Car Insurance Algorithms

Dave Herbal

Dave Herbal

Striker
How the hell do they work?

Just got a renewal price of Go Compare which I’m happy with.
Out of interest, I changed the car to another one on Go Compare, which is two years older, slightly less powerful but otherwise similar and of similar value.
The cheapest result was almost double what I’m paying now.

That makes no sense whatsoever. What parameters to they follow??
 


Older car + similar value now = car must have been more expensive car at new = higher insurance group

Add to this

Older car = more likely that something mechanical will unexpectedly go wrong sending you into a wall and writing the car off
 
Trauntrian said:
Older car + similar value = car must have been more expensive car at new = higher insurance group

Add to this

Older car = more likely that something mechanical will unexpectedly go wrong sending you into a wall and writing the car off
Click to expand...
That makes sense.

However, on the compare websites you get totally random results from the same details. One company quoted me £450 while another quoted me £2500.
This is f***ing mental and questions need to be raised
 
safcforever said:
That makes sense.

However, on the compare websites you get totally random results from the same details. One company quoted me £450 while another quoted me £2500.
This is f***ing mental and questions need to be raised
Click to expand...
My top price was £4500 for a £1000 car.

Trauntrian said:
Older car + similar value now = car must have been more expensive car at new = higher insurance group

Add to this

Older car = more likely that something mechanical will unexpectedly go wrong sending you into a wall and writing the car off
Click to expand...
But older car with much lower mileage?
 
Insurance companies tailor their quotes to get drivers from specific customer types.

For example Company A may want to drive large payouts down, so up their premiums for cars in a high insurance group.

That leaves a bit of a gap in the market with lots of drivers struggling to get insurance so Company B deliberately gives good quotes to drivers in that gap and get loads of sales, but they'll up premiums for people who have had a recent claim to compensate.

Then Company C will see that gap and offer good rates specifically to attract those drivers.

So you end up with different companies targetting different groups of drivers and offering different prices.

That's why if your circumstances change during the year, you'll suddenly find your renewal quote goes flying up and you can get a massively better deal on a search engine
 
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Dave Herbal said:
How the hell do they work?

Just got a renewal price of Go Compare which I’m happy with.
Out of interest, I changed the car to another one on Go Compare, which is two years older, slightly less powerful but otherwise similar and of similar value.
The cheapest result was almost double what I’m paying now.

That makes no sense whatsoever. What parameters to they follow??
Click to expand...
An Insurance company see's a "new car" as a risk to you, the car is "alien" to you increasing the risk of something happening. You'll find insuring the same car that you've had for 4 years will be cheaper than you saying you've just bought it for example.
 
make it up as they go along I reckon..

I got my renewal quote through from Direct Line and it was almost 200 notes more. phoned them up and complained and they gave it to me £20 less than the previous year...

I would have been happy with it going up 20-30 notes
 
safcforever said:
That makes sense.

However, on the compare websites you get totally random results from the same details. One company quoted me £450 while another quoted me £2500.
This is f***ing mental and questions need to be raised
Click to expand...
Not really. They just don't want your business at the moment.
 
I thought premiums were based on recent claim history for that model of car in a your area, hence you can move home to a "better" area & your premium can increase just depending on what people in that area have claimed for recently.

They can then give discounts for new customers etc.

Just think yourself lucky @Dave Herbal they don't read your posts on here.
 
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The older car that's slightly less powerful might be more likely to attract newer drivers? We've always wondered why it's more expensive to insure our 1.2 than the same model in a 1.4 and that was the reason we were given
 
Epping said:
make it up as they go along I reckon..

I got my renewal quote through from Direct Line and it was almost 200 notes more. phoned them up and complained and they gave it to me £20 less than the previous year...

I would have been happy with it going up 20-30 notes
Click to expand...

£424 is my renewal with Tesco,

Exactly the same details through the compare the market it is £326 .

They can't match it (?!!) so I've cancelled and gne through the meerkats still with Tesco, and I use the cinema vouchers a fair bit so that'll save about £50 a year too
 

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