Car Insurance

ctal

I am with Churchill and took advice not to renew and looked for a new insurance company, filled all the person questions (which from now on will use fictitious names) and applied for a quote to LV Insurance, they quoted TWICE the amount that Churchill asked for - how can this be right, anyone looking for a renewal knows where not to go now.
Neil 

Sandtree

Because every insurance company has its own claims experience and its own commercial strategy.

You may find LV is twice as expensive as Churchill but another person may find LV is half the price of Churchill. Its the apparent variability of insurance pricing that has allowed the aggregator like Confused.com to flourish as a simple way to get many prices based on a single form however there are other complexities when adding aggregators into the mix... some insurers put only their budget/cut down policies on aggregators and sell their better quality policies via their own websites/telephones because those using aggregators tend to be more interested in price than quality. 

neilmcl

ctal said:

I am with Churchill and took advice not to renew and looked for a new insurance company, filled all the person questions (which from now on will use fictitious names) and applied for a quote to LV Insurance, they quoted TWICE the amount that Churchill asked for - how can this be right, anyone looking for a renewal knows where not to go now.
Neil 

Do what most people do and use the comparison sites and see what you come up with. When is your renewal? No need to use fictitious details if you're up for renewal.

Biggus_Dickus

It does seem a bit incongruous that car insurance companies, given the same parameters, can offer such vastly different quotes, but that’s how it is, and twas ever thus;...Car insurance pricing is a black art, imho.

 

 

Grumpy_chap

Biggus_Dickus said:

It does seem a bit incongruous that car insurance companies, given the same parameters, can offer such vastly different quotes, but that’s how it is, and twas ever thus;...Car insurance pricing is a black art, imho.

Not really.  Given the same parameters, Audi and Skoda will give vastly different prices for essentially the same product

Sandtree

Biggus_Dickus said:

It does seem a bit incongruous that car insurance companies, given the same parameters, can offer such vastly different quotes, but that’s how it is, and twas ever thus;...Car insurance pricing is a black art, imho.                                                                                                   

Go to the bookies and ask for the odds of a dozen random events all occurring and you will see that Ladbrooks also offers different odds to William Hill... same difference, they've access to the same information but assess the odds differently.

Biggus_Dickus

Sandtree said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

It does seem a bit incongruous that car insurance companies, given the same parameters, can offer such vastly different quotes, but that’s how it is, and twas ever thus;...Car insurance pricing is a black art, imho.                                                                                                   

Go to the bookies and ask for the odds of a dozen random events all occurring and you will see that Ladbrooks also offers different odds to William Hill... same difference, they've access to the same information but assess the odds differently.

Indeed they do,  but you rarely see a horse at 3/1 with Ladbrokes and 10/1 with William Hill;...however, car insurance quotes (for the same car) can vary hugely between the different companies, which I guess is the point of the OP’s thread starter.

AdrianC

It's very simple.

This insurer does not particularly want your business, so give a higher quote to dissuade you.

Sandtree

Biggus_Dickus said:

Sandtree said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

It does seem a bit incongruous that car insurance companies, given the same parameters, can offer such vastly different quotes, but that’s how it is, and twas ever thus;...Car insurance pricing is a black art, imho.                                                                                                   

Go to the bookies and ask for the odds of a dozen random events all occurring and you will see that Ladbrooks also offers different odds to William Hill... same difference, they've access to the same information but assess the odds differently.

Indeed they do,  but you rarely see a horse at 3/1 with Ladbrokes and 10/1 with William Hill;...however, car insurance quotes (for the same car) can vary hugely between the different companies, which I guess is the point of the OP’s thread starter

Horse racing isnt random enough though as you know there is one winner etc... motor insurance the probability of a claim in any year is less predictable and they cannot control the payout hence need a more compounded effect and so a fairer comparison would be combining less routine bets.

As others have mentioned however, odds are only one part of the equation (or the risk premium) but this can be adjusted to reflect other commercial considerations... I guess a bookies could decide they really want to get into betting on the Oscars and so offer preferential odds to try and attract customers... I am guessing betting rules however may stop them adjusting the odds based on how likely a customer is going to keep coming back to be a loyal customer.

NottinghamKnight

Sandtree said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

Sandtree said:

Biggus_Dickus said:

It does seem a bit incongruous that car insurance companies, given the same parameters, can offer such vastly different quotes, but that’s how it is, and twas ever thus;...Car insurance pricing is a black art, imho.                                                                                                   

Go to the bookies and ask for the odds of a dozen random events all occurring and you will see that Ladbrooks also offers different odds to William Hill... same difference, they've access to the same information but assess the odds differently.

Indeed they do,  but you rarely see a horse at 3/1 with Ladbrokes and 10/1 with William Hill;...however, car insurance quotes (for the same car) can vary hugely between the different companies, which I guess is the point of the OP’s thread starter

Horse racing isnt random enough though as you know there is one winner etc... motor insurance the probability of a claim in any year is less predictable and they cannot control the payout hence need a more compounded effect and so a fairer comparison would be combining less routine bets.

As others have mentioned however, odds are only one part of the equation (or the risk premium) but this can be adjusted to reflect other commercial considerations... I guess a bookies could decide they really want to get into betting on the Oscars and so offer preferential odds to try and attract customers... I am guessing betting rules however may stop them adjusting the odds based on how likely a customer is going to keep coming back to be a loyal customer.

Not sure whether betting rules allow them to adjust odds for individuals but if you start winning too often they'll ban you pretty quick. 

Ebe_Scrooge

Put simply, different companies have different risk appetites and different target markets.  New drivers are a particular case in point.  When my son first passed his test a few years ago, I helped him compare some meerkats - the quotes ranged from £600 to £8000, with some of the more well-known companies declining to offer a quote at all.  Aside from the huge number of variables and permutations that go into insurance pricing, companies often do have a preferred target market - some will simply not touch newly qualified drivers, for instance.