Multi car insurance and No Claims Discount

DanD · February 9, 2018

At our last renewal, we took a policy with Admiral, and agreed to move our second car to Admiral also to benefit from the multi car discount.

My second son is a learner driver, and I intend to take him out myself, starting on Sunday, so got him added to our second car's insurance.

When I queried whether or not my No Claims Discount would be protected in the event that my son should have a prang, I was told that I did not have any NCD on our second car. It was explained to me that you can only have one No Claims Discount, and therefore that because both policies are in my name - even though I am the main driver of one car, and my wife is the main driver of the other - the NCD can only be applied to one car.

This leads me to question the benefit of multi car policies... you seem get a discount for insurance more than one vehicle... but then loose out on protection... or so it seems!

Adrian Flux? Comments?

bobmc · February 9, 2018

I recently had to arrange insurance for my daughters car, which in itself was a farce with Admiral. She rang first of all to arrange to change the vehicle on the existing policy which was halfway through the 12 month term. After being quoted a stupid figure to change, she asked to cancel and was told she would get almost 50% of her premium back. So we went online again and Admiral were the cheapest so we went with them. During the final phase of the online form, we were advised to ring because of speed awareness courses (my daughter had done one a few months earlier and I was booked to do one in a few weeks time). Naturally, this added a few quid to the quote which we had to accept but during the call they were very pushy about adding my car for a multi-car deal.

I ended up declining their offer, partly because there wasn't a big saving and partly because they'd been so pushy. Leaves me the option of shopping for the best deal I can get when the time comes and I have no doubt my speed awareness course will push my premiums up next year :(

Nimbra · February 9, 2018

I was also surprised to find that NCD can only be applied to one car. Surely it's me, the driver, that hasn't claimed - not the car.

I bet if i make a claim on one car it will apply to both policies!

I guess i shouldn't be that surprised - this is insurance companies were dealing with. Did I honestly expect to be treated fairly?

bernieeccles · February 9, 2018

I had an old but still going strong Toyota HiAce van insured with Admiral and just before renewal time they rang me up to confirm that I had received the renewal quote. A conversation ensued in which I was asked if the van had any modifications. Jokingly I said, yes I have put some carpet down on the rear floor. He said he would have to check with someone and came back after a few minutes and told me they would have to increase the premium by just under £18.

He seemed a bit shocked when I then said that I decline their quote and that I was going elsewhere.

Scumbags.

First_Lexus · February 9, 2018

If you have more than one vehicle you can build up a NCD on each, then transfer as required. My main car has one NCD, my weekend car another. They were both built up by the same driver - me. What you cannot do is use a single NCD on more than one vehicle.

At one stage I had four cars at the same time, each with a different NCD. Every insurance company I've been with, including Admiral on a multi-car policy at the moment, has allowed this.

as13 · February 9, 2018

I've got my multicar with aviva, always found it cheaper if her car was the main and mine the second, even with me the older of the two and bigger engine.

Also when I switched cars to my nx I could go online enter in the details and they gave me switch quote instantly before I purchased.

OK may not be the cheapest and nor most expensive but the extra benefits are worth it in the event off

Forgot to say I've used admiral previously and aviva were cheaper

Edited February 9, 2018 by as13
more information

DAN@ADRIAN FLUX · February 9, 2018

Hi,

When you transferred your second car to Admiral did you bring any NCD with you? If you didn't and you only had NCD on your original vehicle then yes in theory you would only have NCD on the original vehicle. You should however start to accrew it on the 2nd vehicle.

Regards,

Dan.

Bluesman · February 9, 2018

7 hours ago, bobmc said:

I recently had to arrange insurance for my daughters car, which in itself was a farce with Admiral. She rang first of all to arrange to change the vehicle on the existing policy which was halfway through the 12 month term. After being quoted a stupid figure to change, she asked to cancel and was told she would get almost 50% of her premium back. So we went online again and Admiral were the cheapest so we went with them. During the final phase of the online form, we were advised to ring because of speed awareness courses (my daughter had done one a few months earlier and I was booked to do one in a few weeks time). Naturally, this added a few quid to the quote which we had to accept but during the call they were very pushy about adding my car for a multi-car deal.

