Why are motor insurers reluctant to identify a drivers obvious skills?

boba1947

I have been driving for 50+ years, accident free, I have driven over 1.3 million miles, day/night motorway/town, I have driven Vans, Mini-busses (not commercially) petrol/diesel powered, large cars small cars, spent time as a driving instructor, yet when it comes to getting a quote for car insurance I find that there is no category, tick box or proviso that identifies a 'good driver'. When I point out my driving record or evidence of personal skills, I am told that I have been lucky! 50 years lucky? Where does one find an insurer that is prepared to accept that, its not luck that keeps people safe, its skill! Over the years I have paid 10's of thousands of pounds for insurance, for nothing. How do you find a fare insurer?    boba1947

[Deleted User]

Your premium is based on your history which obviously accounts for driving skill to some extent.

But you're looking for an insurer who would organise a personal ssessment for you.  Customers aren't prepared to pay the hundreds of pounds extra this would cost, just to save a fiver.

And its only recent history that is of any relevance.

You haven't paid tends of thousands for nothing though.  You received insurance in return, like everyone else.

Sandtree

If they had a question "are you a good driver" what proportion of people do you think would tick that box? How difficult, against such an ambiguous statement, do you think it would be to argue someone isnt "a good driver"?

Insurers do consider your history in that they ask how long you've had your license, what motoring convictions you have, how many years have you been claim free and from that they measure your risk (or how good a driver you are) and set the premiums.

There is an element of luck however, the best driver in the world can park their car at Tesco and find someone has driven into it when they get back and not left a note/not on CCTV and so have to make a fault claim.

mr_stripey

well done on 50+ years accident free. You may well be a good driver but a certain amount of luck is needed to avoid all collisions and claims. 
Of course if you are now approaching 70 or beyond then it is likely your risk profile will start to creep up again anyway. You may be fit and alert but the average 70 year old driver is probably a slightly higher risk than the average 40 year old driver. My father's insurance premiums reflected this - after a lifetime with a "good" record, once he got to his mid 70's the insurance premium price got higher each year (much more so than the usual increase)

dunstonh

How much extra are you willing to pay to employ the actuarial detail required to price such things and the staffing and time issues involved in sorting that information out?

Aretnap

I can't see why any insurer would want to give anyone credit for not having had an accident 50 years ago, for all sorts of reasons
(1) There's no way for them to check whether or not you are telling the truth - who has records going that far back? 
(2) What your driving was like as a teenager is not really relevant to how you drive as a pensioner. I'm a very different person to the one I was as a teenager; I'm sure that you are too. 
(3) if they did give you a discount for not having crashed your car 50 years ago, the flip side would be that if you'd had an accident while Showaddywaddy were top of the charts you'd still be having to declare it, and pay extra because of it, five decades on. Presumably that would also be outrageous and unfair.
In other words, there are good reasons why insurers are only really interested in a few years of claims history. 

prowla

Your NCB and declared accidents are recent measures of how accident-worthy you are.

If you had great eyesight, awareness, and reflexes 50 years ago it doesn't mean you have now in your 60s/70s.

(I once saw Showaddywaddy at a works do - they were really good!)

Barny1979

Reminds me of the film Rain Man, "I'm an Excellent driver"

TELLIT01

The insurers do identify a driver's skills.  They give No Claim Discounts and the policy price isn't loaded because claims have been made.  The insurer starts from a base position of assuming / hoping a driver is competent and won't crash.

[Deleted User]

Not directed at you OP, but just a theoretical pondering...

I suspect there are plenty of drivers who should honestly say "I've never been in an accident, but I've seen a fair few in my rear view mirror" i.e. they think they are great drivers but caused many accidents. In the modern age of dash cams, bad drivers causing accidents and leaving the scene because they weren't directly involved are more likely to get caught, so someone with 50 years no claims isn't given £1 a year insurance because the insurer can't be sure.

I was once driving and an old man with 3 other oldies in the car pulled out from a side road in front of me and was lucky I was alert enough to brake and not hit him. However, if someone had gone into the back of me, yes they would get the blame but they might drag it out for ages arguing I braked randomly and the old guy who just disappears into the distance gets no blame at all even though his actions caused the braking through his bad driving - the dashcam would hold him to account

MalMonroe

Sandtree said:

If they had a question "are you a good driver" what proportion of people do you think would tick that box? How difficult, against such an ambiguous statement, do you think it would be to argue someone isnt "a good driver"?

Insurers do consider your history in that they ask how long you've had your license, what motoring convictions you have, how many years have you been claim free and from that they measure your risk (or how good a driver you are) and set the premiums.

There is an element of luck however, the best driver in the world can park their car at Tesco and find someone has driven into it when they get back and not left a note/not on CCTV and so have to make a fault claim.

No that's not true. You can make a no fault claim if you've been hit and the other motorist has left. Or vandals have departed, or whoever has done the damage has scarpered. Or is that just me, and/or the insurance policies I've paid for?!