When applying for car insurance quotes, insurers always ask certain questions, and some of these are pretty self explanatory in terms of their relevance to your car insurance quote, like the type and age of your car and how many miles you drive each year, but some questions, like your address and age may seem irrelevant, so why do they need this information?
Below we explain why you need to divulge certain information, what insurers are using it for and the affect it can have on your car insurance quote.
Age
This is a way of working out how experienced you are. Statistically speaking, younger drivers have more accidents and so, make more claims, than older drivers, making them more of a risk to the car insurance company. Although it is not a steadfast way of determining likely cost of a customer – i.e. an older person may have only just passed their test – it is a fairly accurate way of working out the potential risks of a particular driver.
Gender
Again, it is to do with statistics – women are statistically safer drivers than men, are less likely to make a claim and this makes them cheaper to insure as a group. This is why there are now a number of specialist women's car insurance companies – they can afford to offer women cheaper car insurance due to the fact that they make fewer claims. Male drivers may also find that adding a woman as a named driver on their policy could lower their quote.
Address
Some areas or regions are more at risk in terms of car crime than other areas, and car insurance companies are well aware of this. For example, if you live in central London, and have to keep your car on the road, your vehicle is at more risk of being stolen, to a break in or an arson attack than someone who keeps their car in the garage in the Cotswolds. The safer your area, the cheaper your quote.
Job
There are certain occupations that are seen as higher risk than others, either due to the nature of the job itself, the hours worked or the area in which your car is going to be left as a result of your job, and car insurance companies arrange quotes taking this into account. For example, footballers, comedians minicab drivers, national press journalists and builders are all seen as high risk whereas police officers are seen as safer drivers, as are computer consultants, paramedics, bank managers, doctors, lawyers, teachers and firemen.