How long does your no claims bonus last if you don’t have a car?

Motorists are very protective of their no claims bonuses, which can give them discounts of up to 60-80% on their car insurance premiums. You can readily transfer this no claims record between insurers and retain it when you buy a new car.

However, sometimes we have periods during which we don’t have car insurance in the UK. We may have sold our vehicle, stopped driving for financial or health reasons and procured a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) for our vehicle, or moved overseas. In these cases, how long will a no claims bonus last?

In many cases, when we resume driving and take out cover, our previous no claims bonus can be resurrected.

Insurers will typically honour an old no-claims discount, but only if it’s been two years or less since you last held car insurance. That grace period usually only lasts two years, although occasionally insurers will accept a gap of three years. 

But if you haven’t had car insurance in the UK for longer than two or three years, you usually can't restore your previous no claims discount and will have to begin accumulating a new claim-free streak.