I ended up declining their offer, partly because there wasn't a big saving and partly because they'd been so pushy. Leaves me the option of shopping for the best deal I can get when the time comes and I have no doubt my speed awareness course will push my premiums up next year :(

They are a mystery. I did a speed awareness course in the autumn last year, they told us to advise our insurance companies that we had been on so as soon as I got in I rang my insurance Marks & Spencer, I told them I had been on a course and they said, "that's OK we don't need to know this only if you get points on your licence"

TigerFish · February 9, 2018

My admiral multicar policy has independent NCD, although I did negotiate a bit of a boost on the second one initially as part of the deal to take the policy. Both are now at max, and I an take it with me if I removed one and go elsewhere.

rayaans · February 10, 2018

21 hours ago, DanD said:

At our last renewal, we took a policy with Admiral, and agreed to move our second car to Admiral also to benefit from the multi car discount.

My second son is a learner driver, and I intend to take him out myself, starting on Sunday, so got him added to our second car's insurance.

When I queried whether or not my No Claims Discount would be protected in the event that my son should have a prang, I was told that I did not have any NCD on our second car. It was explained to me that you can only have one No Claims Discount, and therefore that because both policies are in my name - even though I am the main driver of one car, and my wife is the main driver of the other - the NCD can only be applied to one car.

This leads me to question the benefit of multi car policies... you seem get a discount for insurance more than one vehicle... but then loose out on protection... or so it seems!

Adrian Flux? Comments?

Well thats BS for a start

My RX450h has 17 years on it

And my IS300h has 14 years on it.

And I have an Admiral Multicar policy..... with both policies in my name, my wife being the main driver on the IS300h and myself the main driver on the RX.

But yes, you do have to build them up and transfer them across each time you move insurers. For example, I was with LV 5 years ago and had 11 years on the RX. When I moved to Admiral I transferred this across to them so they gave me 12 years on renewal

My wife was with Chaucer direct with 8 years. Again, I transferred this across to Admiral multicar and we're now on 14 years.

ColinBarber · February 10, 2018

14 hours ago, Bluesman said:

They are a mystery. I did a speed awareness course in the autumn last year, they told us to advise our insurance companies that we had been on so as soon as I got in I rang my insurance Marks & Spencer, I told them I had been on a course and they said, "that's OK we don't need to know this only if you get points on your licence"

Admiral, and the other names they trade under, seem to be the only ones who want to know about speed awareness courses. A friend of mine attended one and the instructor recommended using another company.

DanD · February 12, 2018

My policy will be due for renewal in April. Looks like I will need to look at this more closely.

I hear that LV= now also do multi car policies. I was insured with them before, and always found them to be easy to deal with. May be worth looking into.

Thanks to all for your input so far.

paulrnx · February 13, 2018

Direct Line also worth a look. They do multicar too. I even stayed with them at renewal time because their renewal quotes were competitive which is often not the case when staying with the same insurer for another year.

Malc · February 13, 2018

On 09/02/2018 at 11:21 PM, Bluesman said:

I did a speed awareness course in the autumn last year, they told us to advise our insurance companies that we had been on

That's odd ............. when I went on mine recently they told us that we didn't need to advise................. and that being on the course and satisfactorily completing it, the records were then expunged.

Malc

paulrnx · February 13, 2018

Advice now being provided now is to inform your insurance company. Or at least it was when I did one last year. There is no legal requirement to but a lot of insurance companies have statements in their smallprint along the lines of customers must inform their insurance company if any of the details or circumstances change which is a bit of a catch-all for things like this. Always best to check in my opinion. Must admit I hadn't heard that records were expunged though. I wondered about this because how would the authorities know that you had previously attended a speed awareness course in the past three years? I'm sure they don't take us on trust!