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Furious, absolutely furious!

I have always had fully comprehensive insurance on all my vehicles going back to 1973. In that time I worked up to full no claims discount. In order to protect that discount I paid NCD protection payments. About four years ago I got rid of my last car and have not been insured for that time.

Today I am trying to get insurance for a car and, guess what? I no longer have any no claims discount - none! The insurance industry, you see, has a rule: If a person has not been insured for more than two years all their NCDs are declared null and void. The person to be insured is treated as a brand new driver. Years of accident free driving, which the industry knows about, count for nothing. Years of NCD protection payments count for nothing.

This action is, to me, exactly the same as the banks mis-selling PPI on loans. I was paying to have my NCDs protected when in fact they were not protected at all. I have had no protection from all the payments I made. I might as well have p155ed the money up against a wall.

According to my records Churchill had eleven years of these payments and yet their latest quote is one of the highest on the market!

Once I get the car insured later today I will be taking this up with my MP.

Really - that is terrible.... why should the fact that you haven't had insurance for the last four years count against you? I wonder if there's an Ombudsman that would get involved in this?

Blimey that's appalling!!

The Insurance Ombudsman, whilst sympathetic, informs me that they are acting within the law.

The Association of British Insurers is only interested in things from the industry point of view.

As far as the motor insurance industry is concerned I am a spotty 17 year-old who passed his test at 10:45 today. I have never driven before so could not possibly have accumulated any no-claims discounts, let alone pay to protect them.

That leaves me with my MP, and he is about to get an earful, and then some!

WM, when I retired, I had always had company cars and was in a similar position to you. However, I managed to persuade an insurance company to give me four years no claims bonus as I got a letter from my previous employers to say that I had not made a claim.
Did you arrange the insurance direct with the insurance company or did you go through a broker.
Suggest you write to the chairman of the insurance company giving the details of when your were insured with them and askinfg for some NCD even if it only two years.
Good luck

Cruiser, it is not a company thing, but an industry one - they are all in it together.

When I spoke to Churchill this morning I tried to get them to allow me a couple of years NDC as a goodwill gesture to a previous customer with a record with them as a long-term and careful driver; the answer was "No".

Frank - Do you still have any of their old insurance documents ?

It could be that they have by now deleted all records of you from their system,
so that they treat you as a completely new customer. If you can produce positive
proof in that form, you might stand a better chance.

John I spoke to them this morning and they are not interested. The rules are on their side.

I think that is utterly disgraceful

I haven't a clue but maybe a private insurance broker would be the answer
Anyway good luck