Car purchase date incorrectly set by Compare The Market raises quote by 25%

TedFisk

Just been trying to renew my car insurance. As expected my current provider put their quote up by a chunky sum so I went to CTM and got better quotes. Went to current insurer to cancel, and it turned out CTM doesn't even give them the purchase date of the car (not that it should matter) so they randomly fill it in to today's date. Set it correctly and hey presto! 200 more on the quote.

* !!!!!!? Why does this matter?
* If it matters, why don't CTM record it?
* If  I make a claim will it be denied?
* I bet there are thousands of insurance policies out there with this information incorrectly completed!

Insurance is nuts.

DullGreyGuy

Compare the Market does ask when you bought the car, its the 1st question on the 2nd page, if you click the "haven bought the car yet" then it may put in todays date for the sake of having something to pass 

It matters as analysis shows that people's claims history changes based on how long they've owned their vehicle. 

cw8825

* !!!!!!? Why does this matter? - 
* If it matters, why don't CTM record it? - 
* If  I make a claim will it be denied? - t
* I bet there are thousands of insurance policies out there with this information incorrectly completed! - 

insurers see you having the car for longer  more experience with it, and you will know it better and set premium accordingly 

ON CTM the first question about the vehicle usage is how long you have owned the vehicle. quite hard to miss

best case they would likely require any additional premium before dealing with the claim. worst case invoke the fraud clause void the policy and keep the premium paid

before purchasing it does ask you to check all the information that has been used to generate the quote

TedFisk

Thanks for your comments

insurers see you having the car for longer  more experience with it, and you will know it better and set premium accordingly

Its the other way round! Price goes up with experience.

ON CTM the first question about the vehicle usage is how long you have owned the vehicle. quite hard to miss

You're right, but the data isn't being passed to the insurer. I have a set of saved data on CTM, so the value (April 2021) in that field was filled in when I created it 3 years ago. My current insurer has a recorded date of 11/4/23 (the date I retrieved the quote and bought the policy) and my quotes from today have a recorded purchase date on today! These are two unrelated insurance companies so I assume the problem is at the CTM end (though its possible the two companies are using some sort of generic service)

TedFisk

if you click the "haven bought the car yet" then it may put in todays date for the sake of having something to pass 

Reckon you've got it. I probably created the profile before I bought the car, and its been merrily filling in 'haven't bought the car yet' ever since. Its definitely a gotcha.

400ixl

Its not really a gotcha as you should link through to the insurance quotes you get and go through them end to end making sure all of the data has transferred correctly. You are responsible for that not CTM. Only once you have done this should you take the price given as one which is correct and contractable.

TedFisk

You're right that there is a disclaimer. Nevertheless, CTM are giving me a set of automated renewal quotes on the basis that I still haven't bought the car. This is plainly nonsensical and a technical fault with the website. Perhaps I'll email them and let them know.