WTF's going on with these insurance quotes?
WTF's going on with these insurance quotes?
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Discussion

Synchromesh

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

196 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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So a few months ago I was on some price comparison sites looking at what I could get insured on for my next 'insurance year', so changed all my details to two months before their actual dates. It's getting near renewal time now, so put my correct details in and refreshed the quote and it's now coming up 40% more expensive. Odd, I thought, as in this quote I'm only two months older than my hypothetical ones.

So I tried changing my my DOB to a date one day after and one day before my actual DOB, and it's now back to the cheaper quote, but as soon as I put it on my actual birthday it jumps back up. The temptation to say I'm confused.com is strong with this one, but do they really use your actual day of the month of birth to calculate risk, and does this really almost double the price!?

Yell_M3

389 posts

230 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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Were you born on Friday the 13th? Very high risk...

deadmau5

3,197 posts

210 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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On that basis, people born on February 29th must have some very cheap quotes smile.

StottyZr

6,860 posts

193 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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Run the quote through with your DOB one day wrong. Call up and accept the quote, correct them on the DOB and they will price match.

Worked for me in the past anyway.

LADANIVA

1,500 posts

165 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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Change the car might be even cheaper

Ash From Flux

1,138 posts

198 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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That sounds strange to me. If your age is staying the same either way I wouldn't have thought the price should be changing. I would find out which company is the cheapest and phone them.

aj520d

67 posts

170 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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maybe the insurance company are running credit checks when you enter your DOB, correct DOB = check, incorrect DOB = no record found.

just a guess.

chongwong

1,045 posts

177 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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deadmau5 said:
On that basis, people born on February 29th must have some very cheap quotes smile.
i bloody wish frown i'm 21 in a few weeks, and with my current details (+3 weeks)it would still cost me 600 to insure the micra for another year. That said i'm budgetting 1200 for insurance, so themicra is going to get fisted soon....

Synchromesh

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

196 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
StottyZr said:
Run the quote through with your DOB one day wrong. Call up and accept the quote, correct them on the DOB and they will price match.

Worked for me in the past anyway.
Sounds like a plan. Was the same thing happening with you then?

aj520d said:
maybe the insurance company are running credit checks when you enter your DOB, correct DOB = check, incorrect DOB = no record found.

just a guess.
Sounds plausible, but then again I'm paying in full at the start of the policy so credit rating shouldn't be relevant.

JB8

381 posts

175 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
StottyZr said:
Run the quote through with your DOB one day wrong. Call up and accept the quote, correct them on the DOB and they will price match.

Worked for me in the past anyway.
+1

Worked for me too

aka_kerrly

12,506 posts

240 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
aj520d said:
maybe the insurance company are running credit checks when you enter your DOB, correct DOB = check, incorrect DOB = no record found.

just a guess.
Yep. Having seen a client's credit history there were literally a hundred or so entries by insurance companies as a result of comparing meerkats on potential new motors. I never realised that a credit check was run just on a quote, it must be buried in the T&Cs!

JB8

381 posts

175 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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aj520d said:
maybe the insurance company are running credit checks when you enter your DOB, correct DOB = check, incorrect DOB = no record found.

just a guess.
Very much doubt they're running a credit check for insurance quote purposes.

Confused is owned by admiral insruance group, so if you're an existing customer they know and give you a stty quote akin to the joke of a one they send through the post.

Change the quote DOB by one day and you'll be a 'new customer' and get the best quotes. Also try clearing your cookies in your internet browser.

aka_kerrly

12,506 posts

240 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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JB8 said:
Very much doubt they're running a credit check for insurance quote purposes.
Soft credit check, there is an entry on your credit file every time you get quotes. The difference is unlike hard credit checks , soft checks do not affect your overall credit score.

Having multiple credit checks in short periods of time will reduce your credit rating.

Synchromesh

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

196 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
quotequote all
aka_kerrly said:
Yep. Having seen a client's credit history there were literally a hundred or so entries by insurance companies as a result of comparing meerkats on potential new motors. I never realised that a credit check was run just on a quote, it must be buried in the T&Cs!
In that case I'll have a st credit score...

JB8 said:
Very much doubt they're running a credit check for insurance quote purposes.

Confused is owned by admiral insruance group, so if you're an existing customer they know and give you a stty quote akin to the joke of a one they send through the post.

Change the quote DOB by one day and you'll be a 'new customer' and get the best quotes. Also try clearing your cookies in your internet browser.
I've tried a number of comparison sites, all doing the same thing.

aka_kerrly

12,506 posts

240 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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Synchromesh said:
I've tried a number of comparison sites, all doing the same thing.
See my post above, the insurance checks are "soft checks" they appear on your credit file for YOU to see but are not allowed to be taken into account by other lenders.

Deva Link

26,934 posts

275 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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JB8 said:
Very much doubt they're running a credit check for insurance quote purposes.

Confused is owned by admiral insruance group, so if you're an existing customer they know and give you a stty quote akin to the joke of a one they send through the post.

Change the quote DOB by one day and you'll be a 'new customer' and get the best quotes. Also try clearing your cookies in your internet browser.
That would be my guess about what's going on. Both my kids had insurance with Admiral when they first starting driving and you put the same info in and get slightly different quotes back.

Hilts

4,684 posts

312 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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Insurance is a bit of an enigma at times.

Any ideas why having your car on the driveway overnight produces cheaper quotes than having it garaged?

HustleRussell

26,584 posts

190 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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Hilts said:
Any ideas why having your car on the driveway overnight produces cheaper quotes than having it garaged?
Less likely to be destroyed by house fire? (Devil's advocate)

Searider

1,005 posts

285 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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HustleRussell said:
Hilts said:
Any ideas why having your car on the driveway overnight produces cheaper quotes than having it garaged?
Less likely to be destroyed by house fire? (Devil's advocate)
Less likely to scrape the side of the car along the garage door frame.

JB8

381 posts

175 months

Thursday 7th February 2013
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aka_kerrly said:
Soft credit check, there is an entry on your credit file every time you get quotes. The difference is unlike hard credit checks , soft checks do not affect your overall credit score.

Having multiple credit checks in short periods of time will reduce your credit rating.
You learn something new every day, had no idea they run 'soft checks', they're certainly not visible to creditors anyhow.

We can 'take a look' at our customer's credit files at any point, that search isn't visible to other creditors, but the customer's themselves will be able to see it, imagine it's the same sort of thing going on.