Insurance to start today or tomorrow - £200 difference?

[veevee]

Can anyone shed any light on this:

I got a quote for 12 months insurance 2 days ago, it was £1381. Fair enough.

Tried again today, the quote was invalid, as it was specifically for the policy to start on that day, so I re-quote with identical details - £1677!

Tried again with identical details, but to start tomorrow - £1479.

Very confused, how/why does this happen?

[C.A.R.]

Did you not ask?

Or

Is this an 'Indicative quote' you got online, in which case it was never really a proper quotation...

[LoonR1]

Because it does. Prices vary daily, some insurers decide they don't want to quote anymore.

Same with all businesses, some will have an item on sale today, but not tomorrow; some will offer you a great deal on a new car if you sign up today, but not offer it tomorrow.

[Locke]

Because they don't like you any more.

[Ved]

Clear your cookies and try again (assuming it was online). I've heard of this repeat visitor scam on several sites.

[veevee]

LoonR1 said:

Because it does. Prices vary daily, some insurers decide they don't want to quote anymore.

Same with all businesses, some will have an item on sale today, but not tomorrow; some will offer you a great deal on a new car if you sign up today, but not offer it tomorrow.

I've just done a quote to start today, tomorrow, the next day, and the four proceeding days. All the prices differ, but aren't trending.

I initially thought the same, obviously I had been given a quote which is no longer available; but I've actually managed to be quoted the same again, and even slightly lower, by asking for my insurance to start on a different day.

[LoonR1]

veevee said:

I've just done a quote to start today, tomorrow, the next day, and the four proceeding days. All the prices differ, but aren't trending.

I initially thought the same, obviously I had been given a quote which is no longer available; but I've actually managed to be quoted the same again, and even slightly lower, by asking for my insurance to start on a different day.

Then buy it.

[veevee]

Clearly. But I wasn't asking whether or not I should buy it, I was asking if anyone could explain why this is so?

[xRIEx]

Real time pricing.

Aviva wanted to update their own website and their comparison site rates daily. This annoyed insurance brokers who didn't have those rates, so insurance software houses have updated to allow access to Aviva real time rates. Other insurers may now do the same, I don't know.

Why Aviva want to be able to change the price daily, I don't know.

[Noger]

veevee said:

Clearly. But I wasn't asking whether or not I should buy it, I was asking if anyone could explain why this is so?

Unless you happen to have the actual pricing guy on PH, then no, they can't. Possibles are :-

1) The rating model is screwed, or maybe just a bit squirrely, or there are multiple models / engines
2) They are looking to exit the market, and are gradually increasing prices
3) They are testing price elasticity
4) They are doing some sort of multi-variate testing based on dates
5) They think that is the way the risk looks
6) Something else

[jamei303]

Perhaps people who obtain insurance quotes on different days have varying likelihoods of being involved in an accident.

[Noger]

xRIEx said:

Real time pricing.

Aviva wanted to update their own website and their comparison site rates daily. This annoyed insurance brokers who didn't have those rates, so insurance software houses have updated to allow access to Aviva real time rates. Other insurers may now do the same, I don't know.

Why Aviva want to be able to change the price daily, I don't know.

RTP is unlikely to do this, as it is pricing to the individual (usually via a credit score, and other "quote enrichment" data techniques) and the individual "publicly available" data is unlikely to change depending on the inception date.

It may be the broker flexing the real time price based upon commission override, and they are hitting/missing targets depending on dates. Again, just a guess.

[Noger]

Ved said:

Clear your cookies and try again (assuming it was online). I've heard of this repeat visitor scam on several sites.

If I was going to do that, I would lock your price using post code and some other stuff...I wouldn't use a cookie

[kambites]

I wonder if they've found a statistical correlation between the day people's insurance starts on and their likelihood of making a claim?

[Raize]

Noger said:

Ved said:

Clear your cookies and try again (assuming it was online). I've heard of this repeat visitor scam on several sites.

If I was going to do that, I would lock your price using post code and some other stuff...I wouldn't use a cookie

And this is why you must always use fake details.

[Noger]

Raize said:

Noger said:

Ved said:

Clear your cookies and try again (assuming it was online). I've heard of this repeat visitor scam on several sites.

If I was going to do that, I would lock your price using post code and some other stuff...I wouldn't use a cookie

And this is why you must always use fake details.

And a different IP address. Because I would be tracking that in your quote too

[veevee]

kambites said:

I wonder if they've found a statistical correlation between the day people's insurance starts on and their likelihood of making a claim?

I honestly wonder. It does seem to be based on the day of the week, as it isn't incrementally rising or falling, just different prices on the different days.