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Passed my test & bought my first car, But!

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Looking for insurance & I've just found something quite disgusting with car insurance quotes. The price has little to do with your car & more about you're personal life. I'm 35 so I know they won't be as high as someone much younger, but I didn't expect this.

 

I was quoted £1,300 per year because I put I was separated, Had kids but not at home & my profession as a Hardware/Software Engineer. So, I edited the info a little. I stated I was single & re searched again. The price went up. I stated I was married & it went down. I stated I had no kids & it went down even more. I changed my profession & it went up & down depending on type of profession. This stating I use my car for leisure only!

 

Here I am, thinking car insurance was about the type of car, what you use the car for & your age. Since when does having kids or not effect how I drive. Or my marital status?

 

I got the quote down to £647 per year. But only stating I had kids, Married & Bank Manager. But clearly I'm separated & not a Bank Manager, my pay is much better!

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Just make sure you drive safe and don't have a crash as you have given false information which could make any claim invalid.

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Looking for insurance & I've just found something quite disgusting with car insurance quotes. The price has little to do with your car & more about you're personal life. I'm 35 so I know they won't be as high as someone much younger, but I didn't expect this.

 

I was quoted £1,300 per year because I put I was separated, Had kids but not at home & my profession as a Hardware/Software Engineer. So, I edited the info a little. I stated I was single & re searched again. The price went up. I stated I was married & it went down. I stated I had no kids & it went down even more. I changed my profession & it went up & down depending on type of profession. This stating I use my car for leisure only!

 

Here I am, thinking car insurance was about the type of car, what you use the car for & your age. Since when does having kids or not effect how I drive. Or my marital status?

 

I got the quote down to £647 per year. But only stating I had kids, Married & Bank Manager. But clearly I'm separated & not a Bank Manager, my pay is much better!

 

Because insurance works on risk. I don't know the formulas, nor would I pretend to, but that's how it's calculated.

 

Bank managers - seen as dull, responsible types perhaps.

Having kids - kids can be a distraction in the car - could cause crashes.

If you're single - would you be considered likely to drive faster, trying to impress potential partners? More likely to be out socialising and parking in areas where your car could be damaged.

 

I don't know the basis of it, but they're all factors that insurers consider, and they will have a complex system that takes all those things into account when creating a premium. Either that or a trained monkey randomly creates the number.

 

If you want a real laugh, try putting 'musician' in as your profession, and good luck getting a sensible quote!

 

Equally, a friend of mine in the paras wanted to insure his car on the base, and his policy went up 300%. Despite the fact no one would really sneak onto a based filled with armed guards, surrounded by razor wire (as opposed to Frechville where he came from) his policy still went up. It's bizarre, but I'm sure they have their reasons.

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A few years ago I found a loophole in the annual mileage part.

 

I used to select "upto 12,000 miles". But one year I was doing more so I selected "upto 14,000" miles and the price went down. I kept doing this to "upto 20,000 miles" when it started to creep back up.

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Here I am, thinking car insurance was about the type of car, what you use the car for & your age. Since when does having kids or not effect how I drive.

 

Having kids means you'll use the car more, ferrying them around. It's not how you drive, it's how much you drive.

 

Kids can also be a distraction.

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Davey1981

Passed my test & bought my first car, But!

Looking for insurance & I've just found something quite disgusting with car insurance quotes.

 

this 'disgusting' thing you found is that insurance companies ask you statistically relevant questions.

 

?

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Looking for insurance & I've just found something quite disgusting with car insurance quotes. The price has little to do with your car & more about you're personal life. I'm 35 so I know they won't be as high as someone much younger, but I didn't expect this.

 

I was quoted £1,300 per year because I put I was separated, Had kids but not at home & my profession as a Hardware/Software Engineer. So, I edited the info a little. I stated I was single & re searched again. The price went up. I stated I was married & it went down. I stated I had no kids & it went down even more. I changed my profession & it went up & down depending on type of profession. This stating I use my car for leisure only!

 

Here I am, thinking car insurance was about the type of car, what you use the car for & your age. Since when does having kids or not effect how I drive. Or my marital status?

 

I got the quote down to £647 per year. But only stating I had kids, Married & Bank Manager. But clearly I'm separated & not a Bank Manager, my pay is much better!

 

The price is about the likely risk of them having to pay out and your lifestyle massively affects that.

They have decades of data about who claimed and what their status was, they analyse all this data to work out a price based on all those factors that on average makes them a profit.

The car IS part of it, but not really due to it's value, it's just one other factor that tells them about how likely you are to make a claim. After all the cost of replacing your car, be that 20k or 40k or even 60k, is trivial compared to the cost of medical payouts they might have to make if you injure a 3rd party.

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this 'disgusting' thing you found is that insurance companies ask you statistically relevant questions.

 

?

 

But not your gender; are there any other characteristics which the insurance companies cannot use?

 

Age?

Religion?

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1. Be honest with the details. The police now have access to application data which is shared by the Motor Insurance Database (MID). If you ever get pulled over and you're asked circumstancial questions it's because they will be x-checking this against MID data. False application details = fraud = invalid insurance = criminal liability (in the eys of the law)

 

2. Although you're not a teenager you should seriously consider the policies aimed specifically at younger drivers. These are telematic policies where they install a black box in your car in exchange for lower premiums (companies like CoverBox, Drive Plus by Direct Line etc)

 

3. Any other licenced drivers in your household? Adding a more experienced driver to your policy as secondary (occasional) driver can reduce your premium. This is perfectly legal. Making them the main driver is illegal.

 

4. Use price comparison websites. The two biggest for car insurance are GoCompare and CompareTheMarket.

 

5. Keep your eyes peeled on this new startup insurance company called [By Miles]. It will be the first in the UK to offer a pay-per-mile cover.

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3. Any other licenced drivers in your household? Adding a more experienced driver to your policy as secondary (occasional) driver can reduce your premium. This is perfectly legal.

 

I have heard this said before, but is it true?

 

It does not make sense.

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I have heard this said before, but is it true?

 

It does not make sense.

 

 

Only one person can drive a car at the same time. Therefore if a more experienced driver uses it occasionally, it means that the newer driver is not driving it.... hence the risk is lower.

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I have heard this said before, but is it true?

 

It does not make sense.

 

 

Im a named driver on my sons insurance. It brought the cost down by quite a bit even though Im only down as infrequent.

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