Hi,
I'm changing my car at the weekend from a Seat Alhambra to a Leon Cupra R 1.8T 20V.

Scenario is as follows:

I have 10 years of no claims discount (NCD) and it is protected but I have had a couple of minor claims over the last 2 years. My wife (driving my car on my insurance) firstly reversed into a lamp post in 2005 and secondly demolished our garden fence in May this year. Both claims were under £1000 worth of damage and didn't involve 3rd parties but were fault claims. I am with Esure and as long as I don't have any more claims in the next 18 months then my NCD is protected.

However, Esure won't insure my Cupra and passed me over to their specialist sister company 1st Alternative who quoted me £485 to start a new insurance policy. I bettered this quote (in complete honesty about claims etc.) with Admiral who quoted £385. Excesses are only £100 compulsory and £150 voluntary so are not "excessive"...

I'm suspicious as to why Admiral are so cheap and I am wondering if the catch is that Esure will not confirm that I still have 10 years NCD due to the claims. I asked Admiral about this but they said that Esure should give me a letter confirming that I have 10 years NCD since it was protected. Admiral are also offering to protect my NCD for life no matter how many more claims are made. This all sounds too good to be true!

Does anyone know if protected NCD only protects you while you remain with the same insurer or if it also protects the amount of NCD you can transfer to another insurer? I'm worried that Esure will come back and say I have 0 years NCD and my premium will rocket up with Admiral.

Cheers,
Craig.

The 'protection' cannot be carried forward, but the number of years 'no claims bonus' should be carried.

The catch is the question 'any claims within 5 years', they still give the NCB, but weight the premium on the overall cost or the excess amount.

A bit of info on esure, the are under the same umbrella as first alternative, sheila's wheels and sainsbury's (all owned by royal bank of scotland.) RBS also own Directline and its subsiduaries privilege, churchill, pearl, NIG, & halifax.

Hi Mark,
I have given Admiral dates and details of both claims along with rough costs and made it clear there were no 3rd parties involved and that NCB would have been lost due to fault had the NCB protection not been in place.

I was also honest about my only conviction (an 3 point SP30 in 2002) and I made it clear that since this was not a renewal situation with esure, I did not have a renewal letter and would have to ask for a confirmation letter from them to offer as proof of NCB entitlement. Admiral were happy with this.

The only catch which might bite me is that esure might not refund the remaining 6 months of my premium due to me making a claim during the policy year. If so then it is a bit unfair since it is them who forced me to change insurer by refusing to insure the Cupra. I did call esure tonight and asked about the refund and I was told I would get a pro-rata refund with a £6 admin fee deducted. Remains to be seen...

Cheers,
Craig.

[Edited on 24/7/2006 by craig1410]

Just read my policy handbook and it does indeed say that no refund will be given if any claims have been made during policy year. I wonder where I stand legally since the guy I spoke to this evening told me I would get pro-rata refund minus £6 admin.

Any ideas?

You don't noramelly get a refund if you claim. There'll be something in the small print saying what the refund %age is per month remaining, and it'll probably say that you get none if you claim. Certainly been that way with me.

Craig,

If its of any relevance I was with Tesco's 2 years ago then confused.com last year came up with admiral so i went with them cos they were cheap, renewal came through last week and tesco's were £100 cheaper, i recon admiral price low in the first year to get the custom - just my theory anyway. when i rang up to cancel (after having gone back to tesco) they offered to try and match/beat my tesco price which backed up my theory - they obviously send the renewal out high, if you don't shop around they make a nice profit, if you do they try and keep your custom by bettering their own price.
all imho and i'm sure its not an uncommon practise.

Ned.

Ned,
Yes I think you are correct. In fact a friend of mine recommended them on the basis they do offer new customer discounts.

The crazy thing is that I would have been more than happy to stay with esure as they have been very good, especially with their handling of the 2 recent claims I have had. I think it is stupid that they are insisting I cancel with them and move to 1st Alternative ( or the "2nd Alternative" which turned out to be Admiral...) without having some sort of seamless way of transferring my policy over.

I am saving £100 by going with Admiral instead of 1st Alternative so even if esure decide against refunding my unused premium then I'm only about £70 out of pocket and Admiral will give me protected NCD which 1st Alternative would not (for next 18 months at least). I also have home insurance with esure and if they play hard ball then I will cancel that policy as well and move elsewhere never to darken their door again!

This probably seems an over-reaction but they forced me to change insurer and then when asked, they told me verbally I would get a pro-rata refund minus a £6 admin fee.

Anyway, I'm not that fussed - I'm looking forward to getting the Cupra at the weekend...

Cheers,
Craig.

This may or may not help you but there is an online broker that you may like to try before making a commitment.
The company is HERE (clicky thingy)
They are not great for kit cars but I have yet to find a better quote for the daily driver.
Might be worth a go.
NTDWM by the way.

OT

Craig,

I noticed it's nearly a month since your last post - you must have been really busy with your locost. Nearly finished?

ATB

Simon

Hmm...I wish!

No, I've been on holiday for a couple of weeks and have been in DIY mode around the house trying to build up brownie points to let me spend time on the car. It really doesn't need much done to it but it's not going to finish itself...

This incoming weekend will see some furious activity I expect. Although I'm picking up my new Leon Cupra on Saturday so that will certainly be a distraction...

Nice to hear from you again,
Craig.

ps. How's your car going? Enjoying the nice weather?

I insured with Admiral, some years ago.

Trashed a car through no fault of my own on fully comp and what i finally got out of them was an insult. Certainly less than my car was worth and it took three months to get it.

In the meantime had to buy a cheap cr**py car to get to work