Anyone heard of this before ?

[Neil W]

We own three cars , all on separate policies (one in my name and the other two in my wife's name ) , last year at renewal time we transferred two of the vehicles policies over to Aviva due to their decent level of cover and price. Both cars had protected NCB and my car had full 9 years plus NCB whist the wife's car also had 9 years plus although she did have a claim about 5 years ago .

So no issues with them but the Audi which has been with Halifax for years (again with full protected NCB and 30 years plus NCB) , this year the premium was ridiculous so we got a quote from Aviva which was on par with last years premiums . Quote from Aviva was reasonable with no issues and as it is due to start in early January she went ahead with the new policy .

Policy documentation turns up by post yesterday and on checking it Aviva have only allowed her 3 years NCB , so she contacted them and they have turned around to say that if a person already has a policy with them that they do not allow them full NCB on both policies and it will stay at 3 years maximum on the second policy.

This had never been mentioned at any stage prior to receiving the document pack and I am not happy as I reckon the policy has been miss sold , we can obviously cancel the Aviva cover and shop around but as the renewal date is only 5 days away the online renewal quotes have gone through the roof .

Any thoughts as to next course of action as I am not happy about her losing so many year NCB ?

 

[wessie]

No, not heard of it but when I had 3 vehicles, 2 bikes and a car, they were all with different brokers but sometimes the same underwriter.

If the premium with Aviva is satisfactory, what is the problem? Presumably other policies that met your criteria were dearer on the day you had the quote?

NCD is largely a load of bollocks. NCD protection is a huge money making scam. The main reason the Aviva quote was lowest on that day was their desperation to make a sale was higher than competitors. Aviva are unlikely to be best value next year so you can bin them then rather than face additional cost now due to getting a quote near renewal time, with the latter never being a good thing.

You should get a proof of NCD from Halifax, probably on the renewal notice and can use this to challenge any perceived injustice on the next renewal.

 

[Wapping]

You are happy with the premium charged? Yes.

Does it really matter if one of the vehicles has one year’s NCB, 10, 50, 100 or none?

The whole NCB thing is a nonsense and should have been scrapped years ago.

 

[Neil W]

You are happy with the premium charged? Yes.

Does it really matter if one of the vehicles has one year’s NCB, 10, 50, 100 or none?

The whole NCB thing is a nonsense and should have been scrapped years ago.

They have given us that policy price and the quote was given for a driver with a policy that had over 9 years of NCB , not zero NCB or 3 years NCB .

Which means that if we decide to renew with them next year or go to another company they will not be quoting for maximum NCB , the quote and price we will get will be based on having a maximum of 4 years NCB.

I am more annoyed that the maximum 3 year NCB was never mentioned by Aviva at any stage until they sent the documentation and was only picked up on when I read the docs , which most do not bother with .

We will ring them tomorrow and if they are sticking to this "company policy" I will be cancelling the policy prior to it starting and going elsewhere and they will be losing the business on the other cars when renewal time comes around iA/

 

[wessie]

Any thoughts as to next course of action as I am not happy about her losing so many year NCB ?

not sure why you asked this

We will ring them tomorrow and if they are sticking to this "company policy" I will be cancelling the policy prior to it starting and going elsewhere and they will be losing the business on the other cars when renewal time comes around iA/

when it seems you already had the answer

it is unlikely a call centre duty person will resolve the matter on new year's eve, if they are open at all

in such matters it usually takes a few rounds of escalation before someone is senior enough to admit that either the policy is a crock of shit or the most likely candidate, some underling is trying to cover up an administrative cock-up by trotting out an imaginary policy in the hope you go away.

Seems like you will be going away and incurring additional cost due to a higher premium.

I would like to suggest an alternative action. Accept the policy terms for now, thus getting the best premium with a usually reliable underwriter. Then raise a formal complaint in writing, asking to see a copy of said policy and, if it really exists, ask them to clarify the legitimacy of this policy. If they claim it is legitimate, I would suggest to them that a conversation with the ombudsman might be an option you are willing to take. I would not enter into a pointless conversation with people who read answers from their screens provided by AI.

Hopefully the matter will be resolved to your satisfaction and you can have that pointless NCD label back before next renewal. If they do not play ball you can seek revenge by seeking alternative insurers for your vehicles in 2026.

