# Time for an Insurance Rant



## VixMix (May 8, 2008)

*Or The Incredible Case Of The Shrinking No Claims Bonus*

I used to insure with Admiral for years - they were consistently the lowest (or damn near lowest) quote I got year in year out.

In June 2008 I was offered bonus Tesco points and a Power Washer for taking a Tesco policy for only a few notes more than my usual Admiral.

When I switched I was given 11 years NCB from Admiral.

In December 2008 I bought a new MINI and was offered a special deal on MINI Insurance.

I cancelled my Tesco Insurance and was issued a Proof of NCB of 9 Years. Now I know I didn't qualify for an extra year as I didn't hold the policy for a year. But I certainly didn't think it would go down! However, at the time I didn't actually notice that the NCB had gone down. Was probably too excited about getting a new car.

This year I sold the MINI. Last month I bought a Bongo Campervan on Ebay and as I had to insure it quicksharp so I could drive it home, I set up an online insurance quote with GoCompare (around midnight as I recall) and bought a policy from Budget. I claimed 9 years NCB as that is what I remembered having from Tesco.

Imagine my surprise when MINI send me out a Proof of NCB for 6 years!

My last claim on insurance was around 1995 for vandalism. I have never been involved in anything since!

Now Budget are wanting £200 to represent the difference between the 9 years I claimed and the 6 years I can prove or else I pay a forfeit of £75 Admin Charges to cancel the policy. They are not being very helpful at all and I am trying to get MINI to reissue the NCB stating the 10 years that I should have.

MINI maintain that when the policy was set up, I provided 5 years NCB from Tesco. Tesco tell me that I had 9 years NCB and the Proof of NCB they sent out would reflect that.

Admiral were the most helpful, telling me that a company will only credit you with the maximum NCB that their system recognise. 9 years in Tesco's case and 5 years in MINI's. MINI will have received my Proof of NCB for 9 years and entered 5 years or more on their system as this is the highest value attributable. So as far as they are concerned I have 6 years NCB :wall::wall::wall:

It's gonna take some amount of complaint letters and phonecalls to get this sorted. Sadly Admiral will not insure the Bongo as it is an import but they were willing to accept the 11 years from my previous policy with them.

I am putting this on here to serve as a warning that if you are an insurance tart, be aware that shopping around can bite you in the bum! Maybe not this year, or next but in the years to come!


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Will Budget accept 9+ years NCB if you can provide letters from your previous Insurers confirming the various years? It is widely accepted that different Insurers have differing scales (ie maximum NCB varies between 5 and 9 years NCB).

If we have a case where someone is entitled to 9+ years NCB but the last Insurer will only provide proof of 5 years is send up the previous proof showing 9+ years as well, together with an explanatory letter.


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## VixMix (May 8, 2008)

^^ They are not being very helpful over the phone; vague and fence sitting! I have offered to send them all my Proof of NCB, but they still want to take the £200 off me and say that they don't know if that will be acceptable as they only take NCB up to 1 year old and from the immediate previous insurer :wall:

I have heard from others that *most* insurers will accept a paper chain showing good history and indeed Budget have done so in the past, so fingers crossed, they will credit me with at least the 9 years I believe I am entitled.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

the long winded way is to get NCB from Tesco again showing 9+ years and then send this to Mini and get them to acknowledge that when their policy expired, whilst their maximum NCB scale is only 5 years, they were originally provided with 9+ years NCB in Dec 2008 and since then there have been no accidents or claims.

Then, in effect, Mini will be issuing proof of 5+ years NCB representing 9+ years entitlement. Hopefully Mini will play ball as they will need to recognise that by applying their own NCB scale of only showing 5+ years that you are being penalised by another Insurer when your true entitlement is 9+ years.

This used to be so much easier when the maximum NCB scale was 5 years pretty much across the board, although there was still the odd Insurer that only had a maximum scale of 4 years!


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## MSD1540 (Oct 29, 2010)

Shiny said:


> If we have a case where someone is entitled to 9+ years NCB but the last Insurer will only provide proof of 5 years is send up the previous proof showing 9+ years as well, together with an explanatory letter.


Should of used an Insurance 'broker' as they are paid to help you out, unlike the 'compares' of this world who will get you on board cheaply and then when a problem occurs their usual helpfull comment is 'computer says no'.


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## centenary (Sep 5, 2010)

You may not have claimed on your insurance for 9, 10 or 11 years etc but as far as insurance co's are concerned, your NCB is a maximum 5 or 6 years depending on which insurance co you use.

I havent had a claim for over 25 years but there's no insurance co in the UK that will recognise this. Instead, my NCB is based on the last 6 years claim from record. You dont get cheaper insurance generally because you have a 9 year claim free record.

Beep, beep:driver:


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

These days some insurers have a discount scale up to 9 years, so there can be a difference between 6 and 9 years. The step back scale is usually the same though.


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## smegal (Aug 14, 2009)

You learn something new every day. I thought that full no claims was 4 years and it was immaterial after that.


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## VixMix (May 8, 2008)

^^ Which is why I posted this thread. I hope that some people will realise that changing insurance can knock back your NCB which *may* affect you when you change insurers further down the line. 

If you are aware of it you can take some action to prevent it from costing you as it has with me.


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## smegal (Aug 14, 2009)

Thank you.


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## 03OKH (May 2, 2009)

Thank you VixMix for sharing the detrimental experience you have encountered so that others may benefit.

I too found out the hard way of losing NCB, I took 9 years NCB from Churchill to Direct Line, had a claim go against me, and Direct Line reduced my NCB to 3 years.

I assumed a mistake on their behalf as surely I should have lost 2 years leaving me with 7 years, alas nope, they (Direct Line) only see 5 years as the maximum NCB, hence one claim against me left me with 3 years.

Shiny very kindly explained it to me in english , and although it was all legit within the industry, I still felt somehow ripped off.

Had Direct Line said to me when I took their insurance that they only recognised 5 years NCB, I would have had second thoughts on accepting their policy as I assumed building up a large NCB was in some way a kind of protection in the event of a claim.

Hope this helps others also when deciding future insurance policy's/company's.

Tony


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## SimonBash (Jun 7, 2010)

Moral of the story, if you can, protect your no claims discount, I did as soon as I could (4 years). The extra cosy to protect it is will worth it IMO, not directly relevant to the orginal post, however a 'must do' IMO.


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## cracker666 (Sep 10, 2010)

Yeap well worth it +1


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2010)

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