Hi John,
Went throught the same thing recently, looking at getting a 2nd car as a run around for the weekends and assumed I could apply my 8 years no claims to the new vehicle, but to my amazement you can only apply no claims to one vehicle at a time!
This means the insurance on the new vehicle is far more expensive, which if you ask me is a bit of a con as your driving experience is exactly the same regardless of which car you earned the no claims on.