# Bonus Protection/Step Back - worth it?



## gramlab (4 Apr 2006)

Renewing my car insurance this month. Most companies seem to quote the bonus protection as an option these days. Are they really worth getting as an extra considering the excesses, increase in premium, and the fact that you have to disclose any previous accidents if changing insurers in the future.


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## Ravima (4 Apr 2006)

the fully protected NCBis handy if you are unfortunate enough to have an accident. It's grand to say that you won't, but you might be unlucky. I think that the extra €25/30 is worthwhile. 

I accept that you might not be able to move to another insurer, but at least you are not paying the higher premium. If you consider that on a 50% NCB, your normal premium is halved and you only pay 50%. If you loose your NCB, you pay 100%, a doubling of the previous year.

protected NCB seems cheap to me


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## Budgie (5 Apr 2006)

Be wary! Think about it....

Once you are unlikely to move the insurer has you by the short and curlies.  Even with protected NCB, expect premium hikes as you are a captive customer.  

"Protected NCB" or other options are never cheap!


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## Humpback (5 Apr 2006)

Budgie said:
			
		

> Be wary! Think about it....
> 
> Once you are unlikely to move the insurer has you by the short and curlies. Even with protected NCB, expect premium hikes as you are a captive customer.


 
I would echo this given my own experience. Your problem, as I highlighted elsewhere here is that while you can say you still have an NCB you can't say that you haven't made claims, if you have had to make a claim.

However, when I renewed with my company, FBD, after having made the claim during the year, they were still the cheapest quote for me - down on previous year by about €100, and cheaper than most others by €200+ .

This was allowing for the fact that I indicated to other companies when looking for quotes that I hadn't made a claim, just to see what the comparison would have been.

So, while yes, you should be wary. It can have it's benefits too.


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## gramlab (6 Apr 2006)

Comments seem about right. Have my own protected at the moment and will probably opt for it again but was just wondering if anybody had a different slant on the whole thing.


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## tiger (6 Apr 2006)

My attitude to insurance is that you should only buy it when it's required (e.g. car insurance, life insurance for a mortgage etc.) or to cover an event that if it occured would destroy you financially.

Following that logic, I never go for the payment protection plans when I buy an item of consumer electronics (Not the end of the world if I lose my phone), similarly I view NCB protection as "insuring your insurance" and prefer to save my money.

I suspect similar to protection plans, there's a nice margin in NCB protection for the insurance companies.


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## Humpback (6 Apr 2006)

tiger said:
			
		

> Following that logic, I never go for the payment protection plans when I buy an item of consumer electronics (Not the end of the world if I lose my phone), similarly I view NCB protection as "insuring your insurance" and prefer to save my money.


 
I totally agree with you on the payment protection, however, there's a cost benefit to be worked out here.

Paying, as an example, €150 over 5 years to insure something costing €500 now, such as a piece of electronics is madness.

However, paying €60 with FBD for claims protection in a situation where you can save yourself, as I did, €1500 when I got my car repaired, is definitely worth while  - and will be for years to come as well.


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## tiger (6 Apr 2006)

ronan_d_john said:
			
		

> However, paying €60 with FBD for claims protection in a situation where you can save yourself, as I did, €1500 when I got my car repaired, is definitely worth while - and will be for years to come as well.


 
Sorry, does the insurance not pay for the €1500 repair?

The NCB protection protects against your premium going back up afterwards (not strictly true either, just the NCB % part of it?).


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