Divorced? Renting? It may push your car insurance sky high
INSURANCE firms make false assumptions about drivers based on whether they’re divorced, own homes or if they’ve had an accident, according to research.
One driver can be quoted £200 more for cover than would properly reflect their risk and circumstances, Which? found.
It said price comparison websites use a standard set of questions for customers such as age, address, occupation, marital status, car value and claims history.
However, Which? discovered that each company makes different assumptions about the answers given – and these can produce a false picture.
Researchers created a series of scenarios to see how much they would be quoted on Confused.com and MoneySavingExpert.com. In one, the driver had damaged his car, but had not claimed for the repairs. two of the cheapest quotes – from Hastings Direct and Churchill – wrongly guessed the driver had made a claim as a result, and factored this into the quote.
When this was corrected, Hastings Direct lowered its premium by £10, but Churchill made a reduction of £207 – a cut of more than 25 per cent.
Which? also found that while it is compulsory to declare all recent driving incidents, not all comparison sites let you specify which, if any, led to claims, resulting in some incorrect assumptions.
Which? previously showed how some insurers offer discounts of as much as 15 per cent for using a dashcam, however many comparison websites did not. Seemingly irrelevant questions about lifestyle and personal circumstances also affect quotes.
For example, they were on average 4 per cent cheaper for homeowners and 4 per cent more for divorcees – apparently based on the assumption a divorcee is more likely to have an accident.
It also found that the way drivers describe their job title can influence premiums.
When the driver called himself a painter (working in art), his cheapest was £372, but when he listed himself as an artist, it fell to £343.
Which? Money editor Jenny Ross, said: ‘to beat these quirks compare different routes for buying insurance, look at various levels of cover from different providers, and shop around every year.’
Confused. com said the findings will help them work with insurers to improve their quote process. MoneySuperMarket said: ‘We work with insurers to make sure we ask the right questions, however we do not control how insurers interpret our data.
‘We don’t ask customers to supply the cost of a recent claim as this is often something they will not know – for example, costs may have been paid direct by an insurance firm to a garage for repairs.’
Hastings Direct said: ‘When the customer clicks through to our website, we do give the option to check their data which would enable them to specify further.’
Churchill said: ‘Anyone purchasing through a comparison website can still phone their preferred company to provide any further detail.’
‘Shop around every year’