Multiple car insurance query

Can you not apply your no claims to one car and your wife's to the other car? You could then each be named drivers too on the one you do not apply your no claims to.

rina said:

LenGlover said:

Can you not apply your no claims to one car and your wife's to the other car? You could then each be named drivers too on the one you do not apply your no claims to.

ncb is only earned by the policyholder, not a named driver so only one of them will have it

Direct Line definitely allows named drivers to accrue no claims entitlement if they subsequently take their own policy with them and I understand other companies do too but can only speak of Direct Line.

My oldest daughter was a named driver on my policy for some years and had built up full no claims entitlement when she acquired her own car in her own name.

https://www.directline.com/car-insurance/discounts/named-driver-no-claims

Only cheap(er) way of doing a second car is to get one that can qualify for classic car insurance (which generally requires a limited mileage, say under 5k per year). Clearly this only applies to older vehicles, but on classic policies no claims bonus is not accrued or required. I have a few cars / bangers, ahem, and whilst my daily driver attracts a no claims bonus, my other cars are all on classic policies (and much cheaper to insure). In my case multicar policies are more expensive to insure.

Daily driver
1995 Peugeot 205 £400 per year. 15 years no claims. No points. 2 x 40's drivers in high risk postcode.
Classic policies
1985 Land Rover £190
2001 Mercedes CLK £230

Athletico Charlton said:

Just buying my first ever car after having a work car for 15 years so the world of car insurance is new to me too.

I have just found out that having had a licence for 23 years, never having had an accident in all that time, I am getting penalised because 2 people drove into my car whilst it was parked outside my house and drove away without leaving their details.

Apparently, as I claimed on my works insurance this makes the accidents my fault despite the fact I was not in the car at the time and purely because my insurer had to pay out given the dishonesty of others.

Absolutely mental to me and means the fuckwits who were dishonest and drove away win over the honest bloke who reported the accidents, paid 2 lots of excess and would never dream of not taking personal responsibility over an accident they had caused as that is the right thing to do morally.

(Apologies for the rant but I am really miffed about this).

It doesn't make it your fault at all. There's a clue in that it's called a no claims bonus, rather than a no own fault accidents bonus. In the same way, if someone nicks your motor, it's not your fault but the insurer still has to pay out.

In addition, the insurers now know that you park up overnight in a place where your car is at serious risk of getting hit (yet again). That's going to cost you money I'm afraid. Premia are always lower if you park overnight on your own drive or, better still, in a garage.

LenGlover said:

rina said:

LenGlover said:

Can you not apply your no claims to one car and your wife's to the other car? You could then each be named drivers too on the one you do not apply your no claims to.

ncb is only earned by the policyholder, not a named driver so only one of them will have it

Direct Line definitely allows named drivers to accrue no claims entitlement if they subsequently take their own policy with them and I understand other companies do too but can only speak of Direct Line.

My oldest daughter was a named driver on my policy for some years and had built up full no claims entitlement when she acquired her own car in her own name.

https://www.directline.com/car-insurance/discounts/named-driver-no-claims

that's handy to know a way of getting affordable insurance for a teenager

Don't try and get a multi car insurance with someone who's had 6 points and a recent 3.5k claim. We've got 3 cars between us but wouldn't dream of having a joint premium with her!

Can you insure two people on one car via two different insurance companies?

cafcnick1992 said:

Can you insure two people on one car via two different insurance companies?

Doubtful. Don't forget that it's really the vehicle and third parties that are insured rather than an individual.

So here, taken at random is a clause from Zurich's policy booklet: "7. We will not make any payment if there is cover under any other policy."

So, chances are the other company would have a similar clause and neither would pay out if there was a claim event. Which would be less than useful.

That said, it may be that in certain circumstances, another policy could be set up with the first insurer's consent. But probably only for certain extras that were not incorporated into the original policy. Like for example use in a country not in the EU or speciality track use insurance.

An interesting thing about the wording in the Zurich example above, is that in theory, taking, say, AA five star European breakdown cover could be read as invalidating the original insurance because their clause is insufficiently accurate in what it is trying to achieve. That's the sort of ambiguity you get when trying to put complex matters into plain English sometimes.

That's just an example of how badly (despite whatever fees they pay their lawyers) some insurance policies are drafted. So many of them would be in technical breach of the FCA's rules on "clear, fair and not misleading" that in the example I've just given, it is inevitable that Zurich would fail in any attempt to use that clause to wriggle out of paying a claim and in practice they wouldn't try.