Must use NCD- can't afford to run a car

cantdecide

I had 9 years NCD when I last had my car, a '02 323F 2.0 Sport (worth €500 now I'd say) insured until September 2011 when I cancelled my insurance mid-year to leave Ireland for travel. I have spoken to Liberty and they said that as I stand, I will lose my 9 years NCD if I don't use it between now and September this year. They have sent my NCD certificate out in the post.

Furthermore, I have had insurance quotes for as little as €300 for a bare bones policy. Having said that, the car hasn't been NCT'd since Oct 2012 and they told me there's a database that shows when a car was last NCT'd and if any car you wish to insure hasn't been tested in the last 9 months, a quote can't be issued. Bleurgh.

What about the new road tax declarations rules? I think I might be able to insure the car in the next weeks to beat the NCT rules but what if I declare it off the road the next day. Maybe the car might be red flagged as having been declared off the road? Maybe there's an unseen consequences?


Either way, I'm out of work at the moment and my prospects aren't great. I have access to family vehicles and I have two motorbikes on the road that are keeping on my toes to keep going. I do own the Mazda and I've invested quite a lot of money in my three year ownership to get it really clean and reliable (picked up some 17s last year!). I have toyed with swapping or selling it for a much smaller car. Having said that, it's worthless and another car I'd get against it would be a heap. I'm reluctant to part with it only to get employment in the months ahead- I'd kick myself for parting with it then. Equally, I can't afford to tax, service, NCT and insure this or pretty much any other car just to keep the authorities happy and my NCD intact.

I was thinking I might be able to find some absolute shed like an old cinquecento with an NCT to apply the insuance to. If I could find something suitable (it wouldn't even need to be roadworthy) I could probably lie to the loss of the insurance and tax on something like that but I don't have room to store another car so it's possible but not ideal.

Any other suggestions?

bmstuff

Familly member could add you as a named driver on their policy, that should count so you can keep your ncd hopefully?

Anan1

bmstuff wrote: »

Familly member could add you as a named driver on their policy, that should count so you can keep your ncd hopefully?

Unfortunately it won't - the OP needs to take out a policy in their own name. I'd try insuring the Mazda - I really don't think the lack of NCT will be a problem for every insurer.

Renegade Mechanic

Dont sell the car if you can help it at all OP, believe me you will regret it! See if a family member with a lot of space will take it. And as far as cheap motoring goes, its harder to get cheaper than tha fiat mk1 punto. Its bigger thab the cinquechento and oddly enough just about as light on juice. Motor factor parts are absolutely dirt cheap and theres much more space to fit said parts to it. Its also an easy, simple car to work on when it does go wrong. Id go for the 1.2 single cam.

djimi

Youll definitely find an insurer who wont care about the NCT being out, so ring around and see what happens.

Question you need to ask yourself is whether or not the NCB is worth €300. The max NCB is typically 5 years or 50%, so you need to work out how much insurance will cost with and without NCB and see if its worth paying the money now for a car that you might not use.

bobin fudge

axa offers 75% discount for 5 years +

djimi

bobin fudge wrote: »

axa offers 75% discount for 5 years +

And still they couldnt give me a good quote this year... :rolleyes:

Didnt actually realise that, but now that I think about it I think my previous insurer offered 60% for full NCB.

bobin fudge

yeah, wasnt being pedantic. Just with the mazda being worth such little, every penny counts when shopping for a quote

renofan

If the car is going to be parked up for another while and all you want to do is keep your no claims is I would ring Axa get a quote for the basic policy and if you can't pay it now maybe do it in installments or ask a family member to pay? Axa never ask me if the car is NCT'd and if its not being driven it shouldn't be a problem anyways.

Anan1

bobin fudge wrote: »

yeah, wasnt being pedantic. Just with the mazda being worth such little, every penny counts when shopping for a quote

The % NCD is only advertising, what matters is the actual quote. All else being equal, a quote of, say, €500 net of a 40% NCD is actually better than the same quote net of a 75% discount.

NobodyImportant

Take out a policy on a car (even a relatives, just say you own it), cancel it a month later. You will get another NCB which is then valid for another 2 years.

Try to find out what companies give the best cancellation return (pro-rata etc).

I need to do this myself by next Feb. Had a 6 year NCB and no longer insured, need to keep it alive in case i do start driving again one day.

cantdecide

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

Dont sell the car if you can help it at all OP, believe me you will regret it!

That's what I'm thinking. The car's standing me over €3.5k since 2010. I'll never get a car as well minded as mine for the money later. The €500 I'd get for it means it's not worth selling.

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

its harder to get cheaper than tha fiat mk1 punto.

I was thinking that too. Y'know I'd say I could prossibly raise the money for a mk1 if I could find someone to store the Mazda. Errr... funnily enough I have more Italian car mechanics/ fans than you can shake a stick at!

I was thinking about a 1.2 Bravo also. Conceivably, I could run a car l

djimi wrote: »

Question you need to ask yourself is whether or not the NCB is worth €300. The max NCB is typically 5 years or 50%, so you need to work out how much insurance will cost with and without NCB and see if its worth paying the money now for a car that you might not use.

I couldn't get a quote for less than €1000 with no NCB and of course, that would be this year only. If I changed the car or bought another one cheap with reasonably running costs, I could maybe insure it and maybe start using it in the future much easier than the Mazda. Of course, nothing is stopping me insuring the Mazda and waiting for the smaller car to present itself in time.

