I think I'm about to lose my 5 year NCB :(

cormie

First off, apologies to anyone who clicked into the thread to have a go at someone for a driving error which could lead to the loss of NCB, but this isn't the case here

I've been covered on a fleet policy for about 5 years now and I don't think I've had a regular policy since mid November 2009 so from what I know, once you haven't been covered for 5 years, you lose whatever NCB you've built up?

I'm the policy holder and they don't take your NCB into consideration for fleet cover at all, but you instead build up a claim history, which is blank at the moment for me, but another driver who's been covered under the same policy has been ringing around for quotes for his own policy and it's not sounding good.

He's even older than me but didn't have as long an NCB built up, either way, it's passed 5 years since he had his own policy so as far as I know, there's no way to prove his NCB history and the best quote he's received on a 99 1.4 focus, residing in Dublin 18, 32 years old with 0 penalty points is €1,700, the next cheapest was €2,800 :eek: and then 4 places wouldn't quote as he had no NCB.

This seems pretty annoying to know that you can lose your NCB while you may be driving more than you were in building up your NCB in the first place. I dont' fancy meeting similar prices if anything ever changes and I'll be looking for a regular policy.

Has anyone been in the same situation?

PirateShampoo

Go as a named driver on ur parents policy if they have one, that's how I saved mine.

JC01

You will lose your ncb but with me anyways insurance company's have been willing to accept "years clean driving experience" instead. It usually works out at 2yrs experiance entitles you to 1yrs ncb discount. Be sure to get a cert from the provider of your company policy stating the length of time you've been insured and that you havnt had a claim in that time.

It's a joke of a system but there ya go.

Breffnigolfer

Post above is correct. NCB will remain valid for, typically, 2 years only.

cormie

Nooo! That's not I wanted to hear, I don't get the thinking behind it? Interesting about going on someone else's policy as a named driver too. Actually the guy who got the crazy quotes was told on the €1,700 quote that if he put for example his dad on as a named driver, the quote would be even cheaper :eek:

Stheno

cormie wrote: »

Nooo! That's not I wanted to hear, I don't get the thinking behind it? Interesting about going on someone else's policy as a named driver too. Actually the guy who got the crazy quotes was told on the €1,700 quote that if he put for example his dad on as a named driver, the quote would be even cheaper :eek:

Yup, it's the downside of being on a fleet policy

Over 30 with full license on a focus I'd expect 800 max with no ncb.

CramCycle

I handed in a letter from the policy holders company stating I was cleared to drive and that no claims had been made or were know to be pending, FBD took it, not as good as a NCB but they did give me a reasonable discount. I had been uninsured (without my own policy) for almost 10 years at this point, I had four years as a named driver and 6 years as an accepted driver.

Basically, your not losing your NCB, you don't have it anymore, haven't for along time. What you do have is proof of consistent driving for the last few years with no accidents on record. It's not an NCB but it gets you a reasonable discount.

leeroybrown

cormie wrote: »

This seems pretty annoying to know that you can lose your NCB while you may be driving more than you were in building up your NCB in the first place. I dont' fancy meeting similar prices if anything ever changes and I'll be looking for a regular policy.

Has anyone been in the same situation?

My father had similar issues when exiting a fleet policy. A high premium in year one but it quickly reverted to normal.

After two years without holding an insurance policy in your name your NCB cert will generally no longer be accepted by insurers. I was abroad for a while and have had no car since I returned but I'll likely end up insuring "something" next year just to keep my NCB valid.

cormie

Augeo wrote: »

Over 30 with full license on a focus I'd expect 800 max with no ncb.

That's what I was thinking too, €1,700 seems ridiculous, €2,800 is mad.

Into The Blue

Same as cram, I asked the fleet insurers for a record of my claim history when I left the job..

It was accepted by chill insurance.

cormie

CramCycle wrote: »

I handed in a letter from the policy holders company stating I was cleared to drive and that no claims had been made or were know to be pending, FBD took it, not as good as a NCB but they did give me a reasonable discount. I had been uninsured (without my own policy) for almost 10 years at this point, I had four years as a named driver and 6 years as an accepted driver.

Basically, your not losing your NCB, you don't have it anymore, haven't for along time. What you do have is proof of consistent driving for the last few years with no accidents on record. It's not an NCB but it gets you a reasonable discount.

leeroybrown wrote: »

My father had similar issues when exiting a fleet policy. A high premium in year one but it quickly reverted to normal.

After two years without holding an insurance policy in your name your NCB cert will generally no longer be accepted by insurers. I was abroad for a while and have had no car since I returned but I'll likely end up insuring "something" next year just to keep my NCB valid.

Thanks for the input. I don't know why I was thinking it was 5 years? Is there any obligation on companies to accept it if it's within 2 years? I guess it's well and good having the fleet policy in my name, but for the other guy, who's just being driving based on the open drive allowance (anyone between 25 and 70 with a full license), there's no actual record of him driving. If I give him a letter saying he's been driving with no claims against on my fleet policy for the past 4 years do you think it would be accepted even though he's not been named anywhere on the fleet policy?

CramCycle

cormie wrote: »

Thanks for the input. I don't know why I was thinking it was 5 years? Is there any obligation on companies to accept it if it's within 2 years? I guess it's well and good having the fleet policy in my name, but for the other guy, who's just being driving based on the open drive allowance (anyone between 25 and 70 with a full license), there's no actual record of him driving. If I give him a letter saying he's been driving with no claims against on my fleet policy for the past 4 years do you think it would be accepted even though he's not been named anywhere on the fleet policy?

You will have to get the broker or insurer to write a letter saying that he was cleared to drive and that no claims were made against him. Thats what I had to do. The owner of the policy i used had to ring up his broker and say I was a driver of one of the vehicles, and that I had not breached any of the terms of the policy (which were not extensive), they then printed me a letter confirming that I was covered to drive and that no claims were made against me.

Technically they never said I drove, they just made a factual statement, FBD at the time were happy with that. I can't remember now but think it was taken as named driver experience, the discount lay between NCB and named driver discount. I did go for third party though so can't compare on prices. Fully comp now though, only 4 years later for less than that.

cormie

That's cool, thanks a lot for the advice. I'll get onto them tomorrow and see if they can draw up something similar!

cormie

Thanks for that, mentioning companies is fine as long as it's nothing libellous etc, which it's not of course

cormie

Big thanks to everyone here, I got the driving experience letter from my insurer for the other driver and he started a new policy yesterday for €400, not €1,700!

Dord

Wow, big difference!

H3llR4iser

cormie wrote: »

That's what I was thinking too, €1,700 seems ridiculous, €2,800 is mad.

Renault Megane 1.4, two years ago, was 32 at the time with a full license since 1999. Lost my NCB due to not owning a car for 4 years. All companies and brokers except AA and 123.ie flatly refused to even provide a quote.

In the end I got the policy with 123 for around 1200 Euro. AA gave me a quote for around 8,000...even the guy on the phone had a big healthy laugh about it.

Good you solved the issue in the end anyway.

stimpson

Ring Glennons. I rang them last year for the missus. I had a car on a classic policy as my daily drive and the wife was named driver on the family car. I sold the Classic and bought a 2 litre Volvo as a second car. Axa refused to honour the NCB on the Classic policy so I thought we were back to square one.

Glennons asked for proof that the wife was a named driver for 5 years and I had to call all my previous insurers and get letters confirming she was claim free. They then issued her with a policy with full NCB. I paid the renewal today and it had a proof of NCB stating 5 years claims free.

cormie

Thanks for the suggestion, all sorted now though