OT - Car Insurance Fiasco

[TheChief]

So I called the Ins Co early December to try to get my wife's Fiesta insurance sorted, which is due early Jan. Was told that they cannot provide renewal earlier than 3 weeks in advance, so asked for a fresh quote. This was reluctantly provided at £640. The policy covers wife, myself and 22 year old daughter.

Two weeks later I get the official renewal document including premium £833!!

So I called Ins Co to get the price sorted and they said that the fresh quote would be honoured. But there were a couple of changes to make and further negotiations follow....

Start with new quote of £640 Increase annual milage from 10k to 12k - premium increase to £680 - OK

Here's the good bit.... Daughter's work status has changed from voluntary work to Trainee Accountant, but Ins Co doesn't have this title, so we simply add Accountant - premium increases to £809!!! Much spluttering and noises of disbelief from my end of the phone. So we try another job description equally appropriate of Accounts Assistant - premium reduces to £629!!!

From this I can only surmise that the premium offered includes a large percentage that is added based on perceived ability to pay (the policy does not cover business use).

Maybe there is a web site which lists job descriptions and the associated insurance surcharge (rip off).

I'll close by wishing to all everything they wish for themselves for 2015 (whether or not that be days filled with DIY).

Phil

[Adrian]

There's your problem. Start by ditching the brand loyalty, and play with a meerkat. Ring the changes, and experiment to see what gives you a good premium.

[ss]

And I believe delete cookies before you revisit so they cant track you have already had a quote...or so I was told, as the best quotes go to `new` customers.

[charles]

Years ago, my broker told me that my insurers wanted a hefty surcharge because I worked in the entertainment industry, so he found me another company. I had always assumed because, we (the entertainment inductry) were renowned for wild parties and were more prone to accidents as a result. A couple of years ago I discovered the real reason. We might be called on to give someone lift home and that someone was a very high earner. Any accident which involved such a person could be very expensive for the insurer. I suspect the same applies to accountants and their wealthy clients.

[alan_m]

The premium is based on the likelihood of becoming an alcoholic. Boring jobs with responsibility have the greater risk.

I can describe my job in various ways and I've seen the same with a difference in premiums.

To get the best quote you really do have to shop around each year. Often brand loyalty is rewarded with premiums that are 30 to 50% higher than you find being a new customer with another insurance company.

[meow2222]

I don't think its really anything like that. Its simply that figures show t hat each different profession has different total costs to the insurer. The reasons why are many & varied, and I'm sure there are other factors with s howbiz, and with any of the categories. Certainly many are nonobvious.

NT

[The Medway Handyman]

Clearly qualifying as an accountant is a dangerous thing.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You should have called yourself a TV technician. They'd have thought you worked in a corner shop fixing them. ;-)

[Andy Burns]

I doubt cookies count for much, given your car reg plate, name, dob and inside leg measurement are already in their database ....

[Lobster]

On 28 Dec 2014, TheChief grunted:

But you know as well as I do that a Trainee Accountant is not the same thing as an Accounts Assistant, is it?

For whatever reason (which you and I may or may not agree with), the insurers have decided that thet have different risks. Your risk, therefore, is that in the event of a claim involving youe daughter, they will disallow it based on the inaccurate job description.

ITYF that most high-risk occupations are not particularly highly-paid - musicians, publicans, for example. My wife is a doctor - reasonably paid, obviously, but doesn't get her premium loaded (even with business use).

This one comes pretty close, and is worth you looking at:

(or

[JoeJoe]

Insurance is all about statistics - i.e., how likely are you to claim on your policy and how much the claim is likely to be.

AFAIK the policy holder's profession is just another factor. Insurance companies use a database of professions and their likelihood of claiming based on past experience, and your quote is adjusted accordingly.

[tim.....]

But it's not the same thing as an Accountant, either

tim

[fred]

You're right of course but if you want a truly clean quote:

1. Use an address 2 doors up.

1. Enter car details rather than the reg.

2. Alter DoB by a few days.

1. Use fake name, phone nos and email addy.

Most insurers I have played this game with will let Mr Asdf Grityu change all those little details back and requote to pretty much the same figure when I am redirected to their site.

It's also let me find out which ones look up their current policy lists and inflate even comparison site quotes to the level of their quoted renewal premiums in an attempt to hide and enforce their new policy only discounts.

[alan_m]

Also check the excess amounts. Some insurers will give a seeming competitive renewal quote but in reality they have changed the risk they are insuring by substantially increasing the excess amounts.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Be interesting to know the legal position if you obtain insurance based on false information?

[JimK]

/It's also let me find out which ones look up their current policy lists and inflate even comparison site quotes to the level of their quoted renewal premiums in an attempt to hide and enforce their new policy only discounts. /q

Did you find any that did? By how much were they inflating premiums?

Jim K

[fred]

In article , Dave Plowman (News) writes

As all details are corrected and a requote obtained on the insurer's site before paying, the insurance if based wholly on truthful information.

Which was stated in the part of the post that you snipped.

[fred]

In article , JimK writes

Hoh yes, and it was one of the bigees, AXA, Aviva and Royal Sun Alliance ring bells but for the life of me I can't find the (heated) correspondence that passed between us when I found out so I can't say for sure.

The amount was non-trivial, 70quid or so in a 400quid premium so 15-20%.

I was more than a little cross at the time and added them to my shit list but that's not much use if you can't remember who it was . . . .

It really just confirmed my view that they will all do whatever they can get away with if you let them so I have no qualms about checking the honesty of their quotes by using minor mods in my details to check competitiveness before submitting my true details for a final quote.

It has also saved a bit of spam as a number of comparison sites hide in their privacy policy that they will share your supplied email address with the 3 cheapest quote providers. An excellent reason to use an invalid address at least for that stage.

[Peter Johnson]

May not be necessary. Tesco for one will match 'new customer' prices without a quibble, asking for the quote ref to check that it is comparable to the renewal. (But this year I renewed with esure for £350 when Tesco couldn't get the new-customer price lower than £500; the renewal was £800+)

[Jethro_uk]

Almost a textbook explanation to how to trip the real time fraud detection system*s* ;)