esure replaces no claim discount

Effective immediately, esure car insurance is replacing its standard no claim discount protection with 'protection for life' at no extra cost - giving drivers a guaranteed discount level regardless of any claims made throughout the life of their policy with the company.

According to research from the insurer, many drivers don't understand that paying to protect their valuable no claim discount comes with certain caveats and isn't as 'protected' as they might think. In fact, 37% of drivers aren't aware that there is usually a set limit to the number of claims they can make on their policy before their discount protection is overridden, reducing their no claim discount dramatically.

Insurers may allow no more than one 'at fault' claim in the first year and no more than two over three years, rather than unlimited claims. Unavoidable incidents can affect any driver at any time - no matter what their driving ability - such as vandalism, animal damage, car park scrapes, falling masonry or trees, and so on.

'Protection for life' on the other hand will give safe drivers peace of mind that an unfortunate incident on the road, as well as standard 'fault' accidents and thefts, will not cause them to exceed the limits of standard protection and so 'step down' the no claim discount scale, says the insurer.

This isn't just available to new customers - existing esure policyholders will benefit from this enhanced benefit. Indeed, every policyholder who has already opted for standard discount protection will automatically be upgraded to the new 'protection for life' cover.

Although it only costs motorists a small additional premium to protect their no claim discount, 38% of eligible drivers with over 4 years of claim free driving decide not to pay to protect it. These drivers are at risk of losing a proportion of the no claim discount that they've built up if they're unfortunate enough to incur an 'at fault' claim. In fact, 32% of eligible drivers have fallen into the 'it won't happen to me' trap and cite the fact that they've never had an accident so don't think it's worth paying for, as a reason for not protecting their valuable no claim discount. Yet many claims aren't related to driver ability at all and can't be avoided.

To help those drivers not yet eligible to protect their no claim discount who are building up their history of claim free driving, neither vandalism nor an accident with an uninsured driver - both relatively common claims - will result in a loss of a no claim discount with esure.

22 April 2008 © Moneyextra.com

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