Buying a car is a one-time process, but car insurance is an annual affair. A car insurance policy is one of the most beneficial aspects of a vehicle that protects you from financial and legal hassles. But you always need to have your car insurance and renew it on time to save from undesirable events.
Renewal of your car insurance policy makes you spend some money on the premium amount, which seems unpleasant for one. However, you can get a discount on your car insurance premium in the form of NCB to reduce your burden.
There are three types of car insurance in India that you can buy to save from unplanned and unwelcome situations. But not every car insurance policy allows NCB to the policyholder at the time of renewal. You can only get it with a comprehensive or standalone own damage car insurance policy. However, if you have collected NCB but fail to renew your existing insurance even within 90 days of the policy expiration date, your unclaimed NCB will also lapse. So, to learn more about NCB and what will happen if your NCB is unclaimed, read this article till the end.
What is NCB in Car Insurance?
The word NCB stands for the term no-claim bonus. As the name suggests, a policyholder receives a bonus as a discount for not raising any claim. However, NCB is not allowed on every car insurance policy except standalone own damage and comprehensive car insurance. Car insurance companies incentivise or reward vehicle owners to drive their cars safely and follow all traffic rules and regulations.
This is a crucial bonus offered to a policyholder yearly who does not raise a claim on their insurance policy. NCB on car insurance is allowed at the policy renewal time, and the discount is based on the premium's percentage.
Moreover, the nature of NCB is accumulative, and if you go through many policy periods without filing any claim, you will get more discounts with every renewal.
NCB is considered the best car insurance feature due to its progressive nature. The NCB discount begins at 20% and increases with time. If you follow all rules and do not raise any car insurance claim for five consecutive years, you can get up to a 50% discount on the insurance premium at the time of renewal.
What Happens with Unclaimed NCB?
When a policyholder collects the NCB discount and the car insurance policy expires without the renewal, there is a few days break in period (grace period) allowed for the policyholder to renew their policy and avail of the perk of accumulated NCB discount.
However, if the policyholder can still not renew their car insurance within this period, s/he will lose the chance to avail of the advantage of the NCB, and the unclaimed no-claim bonus will end. So, always renew your insurance policy on time to avail your accumulated NCB.
Remember, NCB applies to policyholders and not vehicles. So, if a vehicle owner sells his car and has an unclaimed NCB, he can transfer his accumulated NCB discount to the new vehicle insurance. However, if a vehicle owner does not do this immediately, he can ask the company to offer him a preservation letter. That letter will entitle the policyholder to preserve the unclaimed NCB and will be valid for up to two years.
Read more - Let's Check the Benefits of No-claim Bonus Protection Add-on Cover in Car Insurance
Ways to Transfer No-claim Bonus
Since NCB car insurance is transferable, if you have collected your NCB discount and want to transfer it from your existing car insurance company to another, you can do it efficiently. You need to collect your NCB Certificate from your existing insurance provider.
Then, when you purchase a new car insurance policy from another insurer, you must submit the NCB certificate and other policy documents. After that, you can easily avail of the no-claim bonus reward in your new insurance policy and carry on to accumulate NCB.
Moreover, you can also transfer NCB if you switch your insurance provider.
How to Calculate NCB in Car Insurance?
This section will resolve your muddles if you're wondering about calculating the car insurance no-claim bonus. The insurance company estimates the NCB on the premium amount from the second year of the claim-less policy.
The percentage of NCB generally starts with a 20% discount after the first policy year and increases continuously for another four years, assuming no claim is made in each of these years. The following table will help you better understand the NCB discount slabs.
Read more - How to Calculate NCB for Car Insurance
| Claim-less Years | Discount Allowed |
| After completing 1 year | 20% |
| After 2 consecutive years | 25% |
| After 3 consecutive years | 35% |
| After 4 consecutive years | 45% |
| After 5 consecutive years | 50% |
Note - A single and the NCB will drop to zero.
Conclusion
No-claim bonus offers a policyholder an additional cushion. With NCB, you can get a bonus on driving your vehicle safely; you can save money and transfer it from one insurer to another. Moreover, you can also avail your accumulated NCB for a few days even after failing to renew your policy. Thus, these features of NCB make comprehensive car insurance most sought after among other insurance policies.
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