i always use a comparison site..various companys will have introductory specials which are competitively priced..

i never go for the protected claims as that will only be effective if you stay with that particular company...

My wife and daughter both had "protected no claims" so yes the no claims discount was protected but as they both had accidents the basic policy for my wife went up a lot and again 15 minutes on the comparison sites being honest about the date and time of the claim got me a great price. Daughter wrote her car off and it was her fault and the company she had the "protected no claims" with wouldn't insure her (I don't blame them ) Geoff

I wouldn't agree about not taking a Protected NCB, but it does depend on your circumstances.

Obviously in moving to a new insurer, they won't care that the NCB was protected, they'll just want to know if you've had a claim. If you have, whether it was protected or not, you'll have to declare it and your premium will be impacted accordingly. However, that doesn't mean it was no use, as you will still be able to apply x number of years worth or no claims. If I do some simple quotes for my own circumstances below (all from Confused as of today):

No claims, 9yrs NCB - £495
Assume 1 non-fault claim occurred that removed my NCB entirely - £808
Same 1 claim as above, but my NCB had been protected - £539

So you can see that having a decent chunk of NCB is a much bigger risk factor impacting premium than claims history alone. I agree with Stan that any new insurer won't care whether or not it was protected, but as a result of being able to maintain those non-claim years, in my circumstances I'd be almost £300 better off for having it protected. Also worth pointing out that protecting the NCB costs me on average about £25 pa, so this would eat into the premium differences. Sorry to get too detailed, but it seemed like a point to clarify!

Thats good to hear, I always protect it - maybe I'm not wasting money  Geoff

Insured my 2002 TD6 with O2 for £145 full comp

I would just like to say thank you to all who have offered advice.

I've contacted NFU and waiting for them to call me back and downloaded the comparison information ready for the conversation.

I haven't bothered to call LRI, seems just a waste of my time as well as theirs.

Ill update when it's all sorted out. Thanks again gentlemen.

One other contributory issue is that different postcode areas can be risk rated differently by different insurance companies.
Here is a rough guide: http://www.motorcarinsuranceuk.co.uk/post-code-ratings.php#P

I live in an F* risk area. Which is exactly what I say when I see my renewal each year, so it’s very apt.

Definitely true that your postcode is a key risk factor, but it tends to get ignored because you can't reasonably do anything about it to lower the premium. So many factors make up the final price, that it's always best to tweak one factor at a time, if the price goes down, edit your quote and change something else. If it didn't go down, go back and start again.

People don't realise that even things such as your job title has a huge impact, so always worth trying a couple of others, as long as it could still be argued that what you're putting in is accurate. Moneysavingexpert has a great tool to show the differences - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insuranc...ob-picker/

For example, in sorting my wife's insurance, Nurse is about £30 more expensive than Staff Nurse. Both are true, so take the lower one.

Also don't forget us as site sponsor you get club discounts and as a broker we use a panel of about 40 insurers many of whom are broker only so won't appear on comparison sites or be directly contactable as a client.

You'll need to call us here in Thatcham if you would like us to take a look for you - it's 01635 874646 - as we support the club and have the specialist 4x4 schemes and modified policy deals.

If you have any questions, as always you are welcome to pm me
Carlie A-Plan Insurance | Specialist Vehicle
Call us on 01635 874646 for a quotation Click Here

Having got a renewal quote that was too high from my existing insurer, I contacted A-Plan and have gone with them. Saved a few quid and what a nice bunch of people to deal with. Great service!  SDV8 AB MY 2019
SDV8 VSE MY 2015 - Gone
5.0 S/C AB MY 2010 - Gone
4.2 S/C VSE MY 2006 - Gone

Thanks AndyB!

We only employ nice people  A-Plan Insurance | Specialist Vehicle
Call us on 01635 874646 for a quotation Click Here

I once had a protected NCB with Directline and invoked it when I wrote off a car some years ago.
What they don’t tell you is that, yes they do protect your NCB but they loaded my premium by factor of 3, maybe 4, so they end result was a huge increase in my premium, even with a protected NCB. Got - 2017 SDV8 Autobiography in Loire Blue
Had- 2008 TDV8 Vogue SE in Java black
Had - 2007 S/C in Stornoway Grey

They do tell you that though, obviously. Usually people saying that insurance companies don't tell you stuff means that they didn't read their policy. If they really didn't tell you, complaints procedure, FOS, money back.

As I showed with the calculations above, on the open market, still having your NCD is significantly more valuable than the premium increase from the incident. The quote from your existing insurer is almost irrelevant, they'd previously priced you as a good risk, now they don't, they don't want your business anymore so jack the premium up to prohibitive levels.

Almost without exception you're far better off having it protected when you have an accident. It's each to their own on this stuff, but the numbers don't lie

I use A plan for one of my current private cars and have to say they are very good

I used them again this year as they were again, very comparable

My Insurance is now sorted.

Once again I would like to thank everyone for their relevant and very useful contributions.

After further comparison checks and a bit of too and froing with NFU I have gone with NFU.

They came in at £741 which includes business cover which is £116, give or take a few pence, more expensive than the other cheapest company offering very similar same cover. However, NFU had two big advantages:

The first is financial. They provide a brand new vehicle replacement in the event of mine being stolen or written off. As far as I have seen they are the only company that provide this cover for a vehicle which is under 24months old. I have only seen (I'm sure someone will correct me) this cover for vehicles up to 12 months old. IMHO this alone is worth more than £116.

The second is more tangible and 'feeling' that has also been aired by others. I have spoken to a real person who sits in an office that is no more than 15 miles from where I live. We had an open discussion and then messed around with options and my complicated employment function description to come up with the right cover for the best price they could offer. The lady did what she said she would do, when she said she would do it, and came back to me when she said she would. That alone has a value that you can't calculate to an actual monetary value. I can't fault the service so far, although I am fully aware this is the sales phase of the arrangement. Also worth mentioning is they do not make any administration charges for any changes you might make to the policy during the term which in my case might be important.

I'm happy enough with the outcome and hopefully I won't need to test how they deal with a claim.

Thank you again everyone for your input.