We’ve just discussed how ‘step back’ bonus protection works. Today, we shall now discuss the other form of protection for drivers which is full no claims bonus protection

While ‘step back’ bonus protection prevents drivers from losing all of their no claims discount following a claim, there is the option to have your no claims discount fully protected. Once a minimum of 5 years no claims discount (deemed the ‘maximum’ amount you can work up by most insurers) has been earned through good driving, you can choose to have your no claims discount fully protected.

This would mean that if you had to make a claim or have a claim against you, you won’t lose any of your built up no claims discount. There’s no doubting that full protection great to have, but it is important to be aware that the benefit is not the same with all insurers. For example, some insurers may have a set claims amount limit, have exclusions for certain types of claims or there could be a limit to the amount of claims that can be made in a certain period.

Normally, a driver would be allowed to make two claims within three years before, but this is not the same for all insurers. In cases where these criteria are exceeded, an insurer could apply the ‘step back’ terms meaning you would lose some of your no claims discount. If you are not a customer of ours, have a look at your policy document to get an idea of what you are covered for as well as exclusions set by your current insurer.

Despite this, we highly recommend drivers to have full no claims bonus protection added on to their policies. It only costs around 10% of the premium and provides broader protection that ‘step back’ cover. As brokers, we’ll also go through what each of our 14 insurance companies offer as standard on their full NCB protection as well so there’s no nasty surprises when you don’t need it!