Car insurance quote affecting credit score

Myk

Over the last month I've been shopping round for a new car. One of the factors is how much insurance it will cost and how much it could cost in the future to add my wife to it.

I have therefore had several different quotes from different comparison sites. Upon checking my credit score with Noddle today i find it has dropped by one point and 4 credit checks have appeared all for insurance, more will no-doubt be added over the next couple of weeks.

Any ideas on the best way of fixing this?

It makes shopping round a bit painfull.

dwsjarcmcd

There is no way of fixing it and they are "soft" searches which have no impact on your credit score or your future ability to get credit. Also it is not the comparison sites that run these checks but the insurers.

Wutang_2

Your Noddle score has dropped by one point? I just wanted to actually say that and not laugh....

chanz4

1 out of 5 drop, noddle score is worse than experians

adamc260

Some companies do soft searches to check your identity etc... Others do an actual check (Aviva).

Myk

Looks like i have a couple from Aviva and a car finance check that failed so that may be a factor. Noddle has been very helpfull so will see what they say. Its just frustrating that i'm doing everything i can to improve my rating that when it drops unexpectedly you panic lol.

Any idea how long the checks will remain a factor? Is it 1 month or 3 months?

meerkat1980

I am planning to get a quote from confused.com.

Will they search Experian and Equifax?...

If so, will these be soft searches or credit searches?

Many thanks:)

thenudeone

"hard" credit searches are only ever made when you actually apply for credit.

Remember - paying for your insurance over x months by direct debit is also a form of credit.

InsideInsurance

"Hard" searches can be performed for other purposes, Aviva and DLG quotes leave a hard footprint with the Type/ Reason as "insurance quote". I know there is another one but cannot remember its name right now.

The insurers are using credit rating as a rating factor in the premium calculation and so a soft identity conformation search is insufficient. It is of cause up to lenders if they consider these marks as something negative or positive or simply to be ignored

Experian_company_representative

As others have said, quotations - even for credit - should not leave the sort of footprint behind that affects credit scores. Only 'credit application' search footprints can be fed into scoring calculations. Perhaps there was some other change to your report that triggered the slight drop in your score. This could just be down to the passage of time.

James Jones

InsideInsurance

Interestingly when speaking to Experian Relationship Manager on behalf of my then client the RM would only say "shouldnt" rather than "wouldnt" which was almost a deal breaker