paxo39:
You should not be able to change Insurers whilst you still have an outstanding claim. As soon as you advise any Insurer that a claim is outstanding, they will not quote. This is on the basis that Insurers do not know what the outcome of the claim will be.
NCD can be built up against each car on separate policies, but of course under each policy, you are still being risk assessed each time a policy is due for renewal. If you have had an accident (fault or non fault),whether you like it or not, the Insurers will assess you as being more of a risk than you were before the accident. This is down to statistics, that once you have had an accident, you are more likely to have another. The saying, 'bad things come in threes', comes to mind. When Insurers calculate premiums it is all based on statistical evaluation of the risk, trying to look ahead and predict what exposure they might be subject to. As with all predictions, these may or may not turn out to be true, but Insurers over the years have built up experience in making predictions.
Whether you like it or not (probably not), once you have had any accident fault or non-fault, according to statistics you are a more of a risk than you were before.
I take your point about some claims taking years to settle. My sister had a minor accident and the other driver was trying to claim for personal injury without any medical proof. Because the other driver is not cooperating with the Insurance companies and the claim is going nowhere, my sister is now stuck with the same Insurers, until the 6 year statute of limitations kicks in.
Huckster