No Claim Discount Protection

The no claim discount protection allows you to protect your no claim discount on your car insurancepremium. A no claim discount is a discount on your car insurance premium and is calculated on the number of years driving without making a claim. Your no claim discount can also be known as a no claim bonus but will depend on the insurance company and what they refer to it as.

The way that the no claims discount protection works is that for each year you don't make a claim, your no claim discount will increase, with the maximum discount of rating 1 or 60 percent.

What this means is that if you make a claim as a result of an accident where you were at fault, your no-claim bonus will basically renew itself so you essentially start from the beginning.

But you can protect your no claim discount by including the no claim discount protection on your car insurance policy. This protection allows you to make a certain amount of claims within a certain period of time without your rating being affected.

Most car insurance companiesgive you the option of protecting your rating. Be aware however that to include this on your policy you may have to pay extra, but it may be worth it.

For example, Virgin Money offers their no claim discount protection to customers with top level or rating 1 no claim discounts (as at October 2010). By having this protection policy holders can make a maximum of two car insurance claims over three years, with one claim per 12-month policy, or up to two claims over three years without it affecting their rating.

They also state they if you don't make a claim for two consecutive years that they will offer you a rating 1 for life, meaning any claims you make thereafter won't affect your no claim discount protection.

Obviously what each car insurer offers and the terms and conditions may be different, so compare car insurance quotesonline to find one that offers you the right level of cover and protection.