Teaching them the error of their ways will take a bit of your time and be much more satisfying than your recalcitrance, where this will give you a short rush of petulant angst, and cost you some extra cash.

 

[squid]

Do not accept,

You may find you cannot go back to your rightful ncb if the following years quote goes up. Certainly after 2 years they are gone and often your ncb is dependant on the last insurer issuing them.

I have had 3 cars on a multi policy before with no limit on the ncb

Sounds like typical shitty treatment in order to hold you in a headlock the following year.

Insurers are wankers, never trust them.

 

[Wapping]

For a long time (you can find posts on it on UKGSer) some insurers were not applying any NCB to the second or third vehicle on a policy. They simply applied the maximum NCB percentage discount to the most expensive (ie highest premium) vehicle on the schedule.

All that seems to have perhaps happened to the OP’s wife is that Aviva have applied the maximum percentage discount to (I can only assume) the most expensive vehicle and three years (as opposed to zero) to the second. Despite this, the overall total premium charged was acceptable and competitive versus the alternative.

As a bit of fun, let’s do some imaginary maths:

Base Premium £111 less 10% (for three years NCB) = £100

Base Premium £125 less 20% discount (for nine years NCB) = £100

In short, the insurer wants £100 to insure the vehicle. The insurer can move the base premium up and down as much as they like. Insurers should stop all the NCB nonsense, not least as it’s a very outdated concept. They should just offer a premium and tolerate (or not) a bit of haggling around it. Life for everyone would be much simpler.

Most domestic insurers allow a 14 day cooling off period. By all means call Aviva (or whoever it was who sold the Aviva policy) and talk to them. Maybe they did make a mistake? Maybe they didn’t? Maybe you misheard or didn’t listen to the calculation they gave, assuming they even gave one? Who knows? You were happy with the premium but then became unhappy. You have the right to question them, use it.




PS This sentence is odd…. Nine years plus of NCB (presumably meaning ‘clean’) but there’s apparently a claim about five years ago:

whist the wife's car also had 9 years plus although she did have a claim about 5 years ago .

 

[squid]

Probably paid the extra for protected NCB or it was a no fault claim.

Either way, if you have NCB don't let the twats take it off you.

At min request in writing that your full ncb will be retained after the policy expires.

 

[Guru Gora]

As Wapping.

The whole NCD thing is a clusterfuck.

They should just need to know your claim history and work from there.

NCD is irrelevant, only the premium matters.

 

[Wapping]

Probably paid the extra for protected NCB or it was a no fault claim.

Either way, if you have NCB don't let the twats take it off you.

At min request in writing that your full ncb will be retained after the policy expires.

I don’t think there’s suggestion that “It’’s been taken off her”.

On my reading of the opening post, there are two policies. One with the credit of the long NCB, the second with a lesser credit. It seems as simple as that. In other words, all Aviva seem to have done is said: “We know you have nine years of NCB, we’ve already credited that to your first policy. For the second policy, we are only prepared to credit you with three years”. Who knows, if she takes out a third policy, the credit might be zero.

The woman can prove her complete nine years NCB (the claim during the nine year period remains a mystery) as and when she comes to renew in 2026. Or she can tell Aviva to go do one…. Or Aviva might say, they’ve made a simple mistake… or Aviva might give her £10 just to stop the phone ringing.

I had a multi-vehicle policy with Aviva. If I bought or sold a car during the year, the full NCB credit used to move around, always attached to the vehicle with the highest premium. The lesser premium vehicles, had a lower credit. I didn’t care too much, as all I was interested in was the total premium spend; how it was arrived at was of no interest at all. Aviva could have used my telephone number or shoe size, for all I cared. All I then had to do was compare Aviva’s total price with an offer from say NFU, Hiscox or the Iran Iraq Friendly Mutual. If Aviva were competitive, then I went with them. If they weren’t, I went with another insurer.

I only gave up with Aviva when they refused point blank to insure my 360 when it went into secure storage. An odd decision, when they’d been quite happy to insure the car when it’s sitting outside on the road all day.

 

[Neil W]

Okay so we get back in touch with Aviva today , her first policy she took out with them was in October 2024 on her Golf and she went into that with 9 years plus NCB (despite the single claim), she changed the vehicle on the policy in early 2025 and subsequently renewed that policy again with Aviva in October 2025 , so a policy with full 9 years plus NCB

The second policy she runs is on an Audi A3 which she has owned for 10 years and carries the full NCB which she has carried over from previous vehicles over the past 40 years (no claims made on any policy in that time), when she took out the policy on the Audi with Aviva on this second car they were told she had 9 years plus NCB on this policy and they gave her a price which she agreed to .

