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16 Feb 2024

Best car insurance for no-claims discounts

We reveal top insurers and policies if you're looking for a no-claims discount or bonus – and explain whether to pay for NCD protection

Dean SobersSenior researcher & writer

In this article

What is a 'no-claims' discount or bonus?
Best car insurance policies for no-claims discounts and bonuses
Best insurers for no-claims discounts and bonuses compared
What is a no-claims discount or bonus worth?
How can a claim affect my no-claims discount or bonus?
A big NCD is great – but don't ignore the premium
More on no-claims discounts and bonuses
How we analyse no-claims discounts

What is a 'no-claims' discount or bonus?

A no-claims discount (NCD) – also known as a no-claims bonus – is a percentage discount that your insurer shaves off your insurance premium to reward you for not having made a car insurance claim in the previous year.

So if, for example, you had a no-claims discount of 30%, you'd pay £700 where you would otherwise have paid £1,000.

For each consecutive year that you don't make any claims, the discount increases. So your insurer might award you 30% for one year without claims, but five claims-free years under your belt might net you 60%.

We've picked out the insurers with the biggest and smallest no-claims discounts – read on to find which ones they are.

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Best car insurance policies for no-claims discounts and bonuses

Aviva Car Insurance

Policy score: 74%, 6th of 61 policies reviewed
Customer score: 68% - 4th of 27 providers compared
Claims score: 66% - joint 9th of 25 insurers reviewed

We like: Unlike the legal cover in most policies, Aviva's can pay for defence costs if you're prosecuted for a motor offence committed by someone who's cloned your licence plates.

We don't like: A big admin fee (£43) if you change your mind and cancel during the cooling off-period.

Read our expert review of Aviva car insurance.

Saga Plus

Policy score: 83% - 1st of 61 policies reviewed
Customer score: 65% - joint 7th of 27 insurers rated
Claims score: 62% - joint 17th among 25 providers

We like: A 'fixed price promise' – which freezes your premium for three years unless you make a claim or your level of risk significantly changes.

We don't like: Only the main driver can earn NCD on the policy. With some policies, named drivers can separately build their own discounts.

Read our expert review of Saga car insurance.

InsurePink car insurance

Policy score: 67% - joint 21st of 61 policies compared

We like: Low compulsory excesses (£45) payable in fire, theft and accidental damage claims.

We don't like: No cover for misfuelling (damage caused by putting the wrong fuel in the tank).

Find out more: the best car insurance providers in the UK

Best insurers for no-claims discounts and bonuses compared

To come up with our no-claims discount score, we've compared eight features of how the insurers' no-claims discount schemes work.

This included which kinds of incident will and won't affect your hard-earned discount, and how many claims can be 'protected' with the insurer's 'no-claims discount protection' (we explain how this works below).

Best insurers for no-claims discounts

Top-rated insurers


Aviva Car Insurance	75%	1 claim in 1 year / 2 claims in 3 years	No	No	No	Varies by underwriter
Saga Plus	75%	2 claims in 3 years	No	No	No	4 years
insurePink car insurance	75%	2 claims in 3 years	No	No	Yes	9 years
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER NFU Mutual Car insurance	74%	2 claims in 3 years	No	Yes	Yes - can be reinstated	7 years
Sheilas' Wheels Car Insurance	73%	Unlimited	No	No	Yes - can be reinstated	20 years
esure Car Insurance	73%	Unlimited	No	No	Yes - can be reinstated	20 years
Saga Select	73%	2 claims in 3 years	No	No	Yes - can be reinstated	4 years

Table notes: We examined the no-claims discount (NCD) policies provided by different insurers – comparing the number of years it takes to earn the insurer's maximum discount, the number of claims covered by no-claims discount protection and whether your NCD would be reduced in various claims scenarios. The higher the NCD score, the more generous the policy's NCD scheme. Table correct as of February 2024. Read more about the NCD score.

What is a no-claims discount or bonus worth?

By itself, a no-claims discount doesn't really tell you how much you'll pay – you need to know what the premium is to work out how much of a saving it represents.

Suppose there are two insurers. Both have a base premium of £1,000, to which the discount is applied. With insurer A, your no-claims discount is 75%, and with Insurer B, 60%. In this case, insurer A is clearly the cheapest.

But when the base premiums are different – as they're likely to be in the real world – the comparison changes. If insurer A's base premium is £1,500 and Insurer B's, £900, for instance – then Insurer B is cheaper.

	Insurer A	Insurer B
No-claims discount	75%	60%
Base premium	£1,000	£1,000
Premium with discount	£250	£400
Base premium	£1,500	£900
Premium with discount	£375	£360

Some insurers will make a point of awarding generous no-claims discounts in their marketing, but it's important to compare the final quote – with any discounts included – to determine which is the best deal. Read our guide on how to find an insurer with a lower premium.

The reason it's worth keeping your no-claims discount in mind is that you can lose it if you make a claim, meaning you'll pay higher premiums than you would have otherwise.

How can a claim affect my no-claims discount or bonus?

If you make a car insurance claim, you may lose some of your no-claims discount, according to where you are on the insurer's 'step-back' scale.

Insurers have different step-back scales, and the amount of discount you lose can depend on the scale and the number of claims made.

