Losing the No Claims Discount after 2 years off the road

TomF

I have an old car that has been off the road 2 years to get it ready for the NCT (I work very slowly, but not very well). It is now as ready as it will ever be to do the NCT, so I telephoned my insurance company to ask them to re-insure the car. They say I've lost the 4+ years No Claims Discount because the car was off the road for more than 2 years, and am now back to zero NCD. In those two years, I've been driving another car, so I haven't been out of practice.

Does anyone know why a car's NCD gets dropped back to zero years after 2 years of being on the blocks? I've sent off a note to the Irish Insurance Federation asking the same question

shurl

That sounds a bit strange?

Isn't it not you who has the NCB? not the car.



S.

mike65

Thats just crazy, get back to them and clarify thier position then if they won't budge get straight onto the Irish Insurance Federation
www.iif.ie and then if that fails the insurance Ombudsmans' office www.ombudsman-insurance.ie

Mike.

Robertr

Unfortunatly this is true. You do lose you no claims if you go uninsured for over 2 years. I had to buy a car and insure it just so that I wouldn't loose my 5 year bonus.

puntosporting

You say you where driving around in another car for the past 2 years where you insured on that?

seamus

If your insurance policy is with the same company on the second car as it was with the first, then ring them, tell them you have been driving with them for 4 years and no claims. If the second car is insured under another company, then you'll have to get a cert. of no claims from them before the original company will give you your NCB.

mrblack

Its usually better to suspend your insurance policy rather than to just cancel or not renew it if you are going abroad or won't be insured here for a few years. Suspending your policy maintains your no claims discount rather than letting it lapse.

TomF

Well, I got a telephone reply from Paul Holohan, Information Officer of the Irish Insurance Federation to my question about losing the no claims discount and he said it has nothing to do with the IIF, but it is a policy decided among the insurers themselves.

The car was insured with AXA, but I was going to re-insure with Hibernian, and it was they who said I had lost the discount by not having the car on the road (or insured, or taxed) for 2 years. However, Hibernian said I should go back to AXA and ask them to reinstate the NCD. I was reluctant to do that because I dumped AXA for Hibernian on our other car. Fortunately the first car is in my wife's name, so maybe I should ring AXA.

Getting back to the loss of the discount; here is some of what I wrote to the IIF (and which they could not answer because the policy of denying the discount didn't originate with them):

"Can you supply the reason? Is it something to do with driving a
different model of car? Do your actuaries recommend returning to a zero-NCD basis for someone who sells a car and buys a new model? Is it possible that some "fine-print" in the return-to-zero-NCD clause exists or should exist to protect the NCD of drivers such as ourselves who own two or more cars and have not insured or driven one of those cars for longer than two years while continuing to insure and drive the remaining car the
whole time and so remain 'in practice'?

Or is it a matter of total revenues received by the insurer? That
is, if premium revenue on an insured car is interrupted for more than 2 years, is it simply unprofitable (not based on actuarial reasons) to the insurer to recognise the NCD at its pre-interruption basis?"

Silvera

I'd be interested to know more about this also as I plan to go abroad next year.

mrblack suggests 'suspending' an insurance policy rather than cancelling it - which is a good idea.
However, I believe that you can only suspend a policy for a maximum of 1 year.

I wonder if I became a named driver on my father's car would that be of any use :rolleyes:


I also recall reading about a guy who lived in Oz for a few years, and when he came back (and went to take out a policy) he was asked to show all of his Aussie car insurance certs as proof he had insurance out there - but he had thrown them away !

Apparently the Aussie 'proof of NCD' alone wasn't enough :eek:

pedro ferio-vti

Hi Tom, its not due to profitability or anything to do with the actuaries....... Its put in place to make sure that people haven't been insured with some1 else in them 2 years and had a big claim or something like that.

For E.G. Tom has insurance with AXA till 2001 has 4 yrs NCD and moves to hibernian for whatever reason theyre cheaper etc....... in 2002 tom now has 5yrs NCD and has a huge claim and get the bright idea of switching back to AXA in 2003 and forgetting about the claim and trying to continue back with his 4yr NCD......

Not justifying it just trying to clarify.
Peter

Our man in Havana

Dont they not have computers that keep up with claims etc and dont they share info on drivers and claims?

pedro ferio-vti

No they don't share info on claims, the owness is on the proposer to declare them.......

Capt'n Midnight

If there are two people they you switch insurance every second year - that way each maintains their NCB.