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"Protected no claims", what does it actually mean ? ! ?


Justin Smith
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I have protected NCB but does anyone know exactly what it means ?
For the first time in 20 odd years I had a bump (more of a light touch actually ! * ) so what exactly happens when I research alternative insurance quotes next time ? Quote sites seem to ask if you have had an accident, but then how many years NCB you have, but one answer will obviously contradict the other.
Does my protected NCB mean that my minor bump will not affect any insurance quotes I get ?

* A car park bump caused a slight dint in the door of a 2010 Mini. I offered the guy £100 if he wanted to sort it himself but he said he knew nothing about body repairs and later told me the cheapest quote he got was £580. I said that's too much (for me to pay for) so put it through the insurance. However, I just found out the insurance paid out £1600 on that claim (how did that happen ? ! ?). £1600 for a slight dint in a door, what an Effin' waste of money. If he'd caused that dint himself it'd have been a bit of filler, a quick spray of paint and some T cut, done. Not £1600.....
Being honest doesn't always pay does it ?

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It varies between insurers tbh, some will charge extra, some won't.  You have had an 'at fault' accident which you're obliged to declare and may increase the premium, but also still have the no claims that you've earnt so they give you some discount on the premium.  The two aren't mutually exclusive.

£100 was never going to pay for a door repair nowadays, bodywork & paint is really expensive, more so than mechanicals.  £1600 does seem a lot but depending on the insurer, sometimes they have to use genuine parts.  It sounds like they've probably fitted a new door rather than repairing the old one.  It may also be the case that the window regulator or a powerfold wing mirror was damaged and had to be replaced.  Can't say any more without seeing the damage or an itemised invoice!  

You're right though, honesty isn't always the best policy.

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39 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

It varies between insurers tbh, some will charge extra, some won't.  You have had an 'at fault' accident which you're obliged to declare and may increase the premium, but also still have the no claims that you've earnt so they give you some discount on the premium.  The two aren't mutually exclusive.

£100 was never going to pay for a door repair nowadays, bodywork & paint is really expensive, more so than mechanicals.  £1600 does seem a lot but depending on the insurer, sometimes they have to use genuine parts.  It sounds like they've probably fitted a new door rather than repairing the old one.  It may also be the case that the window regulator or a powerfold wing mirror was damaged and had to be replaced.  Can't say any more without seeing the damage or an itemised invoice!  

You're right though, honesty isn't always the best policy.

You are absolutely right about the cost of bodywork especially at dealers etc. It's almost a think of a number. But the big problem, of course, is how much work is actually required ? A bit of filler and paint would not return the car to exactly its original state, though if done properly hardly anyone would notice the difference. On the other hand a new door and complete respray is, to most reasonable people, totally disproportionate and a complete waste of money which someone is paying....

I am certain neither the door mech, nor anything else, was damaged other than the door skin, the damage really was something and nothing.

The £100 offer wasn't for him to get a body shop to do the job (though a garage I used to use probably would have done it for that !) it was for if he (or one of his mates) did it, which, I would bet, would have happened if he'd have dinted the door himself. If he'd done the job himself £100 would be a nice bit of extra cash in his pocket for not very much work !

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1 hour ago, Justin Smith said:

I have protected NCB but does anyone know exactly what it means ?

In my experience and that of friends, it has meant that if you have say 60% NCD then you still have 60% NCD after making the claim. What it doesn't do is stop the basic premium rising to take account of what they now perceive as a higher risk. So, if your original basic premium was, say, £500 before discount, you would be paying £500 less 60% = £200. After the claim, your basic premium may have risen to, say, £750 so you would still get 60% off that higher amount, so you would now pay £300 in that example. 

Without the NCD protection your NCD would have also dropped back a level or two, depending on what your policy said, so you would be getting a smaller discount and paying even more.

Hard to comment on the cost of a repair without seeing the damage, but unfortunately as Tom says you don't get much for £100 these days. I would have expected a really minor dent with no paint damage could have been dealt with by a paintless repair so although what has happened seems way over the top it can't have been that minor?

The last paintless door repair I had done was something about the size of your little fingernail and that was just under £100 - but that was over 15 years ago. In the last few years some idiot (me!) caused very minor paint scrapes on my Mrs's car and they were £195 and £120 respectively.

 

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5 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

In my experience and that of friends, it has meant that if you have say 60% NCD then you still have 60% NCD after making the claim. What it doesn't do is stop the basic premium rising to take account of what they now perceive as a higher risk. So, if your original basic premium was, say, £500 before discount, you would be paying £500 less 60% = £200. After the claim, your basic premium may have risen to, say, £750 so you would still get 60% off that higher amount, so you would now pay £300 in that example. 

Thanks for that, I suppose that makes sense !
It does seem very galling that a minor car park nudge could end up costing me hundreds of pounds, possibly thousands over the next few years. If I'm brutally candid I'm not sure what I would have done had I known, bearing in mind it was me that pointed out to him that his car now had a little dint in it ! I had my child with me and I was conscious that I should be setting an honest example, though I cannot necessarily say I'd blame someone else for just driving off.... Maybe if anyone on here comes back to find a scratch or minor dent in their car and gets angry at the culprit just driving off they should think what it looks like from the other side !

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1 minute ago, Justin Smith said:

If I'm brutally candid I'm not sure what I would have done had I known, bearing in mind it was me that pointed out to him that his car now had a little dint in it

Yes, it's very galling as you say. I'm quite galled myself at the moment as someone put two dings in my back door while we were away on holiday and didn't fess up!😀

Fortunately they really are small with unbroken paint so I think it'll be a case of leave it for now.

