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Experts Reveal That Adding a Named Driver to Your Annual Policy Could Put Your No Claims Discount at Risk

Experts Reveal That Adding a Named Driver to Your Annual Policy Could Put Your No Claims Discount at Risk

DNNS Jan 30, 2023 0

While the possibility of being added as a named driver to someone else’s annual policy has its perks, not many are aware of the fact that if the named driver takes part in an accident. “The policyholder’s no claims discount could be at risk”, explain temporary car insurance experts at GoShorty.

A no claims discount reduces the price of your car insurance if you don’t make a claim. This accumulates every year you don’t make a claim, and if you don’t make a claim for five years you could even earn as much as 60% off on insurance costs. As soon as you make a claim, if you were at fault, you could use some of the discount, if not all of it.

Andy Moody, Director at GoShorty, says: “What many don’t take into account is the fact that this discount can be put at risk by adding a named driver to your policy. If, for instance, the policyholder has accumulated a no claims discount history over the years, they will be the ones losing it in the case of an accident, even if the named driver was the one driving at the time of the crash. Future premiums on the policyholder’s policy might also be affected, while the named driver’s no claim discount would not be affected, nor would the premiums on their future policy.”

To get a better sense of people’s knowledge about the risks of adding a named driver to

one’s car policy, we decided to look at people’s individual experience with this.

Of the people we asked, most were aware of the fact that adding someone as a named driver can put your no claims discount at risk. However, nobody knew that adding a named driver can also result in the increase of future premiums for the policyholder, even after the named driver has been removed from the policy.

Emily, from Loughborough, shared her experience with us:

“My partner, who was a named driver on my policy, crashed and wrote off my car in a faulty accident. Unfortunately, this meant I lost over half of my no-claims discount as it was reduced from 5 years to 2 years. And before this happened I hadn’t realised my no-claims could be affected so much.”

With approximately 126,247 road accidents being registered in the UK every year, it is not advisable to leave your no claims discount up to chance by adding a named driver to it, except if absolutely necessary. If another driver needs access to your vehicle, a good alternative to consider is temporary car insurance. This option will not only keep your no claims discount safe, but it will also avoid the administration fees that you’d have to pay when adding someone to your car insurance policy.

“It will allow you to share the driving between you and others, and also will enable you to borrow and legally drive cars during short periods if you do not have one yourself, giving you monthly, daily or even hourly cover”, Andy Moody adds.

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