No claims discount racket ?

[modeller]

Over the last few years several of my friends have made minor claims on their car insurance. They all paid for 'No claims protection ' but in every case their renewal premium shot up. Not just in line with annual inflation but big increases. Is ' No claims protection ' worth having or is a a racket ?

[buildersmate]

You seem to misunderstand what NC Protection is, modeller.
There is a base premium, which is determined by the claim history, age, car, area of the policyholder and also the competitive nature between companies, then there is a potential discount off the base for no recent claims.
If one has a claim, it not only impacts the claim history, potentially driving up the base premium, it also pulls back the amount of NCD offered from the base premium.
NC Protection maintains the latter in the event of a claim but not the base premium.
The best way to drive the base premium to competitive price is to get several competitive quotes - via the internet is a useful and quick way.
What is this to do with 'News'?

[Gromit]

It is a good question, but you should have posted it in Motoring or Insurance.

[modeller]

Thank you all for the information.
There doesn't appear to be any point in having NCP.
The other rip off is paying for legal protection where the other driver is uninsured and has no money. Why pay for something which is doomed to fail .

[buildersmate]

I do have it because I adjudge it is worth the £20 pa extra it costs me, as I'd prefer not to lose 2-yrs of a 60% NCD because of some cretin with no insurance piling into me.

[modeller]

builders mate I don't know if we are talking about the same thing ? The extra charge I was referring to is not the NCP. It is the one called : ' Irrecoverable costs ' which is an attempt to recover costs when the other party is uninsured. When I queried it , they admitted it wasn't successful when the other party couldn't or wouldn't pay. Which would usually be the case.