Does this count as having insurance declined?

Cloth_of_Gold

I used a couple of comparion sites to get get some car insurance quotes but  before I accepted one I thought I would try an insurer that does not feature on the sites as you have have to ring up to get a quote. When I rang he asked me whether I owned the vehicle and my name and postcode - nothing else. He presumably put that info into his system because he said it's come up as 'declined'. I asked why and he said we don't really cover built up areas and presumably it considers your area is too high a risk and that was it, we got no further.

After I'd put the phone down though I worried about his use of the word 'declined'. I suppose what he was saying was that they were declining to quote based on my postcode, rather than that I personally had been declined insurance. Neverthless it made me worry that I have to declare this as being declined insurance, which I understand would make it very difficult to get insurance.

Hopefully I'm worrying about nothing and don't have to declare this as it not what insurers mean when they ask if you have you ever been declined insurance. I should be grateful, however, for advice from someone who knows for certain if this is the case.

cw8825

Decline to quote. Similar to the ones on comparison sites that decline to quote

incant think of an instance where insurance is declined but I’m sure others will clear that up

400ixl

You are worrying about nothing thankfully. Being declined a quote is not something you have to declare in the future.

DullGreyGuy

Cloth_of_Gold said:

I used a couple of comparion sites to get get some car insurance quotes but  before I accepted one I thought I would try an insurer that does not feature on the sites as you have have to ring up to get a quote. When I rang he asked me whether I owned the vehicle and my name and postcode - nothing else. He presumably put that info into his system because he said it's come up as 'declined'. I asked why and he said we don't really cover built up areas and presumably it considers your area is too high a risk and that was it, we got no further.

After I'd put the phone down though I worried about his use of the word 'declined'. I suppose what he was saying was that they were declining to quote based on my postcode, rather than that I personally had been declined insurance. Neverthless it made me worry that I have to declare this as being declined insurance, which I understand would make it very difficult to get insurance.

Hopefully I'm worrying about nothing and don't have to declare this as it not what insurers mean when they ask if you have you ever been declined insurance. I should be grateful, however, for advice from someone who knows for certain if this is the case.

Go onto Confused.com and do a quote, scroll to the bottom and you will see a load of insurers that haven't quoted... for me Saga will always be there as I am not old enough (yet). These are declining to quote which is a very different thing.

Insurance being declined, from an underwriting perspective, rather than claims, pretty much doesnt exist anymore. In the "good old days" before widespread computers and the internet you would see a broker, they would quote, you would accept, they would give you a cover note and send the details off to the insurer to ask them to produce the certificate of insurance. Occasionally they'd refuse, given you've already been driving for a week or so under this policy by virtue of the cover note this is a decline, they haven't declined to quote as the broker did that, but they have declined to issue a certificate. 

These days it doesnt work that way, via the internet systems talk to each other in milliseconds and cover notes are no longer used because the insurer can produce the certificate before you're webpage has even refreshed. 

Cloth_of_Gold

Thank you everyone. I thought it probably wasn't an issue but just wanted to check.

YorkieG

Hi everyone,

Just want to thank everyone who answered this, it is helpful.

I was a bit silly trying to compare quotes on a comparison site, was doubtful about the value of NCP with illustration showing up to 70% discount for +10 years no claims, so decided to try with 4 instead of 10, no where near 70% more expensive.

Requesting quotes with lower years on my no claims history must’ve triggered some insurers’ algorithm and flagged it as potential fraud though, some of the cheaper ones stopped appearing in future quotes (I run comparison almost daily for around 2 weeks, everyday is different).

Anyway, saved the cheapest quote from a few days back (By Allianz, who stopped providing quotes after my silly experiment) and followed the link, went through the insurer’s own website and completed everything, once I clicked on ‘Pay’, I got a ‘Declined’ message on the screen – No reference number, no contact details other than live chat for current policy holders and a phone number for claims. I'm neither.

I have since successfully purchased a policy from another insurer, ironically, underwritten by Allianz themselves, and they too stopped providing new quotes after my experiment.

The new policy doesn’t kick in for a few more days, I am still a bit concerned that their system might be processing the quote, last thing I need is for them to call last minute to say they can’t insure me, or even worse, cancel my policy after it starts and then I’d have to declare a cancelled policy.

Hopefully it will go through with no issues, and moral of the story: Comparison sites are a good way to tweak a quote for better prices, but don’t push your luck, otherwise the not-so-intelligent AI algorithm some insurers rely on will do you dirty.

I’m a bit reluctant about calling the new insurer in advance to tell them what happened before the policy starts, but on the other hand, don’t want to be caught off guard and have a policy cancelled. Would be appreciated if anyone can advise on best route here.

Thank you.