Insurance quotes became astonishingly high

alihd

Hi,

I used to have a provisional licence until the end of October. Before I passed my test, I used to check the quotes for a few cars with my provisional licence. The quotes were around £700-£900 for the small city cars (e.g. 107/Aygo), and around £1100-1300 for the family cars. The best quotes were normally from Admiral, elephant, etc. All reasonable. 

Then, I passed my test at the end of October, and no wonder the quotes increase once I stated that my licence was increased; still very reasonable prices. For example, £900-£1100 for city cars and £1200-£1400 for relatively larger cars such as Fiesta/Yaris.

However, since last week, I get really really high quotes, the best being at least £1800. This is because those insurance companies that used to offer the best prices like Admiral and Elephant (who used to have the best quotes), no longer appear in the results. 

I directly tried the Admiral website and put in my information, but on the last page, it did not show any quotes and gets stuck. I tried it a couple of times the next day, and this time it showed a banner, saying that I should call them for the quote. I did, and I asked whether I have been “banned” for getting so many quotes (200+, which should be normal when looking for a good cheap car) or if there is a cap of how many quotes I can get from them. The customer service said no, there is no such cap. However, he said that my driver licence information does not match with that of DVSA and hence the system is giving me a high price (without the licence information). He manually fixed this and set the licence (in the quote) as full licence, and then I got a reasonable price (£1150). 

So apparently, the provisional licence tag for my licence is ‘stuck’ in the system of the insurance companies, so whenever I try to get a quote, they check it with the DVSA data and since my data on DVSA is a “full licence”, the insurance companies face a “driving licence mismatch” error and hence give me a quote assuming they don’t have the licence information (which is high).  

Another weird thing he told me was that he said the quote was generated from comparethemarket. I said I've put my information in the Admiral website myself, but he said that's not what he can see. Apparently, this issue is not specific to Admiral, as many other insurance companies are confused by the same mismatch. WHY? 

Do you know any other website aside from confused and comparethemarket that is comprehensive enough and covers most of those companies? What’s the proper workaround for this nerve-racking issue? I can't call the companies and have a conversation for each car that I consider for buying.

JGB1955

alihd said:

 I asked whether I have been “banned” for getting so many quotes (200+, which should be normal when looking for a good cheap car) or if there is a cap of how many quotes I can get from them. 

This must be a wind-up...someone has far too much time on their hands.

Grumpy_chap

Getting over 200 quotes is not just normal shopping around and may have triggered some fraud markers.

Change of licence from provisional to full may take time to filter through all the respective systems and may give discrepancies in the mean time.

Provisional driver can not actually go out and drive without being accompanied by responsible driver, and will not do that many miles (normally).  Full license may go out at unsociable hours and drive, so simply the potential to use the car more may make you a higher risk.

Either way, it seems like you got a quote from Admiral now, so problem solved.

alihd

Grumpy_chap said:

Either way, it seems like you got a quote from Admiral now, so problem solved.

That quotes was for just one of the cars I was investigating. So no, it's not solved.
I think finding a good bargain requires checking a couple of ads every day and maybe I can buy a good one after a month or two. Am I searching the wrong way?

Ebe_Scrooge

alihd said:

That quotes was for just one of the cars I was investigating. So no, it's not solved.
I think finding a good bargain requires checking a couple of ads every day and maybe I can buy a good one after a month or two. Am I searching the wrong way?

I wouldn't be getting quotes for every car you like the look of (sounds like you've already got a fairly good idea of which cars are going to be reasonable to insure and which will be prohibitive) .  Of course it's eminently sensible to get an idea of the insurance costs before you sign on the dotted line.  But narrow it down to one or two cars that fit your requirements, and that you're genuinely on the point of putting in an offer for.  Then get a quote for that car.  If the insurance is affordable for you, then go ahead and buy the car.

ToxicWomble

JGB1955 said:

alihd said:

 I asked whether I have been “banned” for getting so many quotes (200+, which should be normal when looking for a good cheap car) or if there is a cap of how many quotes I can get from them. 

This must be a wind-up...someone has far too much time on their hands.

The OP has some “unconventional” methods/views  judging from their other threads

As already mentioned, insurance as a learner driver with provisional licence generally is cheaper than as a new driver on a full licence for the stated reasons.
Our Sons went up 4-500 on passing his test.

northwalesd

In one of his other threads, the OP says he already has a car.

OP, why are you getting quotes on lots of different cars if this is the case?

alihd

northwalesd said:

In one of his other threads, the OP says he already has a car.

When did I say I have a car? I was about to buy one. I think I said "suppose I have a car, then how can I take a test, blah blah"

alihd

A bit of search on the internet brought me back to an old post, surprisingly in this exact forum! 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3697793/name-blacklisted-for-car-insurance-with-admiral-group/p1
The problem looks the same. There is a chance that I have got blacklisted but still can get a quote via phone. Not sure why the customer service of Admiral witnessed a different issue (driving licence mismatch).
Probably the OP of that post wasn't blacklisted either and this is a 10-year-long bug somewhere.

northwalesd

alihd said:
When did I say I have a car? I was about to buy one. I think I said "suppose I have a car, then how can I take a test, blah blah"

My apologies OP, you did say you were going to buy a car, but you were also quite adamant that you were not going to use a driving instructor to take your test. I do find your threads, along with your approach to driving, quite baffling. I hope you manage to get your car and your insurance sorted to your satisfaction.

Grumpy_chap

alihd said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Either way, it seems like you got a quote from Admiral now, so problem solved.

That quotes was for just one of the cars I was investigating. So no, it's not solved.
I think finding a good bargain requires checking a couple of ads every day and maybe I can buy a good one after a month or two. Am I searching the wrong way?

I suggest not to get any more insurance quotes until you actually have a car.