What is a No Claims Bonus?
A No Claims Bonus, often referred to as a No Claims Discount, is a discount on your car insurance premium that you earn for every year you don’t make a claim. It’s a reward system designed to incentivize safe driving.
Transferring Your No Claims Bonus
If you’re switching from another insurer to Admiral, you can bring your NCB with you. To do this, you’ll need to provide Admiral with the renewal notice from your previous insurer and the proof of your NCB, which your previous insurer should supply.
How Much Discount Do I Get Each Year?
The discount structure for Admiral in 2023 is as follows:
- One year: 12%
- Two years: 14%
- Three years: 14%
- Four years: 18%
- Five years: 18%
- Six years: 18%
- Seven years: 19%
- Eight years: 19%
- Nine years and above: 29%
Validity of No Claims Bonuses
An NCB is typically valid for two years after a policy ends, but this can vary among insurers. Admiral, for instance, accepts NCBs that are up to three years old. This means even if you don’t own a car for a while, your NCB remains intact. When you resume driving, your new insurer might accept some or all of this bonus with proof of your last policy.
Impact of Making a Claim
The effect on your NCB depends on the nature of the claim:
- Claims for windscreen damage or emergency treatment fees won’t impact your NCB.
- If an accident wasn’t your fault and Admiral recovers all costs from the third party’s insurer, your NCB remains unaffected.
- If you make one claim during your policy period, you’ll lose two years of NCB. For instance, five years of NCB would reduce to three years at renewal.
- Two claims in one policy period result in a loss of four years of NCB, and three or more claims mean you’d lose all your accumulated NCB.
Accidents and Fault
If an accident wasn’t your fault and the third party’s insurer covers all costs, your NCB remains unaffected. However, the number of accidents you’re involved in, whether at fault or not, can influence your policy. In some situations, like being hit by an uninsured driver, you might lose some of your NCB unless it’s protected.
Protecting Your No Claims Bonus
Admiral offers two types of NCB protection:
- Guaranteed: Your NCB won’t decrease if you make a claim, but you won’t earn extra discounts for that period.
- Protected: Allows two claims in three years before reducing the NCB. Continuous claims can eventually lead to the loss of this protection and some of your discount.
Even with protection, a claim might result in a premium increase at renewal, but the calculation will include your entitled discount.
MultiCar and MultiCover Policies
In Admiral’s MultiCar policy, each policyholder accumulates their own NCB. If one person makes a claim, it doesn’t affect the NCB of other policyholders. However, if a named driver makes a claim, it impacts the main policyholder’s NCB.
MultiCover combines home and car insurance. A claim on the home insurance component of a MultiCover policy won’t affect your car insurance NCB.