Experts warn drivers over common practice that could put their no claims bonus at risk
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Experts have revealed that a common thing people do when insuring their car could actually put your ‘no claims’ bonus at risk. Your ‘no claims discount’ could be at risk by adding a named driver to your insurance policy.
A no claims discount can reduce the price of your car insurance if you don’t make a claim. Depending on your insurer, this can accumulate every year you don’t make a claim. Some insurers offer as much as 60 percent off your insurance premium if you do not make a claim for five years.
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Hide AdOver 125,000 collisions occur every year in the UK, and if a named driver on your policy is behind the wheel at the time of the crash your no claims discount could be at risk despite you having no involvement in the incident, should it occur.
Andy Moody, Director at GoShorty, says: “What many don’t take into account is the fact that this discount can be put at risk by adding a named driver to your policy. If, for instance, the policyholder has accumulated a no claims discount history over the years, they will be the ones losing it in the case of an accident, even if the named driver was the one driving at the time of the crash.
“Future premiums on the policyholder’s policy might also be affected, while the named driver’s no claim discount would not be affected, nor would the premiums on their future policy.”
Emily, from Loughborough, shared her experience, saying: “My partner, who was a named driver on my policy, crashed and wrote off my car in a faulty accident. Unfortunately, this meant I lost over half of my no-claims discount as it was reduced from five years to two years. And before this happened I hadn’t realised my no-claims could be affected so much.”
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