OT car Insurance

Is it worth having NCB protected? also with all these solicitors offering "no fee" contracts is it worth having legal cover these days?

Reply to
Moonraker
Loading thread data ...

Is it worth having NCB protected? also with all these solicitors offering "no fee" contracts is it worth having legal cover these days?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) IMHO, No, but I know people who disagree

2) I doubt that you'll get a "no win" deal from a lawyer for recovery of your uninsured loses in a motor incident

tim

Reply to
tim.....

You need to ask your insurers what your NCD is worth in terms of %age off the real cost of the policy. So if eg they say it's worth 75% then you're only paying 25% of the 'real cost' of insurance each year.

Then you need to find out how much of your NCD you lose, on a protected policy, if you lose it... and how long it'll take to regain the discount you originally had.

Then look at excesses etc and see how much a claim would have to be for before it becomes economic to actually make the claim. That is, it's almost certainly not worth making any claim that's only for a hundred pounds or so... But you are expected to tell the insurer - which may put your premium up even if you didn't make a claim...

You also need to find out how much the cost of the NCD protection is.

And lastly, look at your claim history. If you've never ever made a claim more than once every few years, protecting that NCD may be pointless.

Reply to
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts

It depends on whether you think you'll be involved in an accident. If someoen else hits you, you still might lose your NCD, so I think it is worth paying the extra for. Having said that, my current car is 10 years old and has not yet had anything I've needed to claim for. On the other hand SWMBO was hit a couple of years ago, by someone who came out of a side turning an went in the side of her car. Because that car also had a protected NCD, we immediately arranged the repair rather than havinng to wait for the other party to admit liability.

How much would it save not to have it?

Reply to
charles

We have NCD protection because it means if the car gets hit whilst parked etc we do not lose our NCD. It is one thing to be in the right and identify a third party. It is another to prove it. I worked in insurance claims for most of my career. Amazing how many accidents happened when both were on the correct side of the road stationary but both got written off! Only you can take a view on the costs and chances.

I used to have legal cover but no longer. The firm instructed by my insurers was a complete waste of space and I had to keep telling them their advice was wrong. Because of being mostly out of the country it would be costly to attend court so I have agreed to accept a little more than half what they thought my claim was worth. Still on the low side though. A competent firm would have had it settled or in court before now and I might have received a more realistic settlement.

Sadly I suspect those advertising on the TV are no better. Wish I had run the case myself. Please note however that I have spent a fair amount of time in various courts and controlled a lot of litigation. Bit scary for someone who has not.

Reply to
Hugh - in either England or Sp

not worth a carrot I'm afraid. This is what happened in real life, not 2 years back:

X insured with same firm for a few years and had protected NCD, premiums were a little high but they stuck with the company involved. Wife had small accident, rolled back into car on car park, resulting in (obviously) 4 whiplash claims but no damage to either vehicle. Comes the time to renew and the premium almost tripled. Insurance company said insurance had 'gone up in general' and that his NCD was intact - *provided he stayed with them*. Obviously he didn't and even starting from scratch, IE declaring the acccident, found his premium with another company was still cheaper than the first company even before the accident occured

Reply to
Phil L

Just after I graduated, I spent pretty much all the cash I had left on a cheap car so I could commute to work. Nothing special, a 1.1 fiesta that was 8 years old.

I had a few years no claims which meant I could actually afford to insure it.

A couple of months before renewal, I got crushed by a Bookers lorry who decided to turn left despite coming up the righthand side of me at a roundabout.

They denied all blame (despite me having 3 witnesses, including a policeman who conveniently happened to be there!) and pushed for it to go to court.

Turns out I'd got free legal aid (didn't realise) and free no claims protection as a graduate perk on my insurance.

Legal aid was fantastic, took me all the way through the court process and constantly said they always did this, I had nothing to worry about and that they just hoped that people would give up and drop out out of fear of losing in court despite a seemingly clear case. The legal protection covered all of this and removed the risk.

The no claims protection came into it's own when I had to renew in the middle of this mess - as I had an outstanding claim that was being contested, it meant my insurance would go from 400 (just about affordable) to over 1k (can't remember the exact figures, but it was something like that. Again, protected no claims covered that...

Two insurances I didn't even realise I had, that I've never gone without since (even though I could afford to these days).

Darren

BTW, as I'd been advised, they dropped the case the day before it was due in court, paid all my costs (and compensation), and admitted all liability. I've tried to avoid that particular cash'n'carry ever since :-)

Reply to
D.M.Chapman

About 12 quid normally IIRC

Darren

Reply to
D.M.Chapman

If you are involved in an accident that is the other driver's fault, most insurers will organise immediate repairs under your own policy. This does affect your no-claims and future premiums, but once they have sorted out liability with the other driver's insurer, they claim the cost of repairs back off them, return your lost no-claims and refund any extra you've paid on the premiums.

Legal cover is however useful for disputed claims where you may have to go to court if the other driver's insurer refuses to admit liability or disputes costs.

SteveW

Reply to
SteveW

I was going to say about a tenner. Compared against the variable, but normally rather large percentage, of any damages the "no win no fee" cowboys actually "charge" if they win. They are in for the money and the= fact there are so many running expensive TV adverts indicates they do quite well...

Likewise NCD my insurance is around =A3400 with 60% discount, lose that = and the premium jumps to =A31000 before any weighting as being a "bad risk".= My last two claims have only involved damage to 3rd party dry stone walls after skidding on black ice, that and writting off the cars involved. There ain't a lot you can do about black ice and sod all about some one =

who hits and runs or isn't insured or who can't be traced (side totaled =

parked on the street scenario). It's not you having an accident but all =

the other mad buggers out there.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Don't know! I've got about 12 years' NCB so I tend to go for it, but I suspect come the day there will be a catch.

also with all these solicitors

It worked for me when somebody crashed into my car. But it put in chain a 'sue with impunity' series of events, involving two visits to doctors. I never really got to the bottom of what was going on (nothing wrong with me), but I ended up with about £5000 ('trauma' and protection from further claims I think) and the value of the car. Having said this, I haven't had it again.

Rob

Reply to
RJH

I suppose the value of the car also matters. My van is probably only worth a grand. If I totalled it and did not damage anything else or if it was firebombed then I would not claim on the insurance as I have not protected my NCD. The insurance was under £400 this year (this company allows a 9 year max discount). It was over £600 for a protected policy.

If I have to claim then so be it, I will claim. As I understand it you do not lose all 9 years discount for one claim.

Reply to
ARWadsworth

Only with fully comp and some cheap insurers won't do this even if you have fully comp.

NCB protection will only cover the discount on the policy. If you do have an accident where all the costs cannot be recovered from another party they can and will increase your basic premium. You may also be tied to the same company to prevent you shopping around at renewal time.

I don't bother with NCB protection.

Maybe. I found that legal cover was not very useful and they failed to recover my uninsured losses when I was hit. And this was a straightforward collision where there was no doubt of who was to blame.

I don't bother with legal cover ATM but I might consider it given the changes to the legal aid system.

Reply to
Mark

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.