Insurance company not giving online quote anymore

Mlynek

Mlynek

Mlynek

Associate
Joined
27 Jan 2017
Posts
20
I have recently renewed my insurance with some company. When I was in the process of renewing I cancelled my policy and took different option with the same insurer (could not be just changed, had to take new policy).

However before cancelling the policy I couldn't get online quote from them. I am young and some cars may cost thousands to insure so I was trying plenty (50+) different cars to see what would my insurer consider as reasonable change of car during policy.
Until today I have believed it was because of the enormous amount of quotes generated by me and considered it unfair as new drivers can't just buy car then get quote as the insurer may not even agree to insure it. Could it be though simply because I was already with them?

In the end I have paid £1700/y instead of £1650/y as my original quote I have saved was used for the first policy and could not be reused, on the phone they gave me more expensive quote and any other insurer was around the £2000 mark minimum. They have cancelled my first policy out of charge though.

So basically have anyone noticed running few quotes online after which some company refused to give you any more quotes? Can you get online quote with your current insurer? I haven't tried any quote since then.
 
Yes but they asked me to call.
Although it wasn't anywhere near 50 cars. Probably did around 10 quotes.
 
I always quote with fake (but similar enough) details until I've narrowed it down to an insurer or two. Then and only then do I actually run a quote with my details. Don't want loads of searches against my name for no reason.
 
Zefan said:
Even though they're only visible to you and as a result will have no effect on any credit decisions by lenders, as they won't see them?
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Well they're not only visible to you, they're visible to every company receiving the enquiry.

Certainly with the Admiral group they check them all, I got a letter one year informing me they were charging me for all the modifications I failed to declare based on the various quotes I had been running to figure out how much I would get stung if I wanted to add an exhaust or wheels etc. They demanded I take the car for independent inspection to verify it was as I had insured it, took a few weeks of arguing before they gave up.

All easily avoided by using some inconsequential fake details for everything bar your final quotes.
 
I am actually with Admiral as well lol :D On their website it showed me over 80 quotes for my "profile". On dummy details I get more expensive quotes using comparison websites and many companies don't even quote on them. The only time the price for dummy quote was same as for my real details when I was looking for insurance for the very first year.
One thing I don't understand, people say it gets more expensive the more quotes you generate because it lowers your credit score but I am paying in one payment anyway so why is it affected?

Oh and the whole situation with Admiral was because they initially sold me the 10month policy which could potentially be issue to prove NCB with different company (as I have read on this forum among others) so I changed it to normal 12month one as it would cost me roughly the same money.
 
Mlynek said:
One thing I don't understand, people say it gets more expensive the more quotes you generate because it lowers your credit score but I am paying in one payment anyway so why is it affected?
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This is nonsense. Insurance quotes are soft credit checks. You can run hundreds a day and it will not make a difference to your credit rating.

It's only checks that are then used in a credit application that affect your rating.
 
Above is correct, doing car insurance quotes online does not affect your credit record in any way. It's a soft check!
 
I always use my correct details, what’s the point of not doing so?

I’ve tried previously using a different name at otherwise the same details with no difference so really don’t see the point of not using my own.
 
Company I've been insured with for 7 years have never done online pricing, you've always had to ring them and get a quote that way. Now it's not too bad as I can deal with it all on email as I've got my own account guy who seems to always deal with my enquirers. Joys of a dealing with a small firm I guess.
 
Scania said:
I always use my correct details, what’s the point of not doing so?
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In my example above, to avoid weeks of arguing with the insurance company because I was running some quotes to see how much certain modifications might add with different insurers.
 
As many insurers use the soft credit check as another risk assessment, using fake details will probably give an incorrect price (no match is likely to be more expensive than even a poor score). It's the main reason prices increase when changing address - the credit check will return a "not found at this address" so initially at least it'll be expensive as it'll use a default rate.
 
Don't always go with online quotes, use them as a good guide.

I found running loads of quotes put the price up or made it disappear for a day or two. I thought it was to put you off fishing details to get the cheapest quotes. Job, mileage etc.

I've had a 10 month policy with admiral, a year policy but after that I think I bounced between them and Adrian flux over the phone. Adrian flux only add a small amount extra for paying monthly vs 25% or so for doing so with admiral.

I was with axa last year, got the renewal through for around £600 one of payment. Ran quotes online for my new address and it was £900+. That's before taking it monthly as I usually stick it on a credit card.

Called axa to check and my change of address took it down to £545, I queried if my Mrs was still on as a learner driver and the guy said he'd see what he can do. Finally came back with £500 upfront or £600 monthly.

Was really surprised by that but it shows it pays to call up. All companies have a certain clientele, I don't appear on admirals radar as I'm older now and companies like Adrian flux cater for more obscure or performance cars.
 
Marvin said:
As many insurers use the soft credit check as another risk assessment, using fake details will probably give an incorrect price (no match is likely to be more expensive than even a poor score). It's the main reason prices increase when changing address - the credit check will return a "not found at this address" so initially at least it'll be expensive as it'll use a default rate.
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Conversely I've found that fake details can also give a much better price than using my actual details (I'm assuming it was due to my credit score which was terrible at the time!)
 
Scania said:
I always use my correct details, what’s the point of not doing so?
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I used to find that a lot of insurers would repeatedly follow up these quote attempts with phone calls, they got annoying so I started using fake details. I switched to a broker after that so never had an issue for several years, back to comparison sites this time around for the new car and never had any so maybe things have changed?
 
Liquidfox said:
I used to find that a lot of insurers would repeatedly follow up these quote attempts with phone calls, they got annoying so I started using fake details. I switched to a broker after that so never had an issue for several years, back to comparison sites this time around for the new car and never had any so maybe things have changed?
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Yea this. Also I've seen quotes suddenly get more expensive after a few experiments. Then drop again when trying a new email address etc.
 
Liquidfox said:
I used to find that a lot of insurers would repeatedly follow up these quote attempts with phone calls, they got annoying so I started using fake details. I switched to a broker after that so never had an issue for several years, back to comparison sites this time around for the new car and never had any so maybe things have changed?
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On compare the market there are big tick boxes to ask if you want to be contacted by insures, I always untick these and have never had calls from them.
 
Marvin said:
As many insurers use the soft credit check as another risk assessment, using fake details will probably give an incorrect price (no match is likely to be more expensive than even a poor score). It's the main reason prices increase when changing address - the credit check will return a "not found at this address" so initially at least it'll be expensive as it'll use a default rate.
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This^

When I put a false name into comparison sites using the same postcode as my own and all other details, car, driving history etc same as my own the cheapest quotes I get for my 3 series are around £800. When I put my real name in I get cheapest quotes between £300 and £350!
 
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