Insurance Estimates

Hudzy

Hudzy

Hudzy

Associate
Joined
19 Mar 2004
Posts
1,503
Location
Bristol
Are there any sites that give a fairly accurate estimate of insurance costs without needing all your personal information; name, email, phone etc?

Looking at a first car in the new year and just want some ideas on insurance costs without registering for several sites and being contacted later with offers I don't want.
 
Hudzy said:
Are there any sites that give a fairly accurate estimate of insurance costs without needing all your personal information; name, email, phone etc?

Looking at a first car in the new year and just want some ideas on insurance costs without registering for several sites and being contacted later with offers I don't want.
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You would be better off pressing a button on a random number generator. That is all the insurance companies will do anyway.
 
yup all their prices are made up which is why the FSA/FOS allow them to carry on :rolleyes:

unfortunately people dont like insurance companies from the start, a lot dont understand their pricing structures so tend to make obvious comments of "random numberzzzzz"

Most insurance companies will outbound the number you enter, so you can use your address normally and just enter 01234567891 as the number and you should be fine
 
SGWills said:
yup all their prices are made up which is why the FSA/FOS allow them to carry on :rolleyes:

unfortunately people dont like insurance companies from the start, a lot dont understand their pricing structures so tend to make obvious comments of "random numberzzzzz"
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Ok then. Explain why most people I know come renewal time are given increased premiums, which are only lowered when they call up to complain? :confused:
 
MilanoChris said:
Ok then. Explain why most people I know come renewal time are given increased premiums, which are only lowered when they call up to complain? :confused:
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Because many people are too lazy to phone up or shop around. Increases profits for the insurers.
 
MilanoChris said:
Ok then. Explain why most people I know come renewal time are given increased premiums, which are only lowered when they call up to complain? :confused:
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people can ring up and complain, it doesnt mean they automatically get a cheaper price.

Normally the scenario is one of the following -

1. people ring up, not happy about the price, they actually run through the quote on the phone price comes down but can go up as well some times.

2. people ring up, advise they got a cheaper price, run through the details, price comes down or up, If they think the customer is a good risk, they can look at applying a discount, this is not 100% as some companies will rather let you go than keep the risk on their books.

3. people ring up, cheaper price online with the same company, i would say 80-90% of the time the quote and the actual policy are different, company matches the details, price reflexs the changes and they write off any difference for internet discount etc.

The price are based on details that are 12 months old, so there is a high chance that something has changed. Most questions they ask you are rated upon. small changes can have big affects on the premium price.

There will always be some margin that can be reviewed based on the risk that client imposes. They are a business at the end of the day.

If the prices were being made up people would know about it as it is a heavily critised industry with many governing bodies the insurance companies have to please.

I can understand why people get frustrated with the companies, however there is not a huge profit in insurance and if checked i believe the majority of the companies pay out more per £1 of premium taken in due to the cost of claims being quite high at the moment.

The way the industry is worked/based on, i would be suprised if the majority of drivers couldn't find a cheaper premium at the renewal stage, as companies rates adjust frequently, just because their rates are good one year, doesnt mean its constantly going to be the cheapest, thats when people weigh up the cost difference Vs the customer experience/claims handling.

No doubt there will be further questions so I will grab my flame suit while I wait ha :)

*BTW im sure i have missed points out, however im in work so cant give 100% to replying as i want to keep my job ;)
 
SGWills said:
unfortunately people dont like insurance companies from the start, a lot dont understand their pricing structures so tend to make obvious comments of "random numberzzzzz"
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No-one understands insurance company pricing structures except insurance companies. It's one of the main complaints against them.

I have had a number of complete nonsense premium increases e.g. my premium increasing by a factor of 3 despite no change in circumstances, and the excuse was that it was simply due to a global increase in insurance costs. Odd then how another company insured me for less than the previous years premium.
 
Dogbreath said:
No-one understands insurance company pricing structures except insurance companies. It's one of the main complaints against them.

I have had a number of complete nonsense premium increases e.g. my premium increasing by a factor of 3 despite no change in circumstances, and the excuse was that it was simply due to a global increase in insurance costs. Odd then how another company insured me for less than the previous years premium.
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its not odd as each company will have a different rates, hence why its a popular market.

In basics as its not as simple as the following, but just as a point

LV and churchill, postcode SA1

Last year LV gave your postcode a low rating as they had 50 cars insured in that post code out of that 50 only 2 of them claims.

whereas Churchill classed your postcode as medium rating, as they had 50 cars on cover and 25 have claimed.

You pick LV because there price is the cheapest.

Renewal time

LV price goes up because your postcode changes from low risk (2 out of 50) to medium risk (25 out of 50).

churchill quote comes in cheaper because your postcode has gone from (25 out of 50 ) to a lower risk (15 out of 50)

this is a verrrrrrrrry slimmed down version but its along those lines.

They can back up their prices with their claim statistics but wont release them to you as they are market sensitive.


The way they work is not rocket science. They start a quote on the average cost of a policy taken out the previous few years (lets say £1500) then they go through each rating factor, so pretty much any question they ask you affects your premium. Your occupation is a high risk occupation, premium goes up to say £1700, your postcode is one of the lowest in the uk, price goes down to £1100 and so forth until you come to your final price.

Main complaint is actually because the insurance companies rate on an average, now that they looking in to telematics, the concern for customers is that the insurance companies know to much information about your driving, so there is always a complaint to be found somewhere :)
 
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My renewal dropped £100 this time around, great I thought, so ran a few other quotes on the usual comparison sites and still found it £80 cheaper. Back to sub £500 insurance at last, seems the over inflated prices are finally coming down.
 
I've been checking on my credit history recently and it shows a large amount of credit searches in a small time frame, appears confused.com at some point (or some quotes) were for some reason doing credit checks. This year I'll be using fake details and not just incorrect tel number
 
They're only table 2 searches - don't count as a "proper" search, i.e a lender won't see them and think you've applied for credit. Nothing to worry about
 
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