As one example, suppose you start your policy with five years' NCD under your belt (for the sake of this example, a reduction of 50%).

If you go a further year without claiming, your NCD notches up to six years and a discount entitlement of 60%.
But claim once, and your NCD is reduced to three years – entitling you to a 40% discount. This means you'll have to spend two years paying extra premiums because of lost discount.
Claim twice in that year, and you'll lose even more discount – and will need to spend more time recovering it.

A big NCD is great – but don't ignore the premium

Dean Sobers, Which? car insurance expert, says:

'One misconception held about no-claims discounts is that if you keep or improve a good NCD through years of claims-free driving, your premiums won't go up. Sadly, this isn't the case.

'Your underlying premium can change from year to year even if the discount stays constant. And that underlying premium can be affected by factors entirely unrelated to your driving record – such as general trends in crime levels in your area and the costs of repairing cars .

'There's still value in maintaining a good NCD, though. And there are other factors that differentiate between providers beyond percentage discounts. With some, you'll stand to lose some of your NCD if you claim for things that weren't your fault but where your insurer couldn't recover its costs – for example, if your car was vandalised, or you were in an accident caused by an uninsured driver.

'Check to see how generous your insurer's no-claims discount policy is. Some draw attention to it in their marketing (for example a 'claims promise') but you should be able to find the details itemised in the policy wording.'

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More on no-claims discounts and bonuses

As you build up more claims-free years, you progress along a no-claims bonus scale.

Eventually, you'll reach the number of claims-free years required to net the maximum discount your insurer will offer.

Each insurer's no-claims bonus scheme is different – from the size of the discounts to the number of claims-free years it takes to achieve them.

Maximum discounts on offer vary considerably – as low as 24% to as high as 80%. Likewise, the number of claims-free years you need before you're at the top of the scale ranges from around four to 20 years.

There are certain types of claim that won't erode your no-claims bonus. Generally, insurers will leave your no-claims bonus alone if your claim was not a 'fault' claim.

This means they were able to recover their repair costs in full from the party at fault. Similarly, many insurers will disregard non-fault claims where the other driver was uninsured.

It's also quite common for insurers to make exceptions with claims for glass damage.

A lot of these details are hidden away in the T&Cs – but our tables above give an indication of how insurers compare.

Yes. When you apply for car insurance, the insurer will ask and check how much no-claims bonus you're entitled to.

In some cases, you'll be asked to supply evidence from your previous insurer to back this up. This allows you to carry over the benefits of your accumulated claims record without having to start from scratch each time you switch insurer.

You won't always see perfect continuity, though, as insurers each have their own no-claims bonus schemes and will apply their own rules.

For example, some insurers may not recognise no-claims bonus you've accrued as a named driver on someone else's policy, and if you haven't been insured for a few years, the previous no-claims bonus will lapse.

Find out more: How to find cheap car insurance

In many cases, you won't be asked for proof of your no-claims bonus. But you should always assume that you will be and have it in order.

Insurers will often check online databases first to corroborate the no-claims bonus entitlement you've stated in your application.

Your no-claims bonus should also be stated in your paperwork from the insurer you're leaving.

Where this isn't available, you can write to your insurer and ask it to supply you with a letter detailing your number of claim-free years.

No-claims bonus protection is an added extra that you can buy with your insurance.

It will prevent a limited number of claims (two or three claims over a three-year period is common) from having an impact on your no-claims bonus.

No-claims bonus protection will certainly save you money if you make a claim. However, you'll need to pay extra for it (around £60 is fairly typical), so its value depends on how much discount you'd stand to lose by claiming.

Insurers don't make this easy to find out – but they do have to show how much discount, on average, their customers were awarded for each year of no claims.

So this should give you a starting point in working out whether to pay for no-claims bonus protection.

As a general rule of thumb, the bigger your no-claims bonus the more you stand to lose through making a claim, and therefore the greater the value of the protection.

A fairly common misconception about bonus protection is that it stops your premiums from rising because of a claim.

Unfortunately, this isn't true. If you make a claim and, as a result, the insurer thinks you're more likely to make future claims, it will increase your premium. After this, it will apply whatever discount you have.

So, suppose your discount is 60% and you're paying £400 instead of the base premium of £1,000. Then you make a claim – but it's protected under the added extra you've paid for.

At the next renewal, your insurer could then increase that base premium to £1,300. With the same 60% discount in place, you'd now be paying £520.

How we analyse no-claims discounts

Our editorial independence means we are able to work on behalf of consumers, not insurers. That means our reviews are fair and there's no hidden agenda.

To calculate our NCD score, we look at the eight features listed below and score each individually. The NCD score reflects the policy's total points – across all eight NCD areas – as a percentage of the highest score possible.

The number of years it takes to build up the policy's maximum no-claims discount
If named drivers other than the main driver can earn their own no-claims discount
If no-claims discount protection (NCDP) is offered
How many claims per year are protected by the policy's NCDP.

We also looked at whether your NCD would be affected in the following scenarios:

An incident where fault has been accepted by an insured third party, but where your insurer is still in the process of recovering its costs
An incident that wasn't your fault, but where the third party was uninsured
Your car is damaged in a malicious and deliberate act, such as vandalism
Your car is hit while parked.