How to answer the insurance quote questions
Find out how car insurance quotes are calculated to help you answer the questions in the best way and get the lowest insurance quote
1. What questions will the insurer ask?
When the insurer calculates your car insurance, you will need to answer questions about you, your driving and the car you drive.
Your answers help the insurer to calculate the risk of you making a claim and the likely cost of such a claim.
Reading the questions below will allow you to understand what makes your insurance higher and how best to get a lower premium.
2. What is your age and how long have you been driving?
Young drivers between 17 and 25 are far more likely to have an accident and insurance companies give higher quotes to this age group to reflect the higher risk.
But if you drive safely and manage to avoid accidents, your No Claims Discount will reduce the cost by:
- 30% off after one year.
- 40% off after two years.
- 50% off after three years.
3. What is your address?
You won’t be able to get credit and spread the cost of your insurance if you are not on the electoral register.
Your postcode has a significant effect on your insurance quote you will pay more if you live in an area where crime is higher than in a lower risk area.
Do you live in a City or large town? Areas, where there are higher levels of traffic compared to the countryside, will attract dearer cost insurance.
You must inform your insurer if you spend more time at one address than another such as a student spending most time at College or University but giving their home address.
If you disclose incorrect information, your insurer may not pay out on a claim.
4. What is your job title?
Think before you tell the insurance company what you do for a living.
You must not lie about your work, but also don’t fall into the trap of upgrading your job title.
Despite most types of work having no direct bearing on driving skills or the risk of being in a car accident: Insurers consider some jobs to be “Racier” and more accident prone than others.
So, for instance, if you’re an Office Clerk working in an Estate Agent’s, tell the insurers “Office Clerk” don’t make out you’re an Estate Agent if you do the quote will be higher.
When calculating car insurance quotes insurers consider unemployment as an additional risk and the premium is higher.
5. Do you have a medical condition?
Insurance companies cannot charge extra for if you have a medical condition providing your driving licence does not have restrictions.
You need to inform DVLA of any health conditions affecting your driving
If you hold a restricted driving licence, the insurer can consider this when calculating your insurance.
6. Do you have any Points on your driving licence?
The insurer will ask for details of any driving convictions you have received in the previous 3 to 5 years.
If you have points on your driving licence, insurers will class you as a higher risk driver and your premiums will cost more.
Insurers each have their methods when accessing an endorsement on your licence, but typically an offence such as drink-driving is always going to be considered worse than for minor speeding.
7. Have you claimed in the past three years?
Insurers will ask how many claims you have made for the last three to five years.
They will require details of any claim including:
- Date.
- Who’s fault.
- Value of claim.
The more claims you make, the higher this will impact on the amount of the insurance quote.
When you don’t claim on your policy, insurers reward you with a no-claims bonus this has a significant effect on reducing the cost of your insurance.
8. What is the make and model of your car?
The car you drive is often the most significant single factor when insurers calculate the cost of your premium.
Every car has an an insurance group rating numbered between 1 and 50 by the Association of British Insurers based on:
- Repair and parts costs.
- Performance acceleration and top speed.
- Does the car have security such as alarm, immobiliser and trackers?
The lower the group rating your car has, the less the insurance quote will be.
9. What is the value of the car?
A higher value car will be more to repair or renew after an accident or theft so you would expect the insurance will cost more as well.
10. Does the car have any modifications?
Some younger drivers modify their car’s it can look great and may even increase the car’s value.
Unfortunately, the insurance companies don’t like non-factory add-ons such as alloy wheels and body kits and are likely to punish you when they calculate your quote.
11. Does your car have an alarm, tracker or immobiliser?
Insurers want to know your car has a fitted security device before deciding what to charge for a policy.
The more security your car has, the less the risk of theft and you can expect a lower insurance quote.
12. Where will the car be parked overnight?
If you park in a garage or on a driveway you’ll get a lower quote; the car will be less likely to be stolen than leaving the vehicle on the road.
13. For what purpose do you use the car?
The reason you use the car can have a significant effect on the calculation for your insurance quote.
Uses:
- Social, domestic & pleasure – day-to-day is driving such as to visit family and friends, go shopping or on holiday in the UK.
- Social, Domestic, Pleasure and Commuting – covers for social, domestic & pleasure PLUS driving to one fixed place of work and parking such as at a railway station.
- Business use – Allows you to use the car for your work and drive to more than one place.
- Commercial travelling – Allows you to carry goods and use the car for things such as door-to-door sales.
Driving your car for any use above social and domestic will increase the cost of the insurance premium.
You will receive a higher insurance quote if you use your car to commute or for business because driving extra miles will increase the risk to the insurer.
14. What is your annual mileage?
The more miles you drive, the higher the chance you have of being involved in an accident. So, the higher your mileage, the more your insurance quotation will be.
But don’t underestimate your mileage in the hope of getting a lower quote because insurers often consider young drivers that drive fewer miles may be more likely to have an accident.
The best advice is to give a correct assessment of your annual mileage.
15. Should you add a named driver?
Yes, adding one experienced driver to your policy such as a parent is likely to reduce the cost of your insurance premium.
16. Do you want to add a voluntary excess to your policy?
Your insurance policy will have a Compulsory Excess that you have to pay on a claim that is deemed to be your fault.
You also have the opportunity to add a Voluntary Excess which can significantly reduce the amount of your insurance premium.
*51% of consumers could save £333.50: on their Car Insurance. The saving was calculated by comparing the cheapest price found with the average of the next three cheapest prices quoted by insurance providers on Seopa Ltd’s insurance comparison website. This is based on representative cost savings from September 2022 data. The savings you could achieve are dependent on your individual circumstances and how you selected your current insurance supplier.
Autedia Limited is an appointed representative (for insurance) of Seopa Limited, authorised and regulatedby the Financial Conduct Authority under (Firm Reference Number 313860). You can check this on the FCA Financial Services Register.