Insurance NCB question

TrinityM

Have a question regarding insurance and NCB.

My husband and I recently returned from a 4 year stint in the US (we were living in the North before that for a year). My husband has been driving for 30 years+ with a good driving record. He had full NCB before we left (can't remember exact details, but suffice to say he has a good history). I myself swapped my Australian licence for a full Irish licence in 2008 (kept my Irish licence while we were in the US). Now we are returned and no one will quote us for car insurance because we've no NCB. Has anyone encountered this? How did you get around it?

Every insurer we have tried is requiring at least a year NCB to give us a quote. If you don't have that, bad luck. It's pretty astounding that two adult drivers with a good driving record can't get insurance!

Anyway thought I'd ask here for any advice or insights.

TIA

alias no.9

Talk to a broker, it's times like these they will earn their commission. The other thing to do will be to contact the last insurance company your husband was with and while they will not reinstate the NCB, they might be more inclined to quote you. Failing all of that, once you have three letters of refusal, you are legally entitled to go back to the first and demand a quote, it may be ridiculous, but they have to quote you.

TrinityM

Thanks very much - that's very helpful!

ProudDUB

Give Allianz a ring. In 2012, I moved back here (from the US) & bought a car. I was away over 15 years. Allianz gave me the full NCB discount, when I gave them proof of my 15 plus years of claim free and accident free driving in the US. I had to do the donkey work, they weren't going to do it for me.

I had to get a letter from the Georgia Dept of Transport showing that I had a clean US driving record. I also had to get letters from the 2 US insurance companies that I had been with, going back 10 years, stating that I had policies with them and that I had zero claims on my polices by me, (or anyone else,) during that time frame. I also had to get official insurance company emails sent, verifying the same thing. I suppose this was to counteract me possibly typing up my own fake letters, if I had a mind to be that sneaky.

Once I had all that stuff, I sent it into Allianz. They reviewed it and agreed to give me the very same NCB, as if I had been driving accident free here for 6 years. Naturally, it made a massive difference to my premium. I never really asked, but I got the impression that they are willing to cooperate like this with new customers, on a case by case basis. I don't think that they automatically do it for everyone who is returning from over seas. Overall, I found them really great to deal with.

That was three years ago. I have no idea if they are still so accommodating now, but sure give them a ring and find out.