The point is that when the document pack arrived they had stated that she only had 3 years allowed NCB and when this was questioned it was then that she was informed that it is a policy with Aviva that even if you take out two separate policies with them and both of them already have full NCB when you take out the policies they will only give you a maximum 3 years NCB on the second policy .

Gets interesting today when she gets back in touch with Aviva to say that she is not happy with this and will be cancelling the new policy on the Audi (it does not start until the first week of January) and going elsewhere , they begin back pedalling claiming that they had no idea that she had full NCB on the Audi Policy accrued over 30 plus years and that they had given her a courtesy 3 years NCB on the new policy as she was already a current customer ???

This was after forwarding them proof of NCB from her previous policy with Halifax which they had accepted.

So she asks them about the previously quoted Aviva policy of not allowing full NCB on two independent policies taken out with them by the same person on two different vehicles , Aviva now claim that this policy does not now or has ever existed and have recognised the full NCB on the second car .

As for anyone who says NCB makes no difference to your premiums at renewal time they did a recalculation of the premium including maximum NCB and it dropped by £60.

All I can think of is they had a trainee chimp manning the phones when she took out the policy who completely f*cked up the quote and then when she subsequently queried the loss of NCB it was just a complete lying cnut that dealt with the query and made up their answer

All sorted now BUT come renewal time they will be losing 3 lots of business .

Moral of the story is check any documentation you receive after taking out a policy because as I've heard on this site ALL insurers are a bunch of .............. !

 

[wessie]

I shall award myself a coconut. Human fuck up followed by a cover up.

All will be better when the incompetent and deceitful humans at Aviva are replaced by robots.

I renewed my insurance a few days ago. Changed from Post Office to Saga. Saga didn't need any proof of NCD. No human interaction needed, their robot checked the MIB and DVLA databases to get my insurance and driving history.

 

[GSite]

You are happy with the premium charged? Yes.

Does it really matter if one of the vehicles has one year’s NCB, 10, 50, 100 or none?

The whole NCB thing is a nonsense and should have been scrapped years ago.

Agreed, NCB is a load of tosh, but you have to play the game sadly. It does make a difference in the event that the OP gets quotes from other companies based on three rather than five years NCB, I would suggest that overall the prices will be lower for the latter.

The chances are that Aviva have offered a second car discount and hence the three year NCB seems reasonable, but take that to another company and the difference becomes more significant.

Further, if there should be claim, NCB will be protected if renewing with Aviva, but if taken elsewhere will revert two years which again makes a difference when the OP would decalre either one or three years NCB.

 

[Riktus]

Is the policy a consumer policy or a commercial policy (in personal name or in business name) if in personal then if they dont award you full NCD at the end of the policy (keep your documents from NCD from the original Halifax renewal) then you can make a complaint which will have to be dealt with within 3 days. If they uphold your complaint you would get a letter explaining that you do indeed have full NCD with not recorded accidents or Claims thereby giving you full NCD for your next insurer to take into account.
If not as a personal policy (consumer) you have a "right to be treated fairly" and because you can prove "customer detriment" you can take the case to the Financial Ombudsman (which will cost your current insurer approx £650 so they are much more likely to write you the letter rather than have the cost to be TOLD to write the letter)

 

[Neil W]

Is the policy a consumer policy or a commercial policy (in personal name or in business name) if in personal then if they dont award you full NCD at the end of the policy (keep your documents from NCD from the original Halifax renewal) then you can make a complaint which will have to be dealt with within 3 days. If they uphold your complaint you would get a letter explaining that you do indeed have full NCD with not recorded accidents or Claims thereby giving you full NCD for your next insurer to take into account.
If not as a personal policy (consumer) you have a "right to be treated fairly" and because you can prove "customer detriment" you can take the case to the Financial Ombudsman (which will cost your current insurer approx £650 so they are much more likely to write you the letter rather than have the cost to be TOLD to write the letter)

All three car policies we have are personal ones ,sorted now but dealing with insurers is a PITA .
Currently having issues with pet insurer for our GSD , they will take the money but so far with the claim they have failed to stump up £1400