Wildly different quotes from the same company

Redlander

I intend to change my home insurance provider and am inclined to favour Aviva because of their ethical reputation. I have requested quotes from the Aviva website more than once and am perplexed that the different quotes are wildly different. The first one was £201.82 (which is roughly half what I am currently paying) and the second was £525.51. I felt nervous about accepting the cheaper quote in case the cover is somehow deficient, and yet the higher quote seemed extortionate. I rang Aviva and the agent assured me that the cover in the two quotes was identical, but couldn't explain why the premiums were different.

Does anyone know what is going on?

luci

Did you get the quotes with Aviva direct on their own website?

One thing I would check is that the second quote hasn't cancelled the previous quote. I had something similar a few years ago. Fortunately, I still had the email with the lower quote attached and I was able to use the link in that to get the lower price.

One thing I have found with Aviva for car insurance, is that they gradually increase the quote by quite a lot the nearer it gets to the policy start date.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656109/wildly-different-quotes-from-the-same-company

You need to give a lot more detail on what you've done.

Aviva has many brands (Aviva, Quote Me Happy, Direct Line, Churchill, Aviva Zero etc), different brands distribute via different channels (telephone, online, aggregators, brokers) and each channel can have different products.

Their products range from fairly basic just the core coverages all the way up to UHNW policies via Lloyds that have a minimum premium of £25,000 (and normally much higher)

Pricing is formally reviewed frequently, it can also be dynamic so if they suddenly start selling a ton of policies to people in SE1 they may automatically start increasing the price as there may be a mistake as you shouldn't be selling to 95% of people doing a quote. Prices also change over time, someone shopping on the day of their renewal is going to be shown a higher price than someone quoting 28 days out.

Insurers are also concerned about both quote manipulation and "rate raiding" (competitors doing quotes to work out their pricing model). Insurers may automatically load prices if they see the same person doing lots of quotes, especially if they are changing things that should be immutable like if you made a claim or not or if your engagement ring is worth more than £2k or not.

Redlander

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81892004#Comment_81892004

I got both quotes from www.direct.aviva.co.uk. The second did not cancel the first.

luci

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81893530#Comment_81893530

That's good. I got Aviva quotes 2 years ago, through Topcashback / Confused.com comparison site. I bought the policy 24 days ahead at £169. When I did a dummy quote at 14 days ahead, it was £253.

My car insurance is due today. I again got quotes via Topcashback / Confused.com 24 days ahead. The top 5 or 6 quotes were from Aviva. I opted for the Aviva Gold policy, which is one of their comparison site policies, and it was £229, £20 less than last year. I'll also get £45 cashback from TCB. I made sure it had windscreen cover, etc and added legal cover, which I don't normally take, as it was only a few quid more.

vldmrs

That does sound odd, but it’s actually not that unusual these days.

Even if the cover looks identical, small differences in the quote details (start date, how questions are answered, even timing between quotes) can change the price quite a bit. Insurers also tweak pricing constantly in the background.

Sometimes it can even be things like:
– How long since you last ran a quote
– Cookies / quote history
– Slight differences in assumptions behind the scenes

If the agent confirmed the cover is the same, it’s likely just pricing variation rather than anything missing.

If it were me, I’d rerun it carefully once more (same details, clear cookies or use incognito) and go with the lower one if it comes back again 👍