Getting car insurance quotes - soul destroying!!

[StephenFord]

I have just spent the last 3 hours trying my best to obtain car insurance quotes online. Right now, I just want to slit my wrists! I feel I have a common enough circumstance. I have my own car, and have just inherited my mum's car. Together they have a combined value of less than £2000! I am the only driver, so, if I'm not in one car, I'll be in the other. So they won't be on the road simultaneously.

Most onsite comparison sites will only do one car, and the 2 I got saying they quote for 'multiple' cars, well, they allow me to spend ages entering details of me, and both cars, but at the last hurdle, very helpfully come up with an error screen saying, 'ooppsss, there is an error - please phone us'!! Aarrgghhhhh....

There is a really dusty old shop in my local town that's been there for years that does 'insurance'. Think I'll pop into them next week and see if the old fashioned face to face method will alleviate my frustration! 🤣 

[TomsFocus]

Unless the rules are different in NI it'll be because you can't use the same NCB on two cars.

You'll need to insure them separately.  Your Mum's will be on 0 NCB.

However, some insurers will mirror NCB or give similar discounts for proof of experience.  (Often used by ex-Motability drivers for example).

I'm with Quote Me Happy which is all done online.  They give a good discount for experience on a car that technically has 0 NCB.

[StephenFord]

19 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Unless the rules are different in NI it'll be because you can't use the same NCB on two cars.

You'll need to insure them separately.  Your Mum's will be on 0 NCB.

 

That does make sense, though on the 'Admiral MultiCar' site, it does allow a separate NCB entry for each car listed. It still returned an error though when I hit the final, 'obtain quote' button LOL

Am I really the only guy in the country who owns 2 x cars? (both old rust heaps!) 🤣 Wonder how other folk do it...

[Turvey]

The whole 'NCB on one car only ' kinda doesn't make sense to me! Surely it's the driver who earns the NCB not the car? And as you say, you can only drive one car at a time 🤷

If someone wants to explain it to me then please do 😀

[StephenFord]

17 minutes ago, Turvey said:

The whole 'NCB on one car only ' kinda doesn't make sense to me! Surely it's the driver who earns the NCB not the car? And as you say, you can only drive one car at a time 🤷

I'm glad someone else gets it! Thought it was just me... (My mum has had in excess of 20 years NCB on the car, so, does that count??)

[alexp999]

37 minutes ago, Turvey said:

The whole 'NCB on one car only ' kinda doesn't make sense to me! Surely it's the driver who earns the NCB not the car? And as you say, you can only drive one car at a time 🤷

If someone wants to explain it to me then please do 😀

It's the policy in the policy holders name that earns the NCB, not the car. Some insurers will let you transfer the NCB earned from one holder on to a new policy in a different name. My mum and dad did that after they switched the family car insurance from my dad's to my mum's name.

Best bet is to find an insurer that will give a complimentary amount of NCB based on being a named driver or having another policy etc. Then after first year you can move it like any other NCB.

[TomsFocus]

50 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

That does make sense, though on the 'Admiral MultiCar' site, it does allow a separate NCB entry for each car listed. It still returned an error though when I hit the final, 'obtain quote' button LOL

Am I really the only guy in the country who owns 2 x cars? (both old rust heaps!) 🤣 Wonder how other folk do it...

The idea is that there's a different main driver for each car on a multicar policy.  However one driver can have multiple different NCBs as well.

So I've got about 14 years NCB on the Golf.  And 2 years NCB on the Focus.  I used to have 3 years when I was running the GTi6 & then Fiesta ST as weekend cars alongside the Mk2 Focus, but NCB disappears after 2 years of inactivity so I had to start again this time.  But as I say, QMH give a good discount for NCB earned on another car.

[Turvey]

18 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

It's the policy in the policy holders name that earns the NCB, not the car.

So why can't you have NCB on two cars? If the policy holder has earned it driving one car, or more than likely 2 or more over a few years, why not apply to more than one vehicle? 

[StephenFord]

4 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

...QMH give a good discount for NCB earned on another car.

Thought I'd give QMH a go, fell at first hurdle LOL They obviously think I've been there before (welcome back??), on drilling down to get a new password, my email address isn't found, and there is no way to progress. Like I said, insurance companies, ***** hate them...

[alexp999]

4 minutes ago, Turvey said:

So why can't you have NCB on two cars? If the policy holder has earned it driving one car, or more than likely 2 or more over a few years, why not apply to more than one vehicle? 

You can. If you have two policies in your name as the main driver on each car then each policy will earn its own NCB.

But Stephen is starting from scratch with one car/policy. They will earn their own ncb but you can only use one per policy. You can’t share one ncb across two policies. 

[TomsFocus]

16 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Thought I'd give QMH a go, fell at first hurdle LOL They obviously think I've been there before (welcome back??), on drilling down to get a new password, my email address isn't found, and there is no way to progress. Like I said, insurance companies, ***** hate them...

That's a shame.  I seem to remember you're already with Admiral group?

I did something similar with Elephant & Admiral although it was nearly 10 years ago now.  I did have to contact them directly to get the NCB mirrored, wasn't an option online, but because they were both Admiral group they were happy to do it.  Might be worth a call if you are still with them.

[StephenFord]

3 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

That's a shame.  I seem to remember you're already with Admiral group?

 

Crikey, you have a great memory! I change insurers often as I have no loyalty whatsoever to them, as they don't to me. I likely have been wit Admiral before and likely Aviva (who own QMH) though it's odd that my email address wasn't recognised when I did the 'lost password' procedure.

I hate phoning as it takes forever, line is always crap, music on hold is literally to die for, and when you get cut off (and you will...) you can never get the same person back.

