NCD & Insurance Question

[rivercatch]

18 months ago I had two bikes (big bike & scooter) on one policy with insurer A. I then changed the bigger bike for new and for cost reasons had to go with with insurer B. Annoying overall for several reasons but not relevant. At the time the broker for A said that if I used my 8-year NCD for the other new bike with insurer B I could not use my NCD for the scooter, and that's what I did and had no NCD on the scoot. I've just renewed the scooter insurance and they have given me 2-years NCD on it (on first renewal). I didn't ask for it - it was an auto-renewal and I just read the docs that came from the insurer

So what are the 'rules' for NCD across multiple vehicles and policies. I assume that it is insurance industry practice rather than legislation.

PS - I can't put both bikes on one policy as B is manufacturer insurer and will only insure their own bikes, and they are still the most competitive price wise.

[BertBert]

There are no rules AFAIK, just what the companies decide to do as it's a mad system with the giver of NCD giving to a different set of prractices that the receiver of NCD (assuming they are different companies).

So if in full knowledge of the facts the ins co has given you 2 years NCD then that's up to their largess.

Bert

[Jon1967x]

I believe it's what your new insurer is prepared to accept. You provide evidence of previous NCB and generally it's accepted as we all know. I'm pretty low risk due to history, age, occupation, where I live etc, and when I bought a second car for which I had no NCB the insurance company offered to match the max NCB I had on my other car, and at renewal they said I had max (in their book) 10 years which I took elsewhere and was excepted by them.

Some insurers, more the specialist ones, don't play the NCB game at all. It's all risk based.

NCB as an idea is pretty bizarre as you get a discount from one company based on claim free history with another in parallel to whether you've actually had any claims or convictions.

[LoonR1]

rivercatch said:

18 months ago I had two bikes (big bike & scooter) on one policy with insurer A. I then changed the bigger bike for new and for cost reasons had to go with with insurer B. Annoying overall for several reasons but not relevant. At the time the broker for A said that if I used my 8-year NCD for the other new bike with insurer B I could not use my NCD for the scooter, and that's what I did and had no NCD on the scoot. I've just renewed the scooter insurance and they have given me 2-years NCD on it (on first renewal). I didn't ask for it - it was an auto-renewal and I just read the docs that came from the insurer

So what are the 'rules' for NCD across multiple vehicles and policies. I assume that it is insurance industry practice rather than legislation.

PS - I can't put both bikes on one policy as B is manufacturer insurer and will only insure their own bikes, and they are still the most competitive price wise.

The rules are whatever the insurer / broker wants them to be. Not really sure what the question is, as what you've described seems fine to me.

[Aretnap]

Jon1967x said:

NCB as an idea is pretty bizarre as you get a discount from one company based on claim free history with another in parallel to whether you've actually had any claims or convictions.

Many of it's oddities make sense when you think of its origins as essentially a loyalty bonus - many years ago you only got it if you stayed with the same insurer year after year. But quickly enough insurers started offering to recognise their competitors NCB as a way of poaching customers - much like Sainsburys offering to accept Tesco's money off coupons.

If you weren't renewing a policy (eg if you were insuring a second car for the first time) then you didn't have an existing insurer who was offering you a no claims discount, so there was no incentive for other insurers to offer you one either. Hence the fact that you can (usually) only use it on one policy at a time.

That said if you do get a second car, and it really is a second car for you and not a car for your teenage son, you might find someone willing to mirror the NCB on your first car if you look further than the price comparison sites.

Essentially it's a marketing gimmick but it does still make a minimal amount of sense in one or two ways. If someone has had no accidents for five years then for all you know it could just be because they haven't driven for five years, but if they have five years NCB as well at least you know that they've held a policy for that time, and therefore that they've probably been driving regularly.

[LoonR1]

Wow. Couldn't have said it better myself.

In fact I think I've said similar many times now.

Like the Clubcard analogy. In 30 years people will be complaining that they can't use their money off five times over in each of the big supermarkets.

[Durzel]

I was quite surprised to find recently when I enquired about stripping my existing policy of its NCD (12 years worth) - to use on another policy with a different company for a car I was looking to buy - that my current insurers were happy to mirror my NCD anyway, and would only charge me £25 as an admin charge.

Was half expecting them to recalculate my premium sans NCD and ask me to pay the difference up to renewal.

[rivercatch]

Thanks all. I was vaguely worried about disclosure under the policy but the broker knows everything so I'll leave it.

Much easier to understand and justify as a marketing / competition thing.