NAME Blacklisted for Car Insurance with Admiral Group?

GSMAnon

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Sorry, GSMAnon, but the Dob explanation is silly.

You can specify a start date for any policy when you get a quote. To see the benefit of waiting until after your birthday to start the policy, you would delay the start date a week - not change both dates of birth by a week!

The point of online quotation systems isn't to enable customers to run dozens of permutations of possible (or false) details to see which is cheapest, it's to give them an accurate quote for their actual circumstances.

Actually, that didn't work to the same effect - I did do that, but it made little difference compared to the difference made by actually being older when filling in the quote.

By way of demonstration, I just conducted 3 quotes with some arbitrary details. Each one identical apart from the following details:

#1: DOB: 07/01/1990 Policy Start Date: 02/01/2012
#2: DOB: 07/01/1990 Policy Start Date: 08/01/2012
#3: DOB: 30/12/1989 Policy Start Date: 02/01/2012

So, #1 shows a 21 year old person who turns 22 in a week's time, but they just bought a car and want to insure it NOW. Cheapest Premium: Elephant - £1070.42

#2 reflects what would happen if that person got a quote, but didn't want the policy to start until the 8th of January, after they had turned 22. Cheapest Premium: Elephant - £1044.98

#3 reflects what would happen if that person changed their D.O.B to make it one week earlier to see what the price would be if they got quoted for a policy that started immediately, but didn't apply until after they were 22: Cheapest Premium: Admiral - £969.72. Elephant now quote £973.72.

Now, if what you had suggested was true, I'd expect to see the same saving on #2 as I did on #3, but for some unknown reason, that's not the case. But that's not the case... #2 offers a poultry saving of about £25, #3 offers a saving of almost £100! The system just doesn't discount as well if you apply before your birthday but don't ask for the policy to start until after, than if you apply after your birthday for a policy that starts immediately.

This was the same for my details - I was much better off waiting until after my birthday and applying for an immediate-start policy, than buying a policy before my birthday that wasn't due to start until afterwards.

As for the purpose of quoting systems... circumstances can be changed and there's no reason why people shouldn't be able to see what the cheapest option is and then see what they can change about their circumstances to make themselves fit as closely as possible with the criteria for the cheapest option.

Some person may really love driving, and maybe does 12,000 miles of just leisurely driving... but upon seeing that they could save £500 on their premium if they dropped to 6,000 miles, they might well decide to drive less.

Some person may really enjoy the convenience of commuting to work by car, but might see that by leaving their car garaged at home during the day instead of on street parking near their workplace they could save 20% on their premium, might decide to do that and pay slightly less than their saving on public transport.

For me, that criteria was that I wait a week until after my birthday and apply then to save a lot of money, and I wouldn't have known about that option if I hadn't used the quoting system to check.

There really is no reason why we shouldn't be able to see the cheapest option and then mould our driving practices, our policy timings, etc, to get ourselves the best deals.

I'm not saying we should lie to get the lowest price, I'm saying that if we can get a lower price by actually changing our circumstances, then we should be able to. And the only way to know if that's possible is to get multiple quotes with all the different circumstances you could possibly shape yourself into.

MarkyMarkD

I think your comments and analysis indicate bugs in Elephant's quotation engine. Perhaps if you write to tell them and 'volunteer' for some testing consultancy, they might give you some free insurance!

GSMAnon

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

I think your comments and analysis indicate bugs in Elephant's quotation engine. Perhaps if you write to tell them and 'volunteer' for some testing consultancy, they might give you some free insurance!

Maybe. But I find most of how they calculate premiums to be fairly ridiculous and opportunistic.

If I find something like this, how are we to know what's a 'bug' and what can just be put down to the craziness and arbitrarily preferred criteria of insurance companies?

bob_a_builder

But I find most of how they calculate premiums to be fairly ridiculous and opportunistic

Likewise

yesterday i was looking for some cheaper insurance for my son, yesterday was getting quotes of 2600
Today the very same info is returning quote of 3200 from same company (admiral)

The email notification from confused does urge you to buy ASAP saying things like
"Act today to beat rising premiums"
"Prices are on the rise - get your best day today"
"but you'll need to act quickly. Premiums are rising by 25p a day"

25p a day I could live with !

mikey72

bob_a_builder wrote: »

Likewise

yesterday i was looking for some cheaper insurance for my son, yesterday was getting quotes of 2600
Today the very same info is returning quote of 3200 from same company (admiral)

The email notification from confused does urge you to buy ASAP saying things like
"Act today to beat rising premiums"
"Prices are on the rise - get your best day today"
"but you'll need to act quickly. Premiums are rising by 25p a day"

25p a day I could live with !

Did you use his real details, or a dummy name and address?

Willow_K

Now, if what you had suggested was true, I'd expect to see the same saving on #2 as I did on #3, but for some unknown reason, that's not the case. But that's not the case... #2 offers a poultry saving of about £25, #3 offers a saving of almost £100! The system just doesn't discount as well if you apply before your birthday but don't ask for the policy to start until after, than if you apply after your birthday for a policy that starts immediately.

Originally Posted by MarkyMarkD
I think your comments and analysis indicate bugs in Elephant's quotation engine. Perhaps if you write to tell them and 'volunteer' for some testing consultancy, they might give you some free insurance!

I don't think it is a bug- immediate start policies, in my experience, do tend to be cheaper.

I got renewal quotes this year a few weeks before insurance was due to start, but didn't get round to purchasing. Day before renewal, I was phoning round for quotes and my renewal with my current insurers was about £50 less than the renewal price quoted a few weeks earlier.

The guy on the phone who sorted the policy for me, said that they always reduce the closer you get to renewal. He didn't know why.

Parking_Trouble

Why not call the FOS and raise a complaint against the Admiral Group?

It doesn't sound like fair treatment of the consumer to me.

olly300

Parking_Trouble wrote: »

Why not call the FOS and raise a complaint against the Admiral Group?

It doesn't sound like fair treatment of the consumer to me.

It's a commercial decision which means none of the regulators will touch it.

bob_a_builder

Did you use his real details, or a dummy name and address?

All details where/are correct and true data

I know same data was used too, since if you know confused you will know it keeps a log of your quotes and the price and you can go back to any one of then and either press button to edit or see prices, it was pressing the see prices which then when the the search again and brought up the new higher prices

The only way I can still see the lower prices is in the email which they sent yesterday, and using the link from in that will take me back into the site with a search results page showing the expected (lower price)

bob_a_builder

And todays quote is £2310 ...

so so far we have has
£2500 ish
£3200 ish
and now £2300 ish

in the space of 3 days