 3 months back in the UK, clean license and claim history for over 30 years.
Quotes however, all seem to be based on zero NCD ...
Best so far = A-Plan and Marshmallow, both around £600 pa fully comp.
Does that sound reasonable / silly / beatable ? (All I know is that it's an awful lot more expensive than little old NZ !)

Not overly cheap but given your circumstances and the current climate in the UK for insurance I don't think £600 is ridiculous.

I'm.42 with 9 years NCD and no accidents to declare and was paying £550 on a BMW 240i and now £1500 on an M4, that's ridiculous.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Jamescrs said:

wolfsbaneracing said:

Many thanks for the help and answers so far !
To give some feedback, I'll add a few details ;
2007 Audi TT mk2 3.2 DSG coupe, kept on a private driveway, rural area.
Driver aged 55, 3 months back in the UK, clean license and claim history for over 30 years.
Quotes however, all seem to be based on zero NCD ...
Best so far = A-Plan and Marshmallow, both around £600 pa fully comp.
Does that sound reasonable / silly / beatable ? (All I know is that it's an awful lot more expensive than little old NZ !)

Not overly cheap but given your circumstances and the current climate in the UK for insurance I don't think £600 is ridiculous.

That's what I was about to post

Edited by 2 sMoKiN bArReLs on Tuesday 19th September 19:08

[fourfoldroot]

I have just been driving classic cars and no modern for the past 5 years so lost my 25+years ncd.
Recently bought a 340i touring, tried using the wifes 12 + yrs ncd as Im a named driver, quoted £590. That wouldn’t wash so zero ncd,same insurer, £640. So 12yrs+ ncd is worth about 10%.
I was surprised. Seems 2-3 yrs of ncd is not worth much.

[Ezra]

I was bobbing around various countries in the nineties/noughties and losing NCB and starting afresh just became a cost of moving countries. For your situation £600 quotes don't sound too outrageous.

[Foss62]

I will shortly be retiring and am buying my company car. I got a quote for insurance just to have something to chase up when I actually own the car. It seemed fairly reasonable despite me putting ‘0’ down for years with previous insurer. I then found out that I could get a letter from the company insurer, which appeared with six claim free years.
When I buy the car in a couple of weeks I will go back to the insurer asking for the quote less NCD. I suspect not much will change, but maybe I am just being cynical….

[Griffith4ever]

wolfsbaneracing said:

Many thanks for the help and answers so far !
To give some feedback, I'll add a few details ;
2007 Audi TT mk2 3.2 DSG coupe, kept on a private driveway, rural area.
Driver aged 55, 3 months back in the UK, clean license and claim history for over 30 years.
Quotes however, all seem to be based on zero NCD ...
Best so far = A-Plan and Marshmallow, both around £600 pa fully comp.
Does that sound reasonable / silly / beatable ? (All I know is that it's an awful lot more expensive than little old NZ !)

54, Somerset, garaged, R8 V10, about £343 - renewing soon , initial research shows it to be going up to around £400

[wolfsbaneracing]

@Griffith4ever May I ask who your insurance company / broker is ? I need to talk to them !