[alexp999]

24 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Crikey, you have a great memory! I change insurers often as I have no loyalty whatsoever to them, as they don't to me. I likely have been wit Admiral before and likely Aviva (who own QMH) though it's odd that my email address wasn't recognised when I did the 'lost password' procedure.

I hate phoning as it takes forever, line is always crap, music on hold is literally to die for, and when you get cut off (and you will...) you can never get the same person back.

It’s almost like they don’t want you to phone…

I hate the recorded messages you get now telling you how you can do so much online. Well if that was the case I wouldn’t be on the phone!

[Wino]

Had similar issues when we got the Noddy car. 

I'm the main driver as I use it for work and also drive the Focus if we Both go out in it.

So kept myself as the main driver of the Focus and had to put the Mrs as main driver of Noddy car ( no NCD) as it worked out cheaper.

God help us if we have a bump on either car trying to explain as to why who was driving each others car lol. 

[Turvey]

1 hour ago, alexp999 said:

It's the policy in the policy holders name that earns the NCB, not the car.

 

1 hour ago, alexp999 said:

You can. If you have two policies in your name as the main driver on each car then each policy will earn its own NCB.

 

 

You can’t share one ncb across two policies. 

But haven't you just contradicted yourself? If it's the driver that earns the NCB surely it doesn't matter how many cars they have? 

Is it the policy that earns the NCB, rather than the driver?

Told you I was confused! 😀

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Crikey, you have a great memory! I change insurers often as I have no loyalty whatsoever to them, as they don't to me. I likely have been wit Admiral before and likely Aviva (who own QMH) though it's odd that my email address wasn't recognised when I did the 'lost password' procedure.

I hate phoning as it takes forever, line is always crap, music on hold is literally to die for, and when you get cut off (and you will...) you can never get the same person back.

Sadly direct contact is often the only way to get mirrored NCB.  It's not generally done through website quotes.

I don't (can't) phone myself, and usually find some text based contact details.  It's rare to find email nowadays so have had to make a Twitter account purely for contacting some service companies!

Your high street broker can probably do the leg work for you if you state that you're looking to insure a second car with mirrored NCB.

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi.

Please feel free to give us a try for multi car insurance if you haven't done so already.

Regards,

Dan.

[StephenFord]

7 minutes ago, DAN@ADRIAN FLUX said:

Hi.

Please feel free to give us a try for multi car insurance if you haven't done so already.

Regards,

Dan.

I always assumed you did just posh/modded cars. You do old bangers too then?

[alexp999]

22 minutes ago, Turvey said:

 

But haven't you just contradicted yourself? If it's the driver that earns the NCB surely it doesn't matter how many cars they have? 

Is it the policy that earns the NCB, rather than the driver?

Told you I was confused! 😀

Yes it’s the policy. But it tied to the policyholder. A policyholder can have as many NCB as they have simultaneous separate policies. 
 

If you have 3 cars and you are the policyholder on all 3 then each policy earns its own NCB. Each is individually transferable to a new policy in your name. However some insurers will allow you to “donate” it to your other half etc. 

For example my mum and dad had two cars. My dad was policyholder on both and had 2 separate NCB of different years for each policy. My mum then bought the new family car and wanted the policy in her name so my dad had to write a letter to a willing insurer to give her the NCB of one of his policies. 
 

TLDR, it is the policy that earns the NCB but it is tied to the policyholder. Maybe think of it like a loyalty card, each policy has its own loyalty card.

[TomsFocus]

36 minutes ago, Turvey said:

Told you I was confused! 

https://www.confused.com/

 

[StephenFord]

Bugger, just did an online quote with Adrian Flux, and on the end of the usual million questions, hit the 'get quote' button. Then came the screen that, 'thank you, we will call you shortly'!! Aarrrggghhhh... I don't want a friggin' call! Why can't they be upfront and honest and say we do not do online quotes...

[alexp999]

Perhaps a good example of how it is the policy which earns the NCB.  
 

You have 2 cars, policy A has 5 years NCB, the policy B has 2 years NCB. Neither has NCB protection. 
 

You have an accident in the car which is covered by Policy B and make a claim

 

Now come renewal, policy A now has 6 years (no claims on this policy) where as policy B now has no NCB as you made a claim. 

[StephenFord]

9 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Perhaps a good example of how it is the policy which earns the NCB.  
 

You have 2 cars, policy A has 5 years NCB, the policy B has 2 years NCB. Neither has NCB protection. 
 

You have an accident in the car which is covered by Policy B and make a claim

 

Now come renewal, policy A now has 6 years (no claims on this policy) where as policy B now has no NCB as you made a claim. 

Yes, but if it's the driver that earns the NCB it shouldn't matter which car was pranged, the risk is surely the same. If he has driven 40 odd years, and never pranged once, why should the burden have different risks, just becasue they are different cars?

[alexp999]

8 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Yes, but if it's the driver that earns the NCB it shouldn't matter which car was pranged, the risk is surely the same. If he has driven 40 odd years, and never pranged once, why should the burden have different risks, just becasue they are different cars?

Just not how it works. They work out your risk by asking for all claims anyway. 
 

NCB is a loyalty discount for having held a policy without making a claim. It is per policy. 
 

It’s a racket to make money so it’s going to be convoluted 😉

[StephenFord]

4 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

NCB is a loyalty discount for having held a policy without making a claim. It is per policy.

Odd that it's a 'loyalty' discount that can be freely transferred to all insurers LOL Still, I totally agree the whole industry is riddled with anomalies with the sheer aim of scr*wing us out of more money...