As we say, it's hard to comment without seeing the damage (I bet you wish you'd taken photos) but it does seem odd that your insurers have swallowed that claim without challenge. (Or maybe they did - perhaps the other side tried to get a whole new car out of you!)

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If someone knocked my car and was honest to say I don’t think I’d want to do it myself anyway,I’d accept a smart repair tho on a 10 plate car 👍

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2 hours ago, MrRedman said:

If someone knocked my car and was honest to say I don’t think I’d want to do it myself anyway,I’d accept a smart repair tho on a 10 plate car 👍

I can understand why someone might think well "what happened to my car isn't my fault so I want my car back to the same condition (possibly even a bit better condition.....) than it was before". But that is costing a hell of a lot of money, and that attitude is much of the reason why so many people just drive off after a car park nudge. The problem is that to get the job done 95% right, good enough that the vast majority of people would see no difference, would probably cost only 10% of what doing the job 100% right would cost. The bottom line is I would bet pounds to pennies there aren't many people who would spend £1600 of their own money on repairing a slight dint in their door to "professional standards", particularly when the car is probably only worth just over twice that much. 
At the end of the day I do have sympathy with the person whose car is hit (nudged...) but it's an accident, **** happens.....

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What the insurers paid may well have included money for a hire car whilst repair was being done. That would be common. In my previous fiesta someone ran into the back of me. The rear bumper was scuffed and split all along the top. New Ford one would be hundreds plus fitting. It was a glossy coloured one. And it would be hassle getting it sorted. I said if they gave me £150 I would accept that for the devaluation of my car and live with it and not repair it. They were overjoyed. I wasn’t that bothered. I wasn’t angry, it was an accident, it wasn’t a reckless boy racer. I just hope that if I am on the other side of that ever then someone will do the same for me. Once insurers are involved it all spirals and has long term knock on effect on premiums etc. Protected bonus probably has more benefit if you are not moving insurers than if you move insurers. But it’s not transparent. They can just say that the no claims discount is still at 65% or whatever but they can just increase the pre discount price to whatever they feel like.

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22 minutes ago, isetta said:

What the insurers paid may well have included money for a hire car whilst repair was being done. That would be common. In my previous fiesta someone ran into the back of me. The rear bumper was scuffed and split all along the top. New Ford one would be hundreds plus fitting. It was a glossy coloured one. And it would be hassle getting it sorted. I said if they gave me £150 I would accept that for the devaluation of my car and live with it and not repair it. They were overjoyed. I wasn’t that bothered. I wasn’t angry, it was an accident, it wasn’t a reckless boy racer. I just hope that if I am on the other side of that ever then someone will do the same for me. Once insurers are involved it all spirals and has long term knock on effect on premiums etc. Protected bonus probably has more benefit if you are not moving insurers than if you move insurers. But it’s not transparent. They can just say that the no claims discount is still at 65% or whatever but they can just increase the pre discount price to whatever they feel like.

That had occurred to me. It makes one wonder whether protected NCB is a bit of a scam....

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  • 6 months later...

Well, well, well....
It's easier said than done but in so many cases one really should only cross bridges when one gets to them. Surprisingly my car insurance premium has dropped by 11% despite the above mentioned (over priced) accident !

It seems my cynicism was unjustified......

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On 10/21/2021 at 7:09 PM, Justin Smith said:

It makes one wonder whether protected NCB is a bit of a scam....

It only makes you wonder ???? of course it's a scam, you don't think insurance companies would actually come up with something to benefit the customer, save them money and help make them less profit !!

Since they 'calculate' your premium each year of at on set of parameters that only they know then all that happens is they increase your premium (because you dared to make a claim) then deduct the make believe protected NCD. End result is the cost of your insurance goes up.

It's no different to the holiday industry telling you to "book now and get a £100 off per person". Since they make up the prices in the first place what are you getting a £100 off ?  

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Just caught up on this thread. 2 years ago, I had a small car park bump. I was actually stationary, and a lady in her husbands old Renault (he was in the car but due to a leg op, she was driving it for 1st time), clipped my car. The incident was very minor and took place less than 5Mph. Anyway, went through insurance, who persuaded me for expediency, to accept a 50/50 fault. Against my much better judgement, I did.

It was a year later when I switched insurance company due to a very high renewal premium, that I paid my annual premium,then after a week, they phoned me to say they would have to raise my premium by £160 as they had just discovered I was in an 'accident' a year ago!

All insurance companies - theivin' b*stards...

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And this is why a minor accident can actally write your vehicle off due to exessive repair costs. It may only mean replacing a door if you can find the right colour etc or as previous a bit of filler and paint.

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On 5/9/2022 at 10:01 AM, unofix said:

It only makes you wonder ???? of course it's a scam, you don't think insurance companies would actually come up with something to benefit the customer, save them money and help make them less profit !!

Since they 'calculate' your premium each year of at on set of parameters that only they know then all that happens is they increase your premium (because you dared to make a claim) then deduct the make believe protected NCD. End result is the cost of your insurance goes up.

It's no different to the holiday industry telling you to "book now and get a £100 off per person". Since they make up the prices in the first place what are you getting a £100 off ?  

I can only say I had an accident (car park rub would be more accurate but it still cost my insurance company £1600....) but my next premium went down by 11% !

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