Is There a Max No Claims Bonus I Can Earn on Motor Trade?

Most competent drivers may go years without having to make a claim on their insurance policy, or at least one that could affect their No Claims Discount, also called a No Claims Bonus, which means some motor traders may have several years of claims free driving built up.

Many people may also have their Motor Trade No Claims Discount protected too, but just how many years of claims free driving actually counts towards a discount on your policy? Well, like many aspects of a Trade Car insurance policy it can, and does, differ from insurer to insurer. For many of the Motor Trade insurers that we at Think Insurance work with, it can be up to and beyond 10 years, though it’s usually four, five, or sometimes seven years.

For many insurers the discount applied to your insurance policy for having several years of No Claims Discount may be capped, but your years of claims free driving could rise. Therefore if you were to change insurer you might benefit from a rise in the potential discount you are eligible for, depending on the insurer. For example; if you have a Car Jockey insurance policy with nine years discount, but your current insurer only offers a discount on your premium for five years, you could receive a bigger discount by moving to a Trade insurer that offers a discount on 10 years claims free driving.

In this hypothetical scenario you may end up with a bigger discount, but it doesn’t mean your insurance costs will go down, and you should always choose the best Motor Trade insurance policy available to you – not the cheapest.

In a different scenario you might move insurers going the opposite way, for example you may have a Valeters insurance policy with seven years No Claims Discount built up, and could move to an insurer that only recognises five years of that discount, which would mean you would end up losing two years No Claims Discount without actually claiming.

How Do You Build Up No Claims Discount?

The only way to build up your No Claims Discount on your Motor Trade insurance policy is to not have any claims, but this can change depending on the basic level of cover you have, as follows:

Third Party Only – Being involved in an accident where you are found to be the guilty party will impact your NCD.

Third Party, Fire & Theft – In addition to Third Party Only (above), making a claim for damage to your vehicle through fire or claiming for theft of your vehicle will have an impact.

Comprehensive – All of the above, in addition to claiming for your own vehicle if you are the guilty party in an accident.

What Happens If I Claim on a Motor Trade Combined Policy?

If you have a Combined Motor Trade insurance policy, the things that are insured will be separated into two separate categories; Road Risk, which covers the driving aspect of your insurance policy and works in a similar way to a regular Car insurance policy, and Contents, which includes things such as Tools & Machinery cover for Motor Traders, and all your Liability insurance products such as Public Liability insurance.

In the event that you need to claim under the Tools & Machinery cover aspect of the Contents part of your Combined policy, due to a break in at your premises, then that wouldn’t have an effect on your Road Risk and therefore would not affect your No Claims Discount.