I drive a company car and my wife drives her own car which is insured in her name and has been for several years.

In the past few days I have taken a courtesy call from my wife's car insurance company asking to speak to her when she was out plus an unsolicited e-mail. When I took the first call, I asked what was the reason for the call to be told it was a courtesy call (call me cynical but there is no such thing as a courtesy call.)

They managed to speak to my wife today and after a few minutes, my wife handed the phone to me. The conversation went something like:

Ins company: We're discussing protection. Me: Check the policy, we have protected no claims bonus. Ins Company: I am talking about protected excess, in the event of an accident or claim, you don't have to pay the excess as it can be protected for £9 per year. The excess on the policy is £100 and the Insurance Company was puzzled why we refused their offer.

In my opinion, when protected no claims came in several years ago, it was initially seen as a gimmick but now most people seem to have it, could protected excess be the next way of squeezing more money out of the motorist?