Assumptions turned upside down

Strummer22

My wife and I probably park our cars on the driveway half the time and on the road half the time. When renewing our insurance, I just assumed that driveway would be safer and therefore cheaper. But when I select 'road', the renewal dropped by a fairly significant amount, about £20 per car. Who'd have thunk it? Are you really less likely to claim if you car is kept on the road rather than the drive?

agrinnall

It may be that you are less likely to be the victim of a break in and taking the car keys, if you park on the drive the thieves know the keys are likely to be for your car, if you're on the street they would have to search for it.

Tanarif

I'm not 100% sure what thought processing goes into insurance quotes however I wouldn't be surprised if they consider not actually the physical benefit of the car being in the drive, but instead the amount of claims on cars in the drive vs road. Logically, I'd think inside the drive would be safer, but if in your local area, more claims happen on cars in the drive, they see the numbers and price accordingly.

dacouch

Tanarif wrote: »

I'm not 100% sure what thought processing goes into insurance quotes however I wouldn't be surprised if they consider not actually the physical benefit of the car being in the drive, but instead the amount of claims on cars in the drive vs road. Logically, I'd think inside the drive would be safer, but if in your local area, more claims happen on cars in the drive, they see the numbers and price accordingly.

Of course this is how an Insurer prices up between drives and parking on the road.

Interestingly, you'll find different Insurers find different results from their own client database and some will charge more for parking on the road against parking on a drive

rs65

Tanarif wrote: »

I'd think inside the drive would be safer

but getting in and out the drive might cause more claims.

System

May be people who park in the road make fewer claims of lower value because they value their cars less? Whereas those owning a pride and joy like to keep it in their own drive so that they can watch it and go out and polish it frequently?

dunstonh

But when I select 'road', the renewal dropped by a fairly significant amount, about £20 per car. Who'd have thunk it?

Parking on the road has a bumper damage risk typically. Parking on the drive has a greater total loss risk than parking on the road.

dacouch

It all comes down to what is the bottom line for payments out in claims to either drive or public road for each individual Insurer.

It's not the sort of information Insurers share with other competing businesses.

agrinnall

dunstonh wrote: »

Parking on the drive has a greater total loss risk than parking on the road.

Do you know why that is? It seems counter-intuitive, as it must be less likely that a car on a drive will be run into than one on the road.

dunstonh

agrinnall wrote: »

Do you know why that is? It seems counter-intuitive, as it must be less likely that a car on a drive will be run into than one on the road.

Its not damage that is the major cost. It is theft. A car on the drive tells the thief where the keys are kept. A car on the street does not.

In areas of high car theft, parking on drive can be more expensive than parking on street.

Strummer22

Interesting theories, thanks ppl. I live in a top floor flat and consider risk of burglary pretty low!

Although it took a bit of time to go through the options, the fact that you can update your quote online means you can play with the settings to get the best quote. As I said in the first post, both road and drive are accurate for us. Also, my wife does not work and claims ESA; there are 3 options that are technically true for her: just unemployed, unemployed due to disability/illness, and full/part time student (just forked out the deposit for course fees the other day). Turns out the third option is cheapest. Definitely worth going through and seeing which options give you the cheapest quote, so long as you don't stretch the truth too far.

Also if your profession/area of employment could have more than one definition, try playing around with that too.