Moving from 2 car household - insurance implications?

Time2GetFit

Hi All,

Looking for some advice. Currently myself and my wife drive to work and both have a policy on our respective cars in our own name with the other person being the ‘named’ driver. We have both had policies in our own name for 10 years + each.

That will be changing soon and we will only require 1 car going forward. Now that only one of us will be a policyholder (we haven’t decided who), if in a few years we want to become a 2 car household again will the ‘named driver’ have issues getting a policy / be quoted sky high premiums as they haven’t held a policy in their own name for a few years?

We’ve built up a lot of years of claims free driving so don’t want to all that to be ignored if we were to revert back to two cars down the line. At this stage it is likely we would be 2 cars again in 3-5 years.

It doesn’t really make financial sense to hold on to two cars at the moment but at the same time if it was a case of losing out if we didn’t in terms of future insurance we may reconsider.

Thanks in advance for any help.

_Brian

While some insurers recognise the named driver status and allow “some” ncb against that. After two lapsed years the person forfeiting their insurance will have lost all ncb amd have to start again.
However, the savings of being a single car household will far exceed any increase in premium. Typically €8-12k annual savings by dropping a car.

listermint

You will lost all your no claims bonus.

I had this problem when i sold my idle car and shifted to Motorcycle. Named on the other halfs policy and then required a vehicle about 3 years later.

Not a drop of no claims left according to the insurers. So i started from new.

Insurance in this country is a joy! I had about 18 years back to back of insurance continuous on different vehicles and i was back to square one because i had 2 wheels for more than 2 years...

BENDYBINN

How would it work out if husband and wife did every second year?

Squidgy Black

BENDYBINN wrote: »

How would it work out if husband and wife did every second year?

Liberty allows you to insure a car that's registered in your spouse's name, but I'm not sure if many others will, otherwise they'd have to change the ownership of the cat every year also.

dingding

Not sure if the ownership of the car matters.

Chippy01

A friend of mine changes the principal driver between himself and his wife every year when their policy is due.
They've been doing it for about 10 years since they became a one car family, and this way both parties kept their individual hard earned NCBs.

bazz26

Just rotate the main driver on the policy every year between yourself and your wife to keep your NCB. Insurance companies tend to treat both spouses as one owner so you should not need to change ownership of the car over every time either as both spouses stand to incur a financial loss on the car as a result of fire, damage or theft. Just double check with the insurance company in question first.

Time2GetFit

Chippy01 wrote: »

A friend of mine changes the principal driver between himself and his wife every year when their policy is due.
They've been doing it for about 10 years since they became a one car family, and this way both parties kept their individual hard earned NCBs.

Thanks for that-I hadn’t thought of doing that and on the face of it makes great sense. That would definitely deal with the potential issue around NCBs and it would safeguard us over the next few years as circumstances suit us to go to one car but still leaving us the flexibility if / when we return to 2 cars.

Time2GetFit

Thanks all for the feedback and advice. Rotating the policy holder on a yearly basis between myself and my wife seems the most efficient way of doing things.

I’ll double check with my current insurer (not that we’d be necessarily with them post renewal) but at least we’d know where we stand.

Thanks again everyone-much appreciated.

theguzman

Buy something like a Nissan Micra or equally cheap to insure, declare it off the road for Tax reasons and park it in a field. I have a cousin who immigrated to Australia 5 years ago and they are doing this but with an older Petrol Golf to keep their No Claims Bonus here alive. When they come home each summer, they throw three months tax on and have their runabout for a month costing less than €500 per year, a months car rental would cost far more. The parents occasionally use the car and get it NCT'd etc, its kept indoors in a heated garage so is in perfect shape.

Wildly Boaring

Time2GetFit wrote: »

Thanks all for the feedback and advice. Rotating the policy holder on a yearly basis between myself and my wife seems the most efficient way of doing things.

I’ll double check with my current insurer (not that we’d be necessarily with them post renewal) but at least we’d know where we stand.

Thanks again everyone-much appreciated.

Yeah we did this while I had company car.