How are insurance premiums calculated?
How are insurance premiums calculated?
Author
Discussion

martin84

Original Poster:

5,366 posts

174 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
Other than the drivers age, postcode, licence, points, make of car, value of car etc what else is taken into account to calculate an insurance premium? Im sure frequency of crashes must be up there as youngsters may often find a 1.8 Mondeo is cheaper to insure than a 1.25 Fiesta, as the latter is a common youngsters car etc.

On my Rover 75 2.5 V6 which i collected yesterday (very happy with it by the way bounce) i eventually got insurance down to £503 a year which i thought was quite high for what it is. Ive been looking ponderously at a Jeep Grand Cherokee as well, 4.7 V8 and ive been quoted £328 a year. Thats with them both at the same address on the same mileage (the Jeep wouldnt do that sort of miles but i did it for comparison).

Who the hell works this stuff out?

marshalla

15,902 posts

222 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
martin84 said:
Who the hell works this stuff out?
Actuaries.

aka_kerrly

12,493 posts

231 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
Calculate what would be a reasonable premium, times by 2 add 30% then add a £25 admin fee.

kambites

70,349 posts

242 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
Basically, the companies gather a huuuge mass of sample data; extract statistics on the number and value of claims over variations in a number of different criteria (such as age, gender, postcode, vehicle type, mileage,...) and then use all of the resultant independent distributions to produce a mean payout estimate for your set of input variables, then add a bit on for profit and hope that their statistics were vaguely representative.

The answer to "who works it out" is two-fold. Various different people are involved in deciding which variables to model (that's the difficult bit), then computers are responsible for the data-mining, distribution generation and premium calculations.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 17th November 14:20

martin84

Original Poster:

5,366 posts

174 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
But doesnt anybody agree that the Jeep 4.7 being cheaper to insure than a Rover looks a bit odd?

marshalla

15,902 posts

222 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
martin84 said:
But doesnt anybody agree that the Jeep 4.7 being cheaper to insure than a Rover looks a bit odd?
Which is more fragile and difficult to repair ?

LongLiveTazio

2,714 posts

218 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
When they put you on hold they're waiting for a ticket to be plucked from a rolling tombola. 99 tickets say 'we're going to shaft you' and the other 1 is the bloke on PH who talks about insuring an F40 for £250.

martin84

Original Poster:

5,366 posts

174 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
marshalla said:
Which is more fragile and difficult to repair ?
Never looked into that tbh as i have no intention of ever using my insurance as on a car i only paid £995 for i dont view it as economically viable to risk higher future premiums for. I wouldve thought the Jeep would have some pretty expensive parts though.

Ramses

831 posts

176 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
Insurance premiums...

Think of a number, double it, multiply by 23.7% for st and giggles, devide it by your age, then by the age of your pet (or wife). Then reverse the numbers, remove one, add a random one then publish.


Or at least that how it seems to go.


martin84

Original Poster:

5,366 posts

174 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
Has anybody noticed you can go onto comparison sites three times a week enter in the same cars with the same details and get different cheapest prices everytime?

ZOLLAR

19,914 posts

194 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
martin84 said:
But doesnt anybody agree that the Jeep 4.7 being cheaper to insure than a Rover looks a bit odd?
Nope, it's cheaper for me to insure a V8 3.9i land rover than insure a clio.
Mainly falls down to claims statistics but various other things come into play,.

vxr8mate

1,689 posts

210 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
If a particular type of car is seen to be involved in more accidents than usual in a given period, then insurance premiums for that type of car will increase, leading to the sometimes bizarre prices.

ZOLLAR

19,914 posts

194 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
martin84 said:
Has anybody noticed you can go onto comparison sites three times a week enter in the same cars with the same details and get different cheapest prices everytime?
Rates change all the time, especially with the advent of comparison sites insurers are reacting to changes in the market very quickly these days, whether that be to increase business or push business away.

Decky_Q

1,903 posts

198 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
I work as a broker and there is some bizarre outcomes like the ones you listed. We use many different insurers, some only want people with 5 years NCB and no points and will load their prices to deter anyone outside of this demographic from joining, the next company might want to attract young women because its not a competitive sector and they can pick up the biggest premiums and limit it some way like no more than 3 points and 1 claims etc. to try to deter the very worst from joining.

In short it is not just worked out by each company having similar mathematical equasions and similar data, it is also decided by marketing and corporate strategy (older firms generally want predictable growth and low risk, but a new firm may be willing to take higher risks to build their client base.)

Also no firm at all wants to cover anything outside of the usual, because they have accurate calculations based on the most common factors car/age/mileage etc and anything outside of this is unpredictable and so to be avoided.

toon10

6,951 posts

178 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
It's quite scientific actually. They start with a big figure, say £400 and then they hit a "randomiser" button which comes up with a number which gets added to the base figure.

ZOLLAR

19,914 posts

194 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
toon10 said:
It's quite scientific actually. They start with a big figure, say £400 and then they hit a "randomiser" button which comes up with a number which gets added to the base figure.
Actually you're not far off there..

omgus

7,305 posts

196 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
marshalla said:
Actuaries.
Oh yes, spend some time with a actuary and you will start to understand why you can't figure it out properly.

MoBeanz

135 posts

191 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
'Calculate' you say?

jet_noise

5,973 posts

203 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
Dear m84,

entrails.

Goat entrails.

Goat entrails and astrology.

Oh, and tea-leaves.

Goat entrails, astrology, tea leaves and hate, [/stewart lee] [/monty p],

regards,
Jet

Noger

7,117 posts

270 months

Thursday 17th November 2011
quotequote all
omgus said:
marshalla said:
Actuaries.
Oh yes, spend some time with a actuary and you will start to understand why you can't figure it out properly.
Actuaries. Living proof that Asperger's can pay very well.