No claims bonus expiry

[Chicken Chaser]

A question for those who may have gone through this:

18 months ago, I sold my bike for a couple of reasons, one being that I was going to be knocking the garage down and doing a house extension this year and the bike would have been in the way (although it wasnt the sole reason).

Fast forward 18 months and the build has been put back to next year but my NCB will likely run out in 6 months. I have 10 years NCB so any loss is likely to be costly.

I was wondering if it was worth insuring someone else bike which is sat in their garage uninsured? I was hoping to do it for a few months just to reset the bonus as I'm hoping to get back on 2 wheels in 2020 all being well.

[roboxm3]

For different reasons (personal plate retention), my uncle used to keep a SORN'd Tomos moped in the garage; could you not just buy the cheapest bike available, insure it and stick it out of the way somewhere?

Not sure if it's possible, but if you can insure just based on a VIN number, buy a frame and insure that!

[sc0tt]

Do you have room to store a bike?

[Donbot]

I think you have to insure it for the full year to bring forward the expiry date.

[JulianHJ]

Find the cheapest thing to insure that won’t loose any money and stick it under a cover in your garden? Some POS Chinese 125 perhaps? It won’t matter if it’s at the end of it’s life, broken or whatever.

[andburg]

buy a non running project bike or scooter as cheap as possible third party only and insure it with a big excess.

You'll never ride it, if it gets stolen you wont care.

You will need to insure it the full year to keep your ncb but you can always just change the policy if you buy another bike midterm.

[sjtscott]

The problem maybe the fact you want to insure a bike that you don't own - I know some insurance companies have issues with this some may not. Probably best just to get a cheapo bike as others have said and insure it 3rd party. Not sure it works for bikes but I kept my car full NCB alive by 'borrowing' my sisters old car she couldn't afford to run and insuring it myself at my home address - the underwriter said they would do this because it was a family members vehicle but wouldn't if it wasn't a direct relative's. The car was kept in london and used by myself only occasionally but it did the job to maintain NCB.

[Rick101]

Donbot said:

I think you have to insure it for the full year to bring forward the expiry date.

Incorrect.

Very easy fix and I have done this to my benefit many times as I have three lots of NCB running.
The NCB system is a bit of a con if you ask me. You have to know the rules to play it to your advantage.

Use you 18mth old 'unused' NCB to insure something cheap.
Doesn't really matter if the provider is a bit pricey just ensure they are not using the 'Ryanair' model and will stiff you with 30 min on hold phone calls and massive admin charges. Decent service, low charges is what you're looking for.

Set the policy up, let it run for the minimum you can, say a month, and cancel it.
You'll pay the cancellation fee and a portion of your annual policy.

Most importantly, ask for an updated NCB certificate. You will not have gained an extra year (anything over five is unlikely to benefit anyway) but you will have an updated date on the letter.
You will now have a further two years before that NCB expires.

[Chicken Chaser]

Seems that there are a couple of options with it then. i'll be without the garage about 5 months in total and probably through half decent weather although the bike was £8k so thats been sacrificed for the build. I could get something cheap and cheerful and keep it covered or get a non runner and just store it.

[scorcher]

Buy the cheapest smallest non running POS you can. Retain the V5 and break the rest or cut it up bit by bit and put it in your dustbin/ take down the recycling centre/ get a "free removal of scrap" from a facebook person etc.

[Darkslider]

I still know the reg number of the first ZXR 400 I scrapped, I have loant it out to various mates over the years for exactly the purpose you describe 🤣 pm me if you think it'd be helpful!