Car Insurance NCB Protection

While I'm on the subject of unecessary rip offs we got Claire's renewal
notice for the car insurance last week. I did a few onlince to see if I
could get it cheaper and (un)surprisingly I could. However I couldn't
get any of them to quote for protecting her NCB. When I phoned to ask
one they told me that protection only applies for up to 1 claim per year
or 2 in any 3 year period.

Hmm thinks I looking at the renewal notice from Direct Line, in
particular the £60 for NCB protection, I wonder if they have a different
policy about protection so I phoned them to ask. Shockingly the answer
was "no" they allow you 2 claims in a 3 year period so if we'd simply
renewed we'd have paid our £60 and then if we'd claimed she would still
have lost her NCB [1].

Tossers, they were crap as well. When the car was recovered all it
needed was cleaning and a check over. Nothing needed doing and yet it
somehow took them 3 weeks to get it back to them. I guess they are
cheap(ish) because the cover is kak.

[1] In fairness they did say you only lose 2 years NCB but the principle
is the same.

 

I've always thought that insuring yourself against some of the cost of
claiming against your insurance to be a bit of a rip off and as you say they
load your premium anyway if you have had a claim. This loading also applies
if you have an accident that wasn't your fault they recover everything from
the third party..

IME they are all as bad as each other when it comes to dealing with claims.
I'd just go with the cheapest one you can find and if they mess you about in
the event of a claim, take them to the ombudsman.

Don't bother with a courtesy car as unless you drive a clapped out
Cinquecento you are going to be disappointed.

 

Fair point I guess I've only had experience of claiming from DL so I
can't comment on anyone else. In any case in this case they still
weren't cheapest with Tesco coming in £80 cheaper! Shame they don't do
bike insurance.

Hmm clapped out Volvo actually but the thing is in our situation any car
is better than nothing. As it was we had to hire a car to get us through
the weekend as both cars, were nicked. I was able to get a pool car soon
after to replace my CC but the fact that the SO was using this to ferry
the kids around meant I was forced to use my bike. I probably would have
anyway but given that it was December the option would have been nice

 

This is probably the most sensible advice I've *ever* heard
re:insurance.

Esure. For us, buying online, saved £50 Vs Tesco.

 

Steve P says...

I'd say ditch Claire, she's a financial liability. Get a cheaper younger
model.

 

Yeah, and a nice, reliable two stroke while you're at it...

 

Mr. Fantastic says...

Oooh, good point, I didn't think about that

 

Steve P wrote in

Tesco car insurance is run by Direct Line.

"As the country's leading partnership provider of insurance and motoring
assistance, UKI Partnerships teams up with brand leaders such as Tesco
Personal Finance, BMW, and Barclaycard to manage and develop bespoke
insurance and breakdown packages. UKI Partnerships also markets the
Green Flag Motoring Assistance brand"

http://info.directline.com/xxx/Comp...ructure?opendocument&category=Group+Structure

I have been very surprised with http://www.kwik-fitinsurance.com/
I imagined that they would be as useless as the tyre depots. However they
seem efficient and provided a very good renewal quote. Not made a claim so
cannot give an opinion on that part of the service.

 

Hmmm, I'm driving a courtesy (hire) car at the moment because of a non-
fault accident. They delivered a fully loaded Rover 75 to my door before
the damage to mine had even been assessed. It's not a bad car actually.

 

In those circumstances I would expect an equivalent car to the insured
vehicle. What sort of car would you get if the accident was your fault or
the damage was done by an unknown or uninsured third party?

 

I've thought about it on several occasions although in this instance
it's not actually her fault. The first claim was when my Rover Coupe was
nicked. Allegedly she was insuring it because it was about £400 a year
cheaper. I've got 0 car no claims now so she's actually saving us money
since it would cost me a fortune to insure the Volvo.

Still I do let her drive my brand new company car so she can't grumble,
well I will when I get the replacement.

In fact it could be said that I probably couldn't find anyone cheaper,
but I won't say that to her.

 

Didn't know that! Mind you it's even more spazzy of them for Tesco to be
cheaper and offer better service then isn't it?