I am in the process of renewing the insurance on two bikes but I am now I pretty confused with these NCB shanenigans. All I understood is that you cannot use your NCB on two bikes/policies at the same time. Not sure what’s what so I am going to lay down assumptions, and then get down to the questions. I trawled the forums, including this one, and I couldn’t find definite answers and they often are contradictory. Please help me answer as best as you can, and hopefully this may turn out to be a good FAQ. First here are my assumptions/definitions:
Earning NCB: This is at the end of a full year policy where you haven’t claimed.
Using NCB: This when you say to the prospective insurer that you have x NCBs
All accidents, regardless of NCB, are declared to each insurance at the beginning of the policy.
Bike A: small 50cc scooter.
Bike B: 1000+cc widowmaker superbike
Questions:
1- I own bike A for two years no claims. At the end of which I buy bike B. I keep them on separate policies (no multibike):
Presumably I can’t use the 2 years NCB on both bikes. But can I get a policy with no NCB on bike A, and with 2 NCB on bike B?. Can I split the NCBs to 1 year each?
2- I earned 2 years NCB on bike A, then buy myself Bike B with no NCB. I then recklessly crash with Bike B causing biblical damage and destruction to innocent third parties (my fault). I do not get NCB for Bike B for that year:
At the beginning of year 4 do I get 3 years NCB on bike A policy? Can I sell Bike A and use 3 years NCB for Bike B?
3- I hang on to both bikes as above. But no accident. At the end of year 4 I have 3 year NCB on Bike A, and 1 year NCB on Bike B. I decide I am old, sell both and I buy myself a BMW (bike):
Can I use 4 years NCB for the BMW?
Here’s how insurance works: If they can screw you they will. If it will help you save money, forget about it.
While I’m moaning CN had the audacity to courtesy call me if i was interested in their £1,700 quote. I started fuming as I’d got a quote for £680 from MCE which I’d already taken up and had a row with them.
Hi there…I had a similar situation a few years back…and this is what transpired…
1- sadly no
2 - in theory yes, but you have to declare your claim on B when renewing bike A policy
3 - if we are talking about the 4 wheeled kind of BMW then no (and vice versa, car NCB can not be transferred to bikes)
Not sure if they still do it but H&R Insurance used to take car NCB into consideration when getting bike insurance. Made a big difference when I first got a bike.
Ok, I resigned to calling a lot of insurers by the phone and here are the basic rules:
NCBs are gained only after a full year of policy. But you can’t earn them at the same time. If you have two policies and don’t claim for that year that counts as 1 year NCB only where renewing to only one policy (it’s still unclear if the policies only overlap of over a few months).
Secondly, if you have two policies going on and you claim on one of them, you only lose the NCB on that policy. The other policy keeps accruing its NCBs independently.
Also things to keep in mind when adding new more powerful bike:
Multibike insurance is not necessarily cheaper. Easier perhaps, but it’s worth checking for individual insurance and see how that compares.
With multiple policies, alway move the NCBs you earned into the most powerful bike, and then get quotes for 0 NCB on the cheapest one to insure.
You cannot have named riders when on multibike insurance. And having two policies on the same bike is illegal :w00t:, independently if you’ll ever only claim once.
This is pretty messy and there is much more. I am wondering sometimes if they make this up as they go along but the above is what I found to be consistent.
