Getting insured in my own name after several years on company insurance?

wherearewe45 · 07-07-2017 11:05am #1

I was a named driver since I got my full licence at at 18. Spent 6 years (5 with my own car) driving to work/college/etc. Got a job out of college where I am on the road constantly (700 to 1000km a week on average). I got a company car and when my private insurance policy was up I didn't renew it and sold off my personal car.

For the last 4 years I've been driving the company car exclusively under open insurance with the company. In that time I've had no claims and no penalty points or incidents of any kind that in theory could work against me when getting my own personal insurance policy in the future.

How badly would this affect me in future when I try to get insurance in my own name once again? Have I lost my no claims bonus and privileges of being a named driver and will my insurance be a lot higher than someone who may have less driving experience than me but has also been a named driver on their policy for the last few years.

coylemj · 08-07-2017 12:00am

wherearewe45 wrote: »

For the last 4 years I've been driving the company car exclusively under open insurance with the company. In that time I've had no claims and no penalty points or incidents of any kind that in theory could work against me when getting my own personal insurance policy in the future.

What exactly do you mean by 'open insurance'?

Did anyone in your company ask you to show your driving licence?
Was your name submitted to the insurance company as a driver?
Was a specific car assigned to you for the duration of it's lease?

Company cars are typically insured on the basis that named individuals drive specific cars and the employer certifies that each driver has a full licence.

In which case, if you decide go come off the company car scheme or move to a company which has no car scheme so you need to take out a policy in your own name, the insurance company should supply you with a letter stating that you drove a company car under their policy for xx years and you had no claims. That should in theory mean that you are not treated as a new driver with no NCB.

Sue Pa Key Pa · 08-07-2017 6:37am

If you drove under "open insurance" it will be of no use to you when seeking your own policy. However, I have seen circumstances where the former employer has provided a letter stating that the driver was employed by them for x years in a driving capacity. The insurance company can check their records and see if they ever had a claim in his name and may quote with a discount.

This would only be done for a large client and only of use to that insurer only

rockatansky · 08-07-2017 7:54am

In the exact same position as you op. 6 years on the companies open policy. The company letter will do sweet fa for you as you've there's no record of you personally on the insurers file.

Now I did have 2 years named drivers experience on my OH that I could provide evidence of (letters from the insurance companies)

Cheapest quote I could get was 1600. I added 2 other people to the policy and went down to 1380. 2012, 1.2 petrol. The newer the car the cheaper the quotes seemed to get but not by much.

Sue Pa Key Pa · 08-07-2017 9:47am

rockatansky wrote:

In the exact same position as you op. 6 years on the companies open policy. The company letter will do sweet fa for you as you've there's no record of you personally on the insurers file.

The company letter can work if the account is large enough with the Insurer ( circa 50-100k), It gets worded such as "this policy has been in effect since 2005 and no claims have been reported in the name of Joe Bloggs since that date"

SHANAbert · 08-07-2017 11:26am

Can you tell me who insured you? Been out of country 3 yrs and struggling.

Thanks

Getting insured in my own name after several years on company insurance?

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