Going car-less for a few years

laserlad2010

Folks, apologies if in wrong place.

I'm tempted to go car less for a year or two. I'm moving to Dublin 2, and plan to cycle to work. I'm 29.

My only worry is the exorbitant cost of insurance should I reenter the market in 2 years time. If my insurance premium rises to, say, 4000 as I've seen elsewhere, will that cancel out potential savings in the interim? Considering I won't be driving the car very often so won't have petrol or running costs so high? I'll accept I'll still be paying road tax etc.

Should I seek to become a named driver on another car to maintain some sort of insurance history?

Just wondering if anyone has done it or has any advice.

C0N0R

I'm in the same situation, no claims bonus only lasts for two years as far as I'm aware.

Taylor365

Such a racket.

Sold the car in 2015 and have only rented a car when needed. Walk most places within 5km and bus/train to others.

If i ever move out of Dublin, it'll be along the track or I'll be buying a bike.

bazz26

Your insurance NCB will expire 2 years from the finish date of your last policy.

laserlad2010

Thanks for the replies.

Would my NCB remain if I went named driver tho? It certainly applies in reverse i.e. named driver counts when getting a policy in my own name.

Therefore if I went named driver for a few years could that protect my NCB?

C0N0R

I think I remember reading somewhere that if you took out a policy on a car, put it on hold after the first month and kept it on hold until the end of the year you could get a refund. I could be speaking utter trash but someone else might know.

rebel.ranter

A bit of crystal ball gazing but in two years time the insurance industry might just end up going through a bit of a transformation. German insurance company HuK is trilling a system where you pay a low base insurance and then pay per journey. Others are also experimenting with variations in this theme too.

Between that, car sharing, ?ber, EVs the car industry is going through a massive change, bigger than any decade in recent times. So who knows in two years what the situation would be.

Me? I would never be without a car, it would be like chopping my arm off or something! I skipped the diesel con but would be keen on hybrid cars (EV is not as attractive).

Best of luck with your decision, I'm not sure being a named driver would protection your full NCB but might help just a little.

cython

laserlad2010 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

Would my NCB remain if I went named driver tho? It certainly applies in reverse i.e. named driver counts when getting a policy in my own name.

Therefore if I went named driver for a few years could that protect my NCB?

Named driver experience may be counted by an insurer, but they can equally dismiss it, it's pretty much at the insurer's discretion. However it pretty much never works to preserve NCB owned in own name. For example, most quote systems that consider both will ask you about additional experience driving as a named driver if you have little or no NCB on your own, but I've never seen them ask about "old" experience in your own name when you answer that your recent claims free driving is as a named driver.

Ultimately NCB within the Irish insurance industry (rightly or wrongly, I'm not getting into the merits of the system!) is earned by holding a policy in your own name, and as noted by other posters, traditionally insurers will only consider an NCB that is less than 2 years old, though the lucky few may find the odd exception.

biko

Some insurers will allow suspension of policy so maybe that's an option
https://www.123.ie/customer-care/making-a-change-to-my-policy/cancelling-my-policy/how-do-i-suspend-my-car-policy