Is it worth buying a car just to keep a NCD?
Discussion
I sold my old car back in 2012 and have been driving a company car ever since. I thought I'd just check with my old insurers, Admiral, on what happens to my NCD and if it expires since I don't have the policy with them anymore.
They've told me that my 8 year NCD will be honoured for 2 years after my policy elapsed. So in October this year I'll lose my 8 year NCD forever unless I insurer a car.
My question is whether or not it's worth buying a cheap car (Old MX5 for example) and just insuring it simply to avoid losing my insurance NCD and having the occasional drive out. I can make the "Man maths" work, but I wonder if it's really worth it.
Any advice or suggestions?
They've told me that my 8 year NCD will be honoured for 2 years after my policy elapsed. So in October this year I'll lose my 8 year NCD forever unless I insurer a car.
My question is whether or not it's worth buying a cheap car (Old MX5 for example) and just insuring it simply to avoid losing my insurance NCD and having the occasional drive out. I can make the "Man maths" work, but I wonder if it's really worth it.
Any advice or suggestions?
IanCress said:
When I came back to my own car from having a company car, the insurance company asked for a letter from the business to confirm that I had 3 years claim free driving with them, and credited me with 3 years NCD.
I imagine most insurers will do something similar.
Yup. My insurance company took into account some years in company cars and also my NCD from before that time. I went back into my own car with the maximum 9 years NCD.I imagine most insurers will do something similar.
I had this same problem when I ran a classic car and a motorbike for a few years and lost a full NCB as a result.
Like so many aspects of insurance, YOU Lose
Without prying into you personal affairs, you might be able to do what a mate of mine did. He swapped the insurance of his wife's car every year. One year on his policy and the next on hers. That way neither had a gap of more than a year. Insurance companys seem relaxed about which of a couple is the registered owner and main driver - so there was no 'misleading' or fronting taking place. I suspect this will only work if you are marriage and your spouse has their own insurance policy in place.
Like so many aspects of insurance, YOU Lose
Without prying into you personal affairs, you might be able to do what a mate of mine did. He swapped the insurance of his wife's car every year. One year on his policy and the next on hers. That way neither had a gap of more than a year. Insurance companys seem relaxed about which of a couple is the registered owner and main driver - so there was no 'misleading' or fronting taking place. I suspect this will only work if you are marriage and your spouse has their own insurance policy in place.
Yep get a le-cheapo insurance cat car and a real low mileage allowance, or a classic car and the same. We lived abroad for 6 years and then came back to find out my UK 9 year NCB had expired. It was a complete nightmare to get insured again (luckily managed to find a broker that would acknowledge my Swiss NCB). After a year UK NCB the insurance halved and I now no longer use my Swiss NCB so even just 1 year NCB makes a massive difference.
I'd get something cheap and insure it to keep the NCD alive.
Our NCD disappeared when we lived abroad for 3.5 years (Admiral). We've had to have cheap to insure cars for another 3 years since returning before the insurance is getting at all reasonable again. If you think you're likely to want to get something nice in the foreseeable future, then I'd definitely get the cheapest possible machine you can insure and keep the NCD alive.
Our NCD disappeared when we lived abroad for 3.5 years (Admiral). We've had to have cheap to insure cars for another 3 years since returning before the insurance is getting at all reasonable again. If you think you're likely to want to get something nice in the foreseeable future, then I'd definitely get the cheapest possible machine you can insure and keep the NCD alive.
Presumably you don't need to have tax to insure it so if you've got space to keep something there's no real reason it even needs to be roadworthy? In which case buy something small that's about fail its MoT, it'll cost next to nothing to buy and very little to insure. Also worth checking with the insurance company if you can get F&T only insurance. I did that when my car was off the road while I was uni and it was significantly cheaper than 3rd party.
I didn't realise you didn't get NCB on classics.
I didn't realise you didn't get NCB on classics.
I did this - had just about gotten by for two years by foot, train and bike but still missed the odd occasion of just taking off for a spin. When my NCD was almost about to expire, I messed around with some quote sites, and pretty much every banger I stuck in came back with a quote of about 180 quid fully comp. Since I was was clearly in some kind of insurance sweet spot, I went out and bought a cheap old smoker...
Thanks for all the replies. I think the way forward is to buy a car and insure it. No "other half" so no 2nd car or anything there in order to flip policies over, but that was a good idea.
Guess I'll start looking at the classifieds
Suggestions welcome!
I've also just realised that my Elise policy (Sold the car a few months ago) also had 6 year NCD on it, so I'll end up flipping these two policies every other year to keep them both alive. Argh, insurance!
Guess I'll start looking at the classifieds
Suggestions welcome!I've also just realised that my Elise policy (Sold the car a few months ago) also had 6 year NCD on it, so I'll end up flipping these two policies every other year to keep them both alive. Argh, insurance!
Just going off on a slight tangent here but does anyone know of any insurers or brokers that will accept NCD accrued as the policyholder of a trade policy when transferring back to a private policy after wrapping up the business? They don't seem to exist and the guy I know is looking at losing over 10yrs of NCD. 
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