Surely it should be possible to get an insurance quote anonymously?

[krummyday]

When getting car/home insurance quotes, you have to enter a lot of personal information. Most of the information is relevant to the quote, but personal details like your name, contact details and exact address (rather than just postcode) usually aren't. They don't need to email me the quote - I'm happy to just see it on screen and perhaps download it - but of course they want my contact details for profiling and data mining. I'd prefer to only give these details to the company I decide to purchase from, not all the others.

In the past I used false names and throwaway email addresses, but now they seem to recognise that and tell me (after filling in the whole form) that they can't give me a quote.

Does this bother you too? I feel it should be a legal right to get a quote with only the minimum data required.

It used to be possible. Then it changed. Is it ok if I mourn that?

They get most of it by charging the insurance companies a fee per policy.

Absolutely but if you don't sign a policy then they don't earn money

I always invert a couple of numbers in the phone number. It's not necessary for the actual quote and stops me getting a load of nuisance calls when they sell your info.

So someone else is getting them instead?

Isn't there always a box to check to say whether you do or don't want to be contacted?

I vote YANBU.

The insurance industry in Britain has repeatedly proven itself untrustworthy. I think it's more likely than not that name is being used as a proxy for discrimination based on sex and race, no doubt hidden behind claims about "statistical analysis".

You may well find that people who default on their credit cards are more likely to suffer a loss event, so this is relevant information for the insurers.

If I pay for insurance up front then it is not a credit product. So genuine question, is it even legal for the price of something I buy to be set based on a credit check when I am not borrowing any money?

Often no - you can’t get to the quote without putting the number in, and if you tick the “please contact me by email” box, that doesn’t mean you don’t get multiple phone calls as well, IME.

When have you ever inputted your race into a comparison site? Data is not gathered on the race of previous claimants so how would it be rated on? 🙄

It’s quite well known that women used to get cheaper insurance than men (quite rightly because statistically accidents caused by men cost the UW more than accidents caused by women) but this was changed due to equality. The ONLY thing insurers can’t rate on is sex/gender.

Every other detail is rated on. It’s all calculated by statistics based on many many factors compiled by evidence.

Insurers are highly regulated by the FCA. Anyone who says otherwise does not have a clue.

Also it has already been explained that the soft credit check (not hard which is fine when paying monthly) is to help identify you. They help build a profile of your risk. If you’ve missed payments regularly then statistically you have a more chaotic life and more likely to have an accident. Yes it’s legal to do a soft check. It does not impact your score and can only be seen by yourself, no lenders can see it.

Yes.

But completely irrelevant today.