converting UK no claims bonus to the french system

[dave21478]

Hi,

I did a search but never found anything usefull. Im helping some friends get quotes for car insurance online but dont know how their bonus in years converts to the French system.

My broker can either do the calculation in her head or just plucks the figures from thin air, but is on holiday just now.

 

They have 8 years and 5 years UK bonus, what would this work out to?

 

Thanks.

 

[flunch]

8 and 5 equate to their maximum which is 3years.     34 years I had but it still equated to 3 --- their max.

[Bob T]

[quote user="memb"]8 and 5 equate to their maximum which is 3years.     34 years I had but it still equated to 3 --- their max.[/quote]

What?????

That answer means nothing. The max discount here in France is something like 12 or 13 years.

[dave21478]

Ok, I have been playing with the quote comparator on Assurland.com.

If I change the number of years licence held to 8 years then 5 years and state no accidents, I get 36% and 24% respectively. Sounds reasonable to me.

 

[Maricopa]

[quote user="Bob T"]
What?????
That answer means nothing. The max discount here in France is something like 12 or 13 years.
[/quote]

Quite right Bob, its 13 years. This equates to 50% NCB.

Unfortunately in the UK the max recorded is 9 years.  The trick is to get your UK insurer to state (on paper) that you are entitled to MAX no claims bonus, without quoting years, then to find an insurer that accepts this.[:D]

M

[Sunday Driver]

When I first insured my car here (MAAF), I produced my UK renewal notice which stated my NCB was 50%.  They asked me how long I'd had the insurance and I said since 1982 and they said, OK that's fine, and put my bonus/malus down at 50% as well.

I can recall previous threads on this same subject where UK NCB documentation has been somewhat incomplete but the French insurer has made a commercial decision and allowed the full bonus in order to obtain the business.

 

[cricri]

The French work on how many years you have been driving without causing an accident. You will need to get your UK insurance company to right this down for you and then present this to your French insurance company. Initially, to get you insured you will be charged the full un-discounted price, then when they receive the evidence for the no claims they say this will be deducted from next years premium. Just tell them you want the money now and you will get a cheque back in a few weeks. I think its around 14 years when you get the most NCB. By the way, the French only wanted the date when i was involved in an accident, not if you have to claim for the theft of a car. Our insurance bill halved when i gave them the NCB from the UK.

Hope this helps

[bigears]

hi

I had this problem for both my wife and I.  The problem is the uk insurance company can only say how long you have been claim free whilst with them.  Also there can be a conflict between your UK no claims bonus and length of time accident free. One company wanted a statement to say the number of years I had been accident free in the UK, it just would not accept my 'no claims bonus' statement.   It took a long time but I managed to find a company that just took our statements from our uk insurance company saying we had the maximum no claims discount and give us both 50% bonus for two individual policies.  It wasn't the cheapest company but it has established that we both have the maximum bonus in france, we could change to a more cost effective company later.  I also have full no claims bonus for the insurance on our uk based car.  You can get it sorted, so stick with it as insurance isn't cheap.

[Ron Avery]

SD wrote When I first insured my car here (MAAF), I produced my UK renewal notice which stated my NCB was 50%.  They asked me how long I'd had the insurance and I said since 1982 and they said, OK that's fine, and put my bonus/malus down at 50% as well.

Same here with Groupama.  All this 13 years proof of NCB is old hat and is about the time it takes to get back to paying a normal premium after a serious blameworthy accident.  They used to want the same period for UK drivers, but now accept a UK renewal letter giving existing level of NCB in the UK either % or years and over 3 years appears to get the 50% maximum.

But, don't just look at the premiums, look at the breakdown cvover, the arrangements for a replacement car, and how long you pay a higher premium if you have an accident and how fast it goes back toward "normal" year on year, that is why I moved from Groupama to CA.

There was a thread a while ago about one French insurer giving a protected NCB but that is in my experience rare, best bet is to take a walk into town and tout round the insurers like MAAF Groupam, CA, AXA etc with your paperwork and license. 

[Sunday Driver]

Last year, MAAF introduced a 'Bonus a Vie' for careful drivers - like me.......[8-|]

 

 

[Will]

The important point is that the systems of rewarding those who do not make a claim are totally different in the two countries, so it is very difficult to equate a no-claims bonus from Britain to a French bonus. So it is hardly surprising that there is variation between how different companies - indeed, different agents - work out what discount they can offer new clients from overseas.

Previous posters (apart from SD) seem to have overlooked the fact that in France there is a malus as well as a bonus, so you can still be made to pay more if you have made claims over incidents for which you were not directly responsible.