I always thought they did a five year look-back. It was news to me that if you wait two years, you're back to square one :eek:

bobin fudge wrote: »

axa offers 75% discount for 5 years +

75% off WAY too much is still worse than 60% off a more reasonable figure. I have yet to get a reasonable quote from AXA.

bobin fudge

Anan1 wrote: »

The % NCD is only advertising, what matters is the actual quote. All else being equal, a quote of, say, €500 net of a 40% NCD is actually better than the same quote net of a 75% discount.

Im almost certain my actual renewal form had the breakdown and that I had 75% no claims discount and this was factored into my final quote

bobin fudge

cantdecide wrote: »

75% off WAY too much is still worse than 60% off a more reasonable figure. I have yet to get a reasonable quote from AXA.

This was an example. My point was look around, there could be other insurance companies offering more than a 50% discount

djimi

NobodyImportant wrote: »

Take out a policy on a car (even a relatives, just say you own it), cancel it a month later. You will get another NCB which is then valid for another 2 years.

Try to find out what companies give the best cancellation return (pro-rata etc).

I need to do this myself by next Feb. Had a 6 year NCB and no longer insured, need to keep it alive in case i do start driving again one day.

Does this actually work? By cancelling a month into your policy you are not extending your NCB, so Im not sure that it would be enough to keep it alive.

NobodyImportant

You will get another NCB from your new company. It will show you last insured say August 2013. That is then valid for 2 years.

You dont have to be insured for a full year to keep it. Just when you leave after 1-2 months, they will issue another NCB that states 5+ years as your discount.

Chimaera

@OP: Check if they offer any kind of a storage policy? Basically fire/theft cover only for storing the vehicle off-road. If you get a SORN on it, they can't chase you for NCT if it's only being insured for storage.

Anan1

bobin fudge wrote: »

Im almost certain my actual renewal form had the breakdown and that I had 75% no claims discount and this was factored into my final quote

I'm sure it was, but this doesn't mean that AXA was cheaper other insurers with lower maximum NCB %s.

mickdw

You will find an insurer who will cover the car without an nct. I wouldnt let you NCB run out anyway for the sake of 300 quid.

Renegade Mechanic

OP, I cant say much for the bravo. I havent been round them but have heard they suffer a lot more than puntos electrically.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I was in a similar position a few years ago. I simply insured my mothers car and named her on the policy for a year. She then took her own insurance out in the car the following year, my NCB was intact, as was hers.

I know all the BS about being the registered owner of the car in irder to insure it and all that but the thing was I was never going to drive the car and so would never be in a position where ownership would be questioned.

djimi

CJC999 wrote: »

I know all the BS about being the registered owner of the car in irder to insure it and all that but the thing was I was never going to drive the car and so would never be in a position where ownership would be questioned.

And if she had crashed the car and you ended up having to claim on your policy?

Anan1

djimi wrote: »

And if she had crashed the car and you ended up having to claim on your policy?

And possibly explain why he had lied on the proposal form about his mother being the main driver of the car.

bobin fudge

Anan1 wrote: »

I'm sure it was, but this doesn't mean that AXA was cheaper other insurers with lower maximum NCB %s.

I never once said it was. I was just correcting a poster that there are higher % discounts than 50% that had been stated.

The rest is your own thoughts

Cee-Jay-Cee

djimi wrote: »

And if she had crashed the car and you ended up having to claim on your policy?

That's what the insurance is for. If she'd had an accident then so what? I lose the NCB...so what, its not the end of the world. As it happened she didn't and so It never arose.

djimi

CJC999 wrote: »

That's what the insurance is for. If she'd had an accident then so what? I lose the NCB...so what, its not the end of the world. As it happened she didn't and so It never arose.

Maybe I took you up wrong. You said that you lied on an insurance proposal about being the registered owner of the car; is this correct? That being the case, do you really think that if you ended up having to make a claim on the policy the worst that would have happened is that you would have lost your NCB?

maidhc

Get a new policy with liberty and suspend it! Job done.

http://www.libertyinsurance.ie/car-insurance/forms_documents.html

NuckingFacker

If it's any ods OP, I'm slightly into Dirt-track racing(mainly for the kids, ahem, ok, me too) and I needed a car for the youngest so I went looking on tinterned.

For the princely sum of €250 I became the proud owner of a Suzuki Swift, some NCT, no tax, but not a spot of rust anywhere, span new tyres and running like a top - a perfect get-you-around car for someone on a budget.

Then the youngest ripped off absolutely everything except the engine, steering wheel, wheels and handbrake so I could weld in a roll-cage and harness.... but, it proves there are very cheap cars out there if you need them - why not pick up a cheap runner and stick insurance on the drip onto it?

A mazda 2.0 will rob you for fuel and tax anyway, even if you did get it insured.

Cee-Jay-Cee

djimi wrote: »

Maybe I took you up wrong. You said that you lied on an insurance proposal about being the registered owner of the car; is this correct? That being the case, do you really think that if you ended up having to make a claim on the policy the worst that would have happened is that you would have lost your NCB?

Yes. I was the insured and my mum was named. If There was a claim to be mafe it would have been for an accident my mum was involved in, not me as I never drove the car. If that happened I would have lost my NCB, big deal, not the end of the world.

djimi

CJC999 wrote: »

Yes. I was the insured and my mum was named. If There was a claim to be mafe it would have been for an accident my mum was involved in, not me as I never drove the car. If that happened I would have lost my NCB, big deal, not the end of the world.

I'm not sure that you get how this works. If you had an accident you would be the one who would be claiming (as it's your policy). When they discover that you are not the registered owner of the vehicle they will start asking questions, and if you lied to them when taking out the policy then things could start to get messy.