A no claims bonus (NCB) is a great way to save money on your car insurance.
In fact, just one year's worth of no claims could be worth up to 30% off your premium.
Earn one, two, three, four or five years continuous no claims by driving claims free and your discount could be in the region of 60% off your premium!
What is a no claims bonus on car insurance?
If you don't claim on your motor insurance policy, you will start to accrue a no claims bonus/discount for every year that you have had insurance on a car without making a claim. It is important to note that it matters whether or not you make a claim, not whether it was your fault or not.
Say, for instance your car went on fire or you were hit by an uninsured driver and you had to claim, in most instances you may not be able to earn a no claims bonus for that year. Furthermore, your existing bonus, that you have earned, may be stepped back by two years or even to zero.
You can earn no claims on all types of motor insurance policies – car, van, commercial vehicle, tractor and on all types of cover -- third party, third party fire and theft, and fully comprehensive.
No claims bonuses/discounts reduce your car insurance premium. Normally you can earn no claims discounts for up to five consecutive years (although some insurers will let you earn it for up to nine years!).
Subsequent years of no claims won't reduce your premium any further, although not claiming will safeguard the level of bonuses/discount you have.
How much does my no claims bonus save me?
Your annual renewal premium is reduced by a set percentage. The percentage depends on the number of years you have been driving claims free. No Claims bonus/discounts vary between insurers, but the average no claims bonus/discount scale starts at:
| Years |
Reduction |
| 1 |
10% |
| 2 |
20% |
| 3 |
30% |
| 4 |
40% |
| 5 |
50% |
| 6 |
55% |
Can you lose your no claims bonus/discount, even if it's not your fault?
Unfortunately yes. Say for instance your car was stolen, you would need to make a claim and your bonus could be lost. Some Insurance Companies offer options to protect your bonus. It is well worth giving us a call to talk through the various options when it comes to choosing what level of no claims protection is suitable for you.
The car insurer may be able to recover all costs from another insurer where a claim is not your fault. In this case you wouldn't lose your no claims discount.
If you do not have insurance in your own name for 2 years, your NCB lapses.
Can I protect my no claims bonus?
Some insurers offer you the option to protect your no claims bonus/discount – sometimes this cover is included in the premium and sometimes you need to request the addition of the cover. Some Insurance companies have the opinion that a stolen car isn’t really the policyholders fault and will not disallow the no claims bonus. Some companies offer a fully protected no claims bonus. That said there are often inner limits such as no claim allowed over the amount of €10,000 or no more than two claims within 3 years and so on. It really is best to call us at QuoteMe.ie and talk through the options that work best for you.
What is a “Mirrored No Claims Bonus”?
A mirrored no claims bonus is often used when a person, who already has earned a bonus on a car policy, decides to buy a van or commercial vehicle.
The Insurance Company, correctly believing that one can only drive one vehicle at a time, will sometimes allow the value, in years, of the no claims bonus that is earned on the car insurance policy be applied or “mirrored” on to the new van insurance policy. This will greatly reduce the cost of insuring your new van. We will need to see a copy of the current no claims bonus for your car insurance in order to complete the transaction. If your van is bought in the name of your company, we will need to see proof that the company is in fact owned by you. All this information can be sent to us via email. We are always striving for ways to make it easier to arrange your insurance with QuoteMe.ie.
Can named drivers earn a no claims bonus/discount?
A few car insurers will allow named drivers to earn a no claims discount. This is brilliant if eventually the named driver wants to go onto their own car insurance policy later. That's because with a standard car insurance policy, named drivers don't earn their own no claims history.
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