Insurance quote based on spec of car

Mister Jingles

What's up with insurance companies giving quotes based on the spec of a car ? Car I'm looking at with one particular engine and power output could cost me nearly 700 to 1500 more then one that is a paddy spec but with the exact same engine ?

I was never aware that having alloys, elelectric windows, A/C ect is more risk then a car without any of those.

Mint Sauce

Mister Jingles wrote: »

What's up with insurance companies giving quotes based on the spec of a car ? Car I'm looking at with one particular engine and power output could cost me nearly 700 to 1500 more then one that is a paddy spec but with the exact same engine ?

I was never aware that having alloys, elelectric windows, A/C ect is more risk then a car without any of those.

Car is more attractive to thieves?

visual

Welcome to rip off Ireland

Someone bound to defend the insurance companies saying its increased risk

As the optional exteas aren't safety issue the only plausible excuse is theft and it takes some stretch of the imagination to justify the extra premium.

SniperSight

What insurance company?

MugMugs

Any specifics op?

Mister Jingles

MugMugs wrote: »

Any specifics op?

Only the differences between the highline and se and gt spec in the tdi Golfs. The highline been the cheapest.

MugMugs

Mister Jingles wrote: »

Only the differences between the highline and se and gt spec in the tdi Golfs. The highline been the cheapest.

To tune of a hundred euro or two one could potentially defend the position as it'd cost them more to replace the motor should it burn out or be nicked but in the long and the short of it, there is no real logic behind €1500 extra for a nicely specced Diesel Golf.

Was the extreme price difference consistent across all Insurers that you tried?

kona

Hold on they quote over 1,500 on a diesel golf!? That's comical.
Maybe they are getting loaded due to being the next gen civic with all the heads driving them?

oldyouth

The insurer is profiling you as much as the car. They are assessing the type of person who would be interested in owning such a vehicle

Mister Jingles

MugMugs wrote: »

To tune of a hundred euro or two one could potentially defend the position as it'd cost them more to replace the motor should it burn out or be nicked but in the long and the short of it, there is no real logic behind €1500 extra for a nicely specced Diesel Golf.

Was the extreme price difference consistent across all Insurers that you tried?

I know, that's what I was thinking too but the difference I got between the highline and gt-tdi was roughly 1500. Same 130 bhp engine. Thats just and online quote with a well know broker from Donegal which I have always found to be accurate and very little difference even if you were to ring them up.

Fair enough I can tell the difference between a gt tdi and normal golf but I'm unable to tell the difference between the rest of them which is very annoying for when I start shipping around.

Anan1

Mister Jingles wrote: »

I know, that's what I was thinking too but the difference I got between the highline and gt-tdi was roughly 1500. Same 130 bhp engine. Thats just and online quote with a well know broker from Donegal which I have always found to be accurate and very little difference even if you were to ring them up.

There arestill all sorts of glitches with on online quotes, if you want a real quote then ring them.

Mister Jingles

oldyouth wrote: »

The insurer is profiling you as much as the car. They are assessing the type of person who would be interested in owning such a vehicle

But were talking about the difference between a car having alloys or hubcaps or front fogs or not.

Scortho

Mister Jingles wrote: »

But were talking about the difference between a car having alloys or hubcaps or front fogs or not.

As far as I know Insurance takes into account claims per vehicle when doing your quote.
So if that car has more claims in a year, it's a higher risk car so it's going to be higher.

On paper there's no way my alfa should only be 200 quid more to insure than the polo as it's 4 times more powerful. Either liberty really feckin like alfa v6's or a smaller percentage of them have claims made against them.

oldyouth

Mister Jingles wrote: »

But were talking about the difference between a car having alloys or hubcaps or front fogs or not.

Some insurers will take different action for red or black models of the same car compared to blue, white, green etc. Same for hatchback versions compared to saloons

thehouses

oldyouth wrote: »

The insurer is profiling you as much as the car. They are assessing the type of person who would be interested in owning such a vehicle

Agreed, they base their premiums on previous claims and people driving certain types of cars must have had more claims. Online quotes are not great - it is best to ring them up. I have a list made up that I use every year which contains phone numbers and questions to ask etc.

sean1141

Mister Jingles wrote: »

I know, that's what I was thinking too but the difference I got between the highline and gt-tdi was roughly 1500. Same 130 bhp engine. Thats just and online quote with a well know broker from Donegal which I have always found to be accurate and very little difference even if you were to ring them up.

Fair enough I can tell the difference between a gt tdi and normal golf but I'm unable to tell the difference between the rest of them which is very annoying for when I start shipping around.

Is it a mk4 golf?

djimi

Mister Jingles wrote: »

I know, that's what I was thinking too but the difference I got between the highline and gt-tdi was roughly 1500. Same 130 bhp engine. Thats just and online quote with a well know broker from Donegal which I have always found to be accurate and very little difference even if you were to ring them up.

Fair enough I can tell the difference between a gt tdi and normal golf but I'm unable to tell the difference between the rest of them which is very annoying for when I start shipping around.

If its the same broker in Donegal that Im thinking of them they gave me two quotes of nearly a grand apart for the exact same car (not model, the actual car) about six weeks apart.

I have found that getting a quote from them is a bit of a lottery as you could get a very good one or a wildly ridiculous quote, with no real reason for variation.

dr.fuzzenstein

Mister Jingles wrote: »

What's up with insurance companies giving quotes based on the spec of a car ? Car I'm looking at with one particular engine and power output could cost me nearly 700 to 1500 more then one that is a paddy spec but with the exact same engine ?

I was never aware that having alloys, elelectric windows, A/C ect is more risk then a car without any of those.

I suppose they say "He's got money for all those lovely extras, sure he's got a few extra quid for us too!"
I wouldn't declare A/C if it bombed my premium.

SniperSight

Funnily enough, a relative of mine was told by a person in her insurance company that they base their insurance on the engine size ONLY.
I suspect though this is because they now have to pay out for the car and this is an excuse to cut the value of the car by half, and act like its a base spec model, despite the car having every possible extra and genuinely being one of a kind in the country.
Insurance will tell you one thing before you buy and will do everything in their power to f*ck you over when it comes time to receive the service you've been overpaying for.

For the record, it was Zurich who claimed this was their method of valuation.

Anan1

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

I wouldn't declare A/C if it bombed my premium.

Why would you pay money for no cover?

djimi

Anan1 wrote: »

Why would you pay money for no cover?

Realistically what insurance company is ever going to have grounds to refuse payment for non-declaration of A/C?

Why would you even need to declare it in the first place, unless its an after market add-on (ie not part of the original spec of the car)?

Anan1

djimi wrote: »

Realistically what insurance company is ever going to have grounds to refuse payment for non-declaration of A/C?

Why would you even need to declare it in the first place, unless its an after market add-on (ie not part of the original spec of the car)?

Realistically A/C isn't going to bomb his premium.

Cuddlesworth

SniperSight wrote: »

Funnily enough, a relative of mine was told by a person in her insurance company that they base their insurance on the engine size ONLY.
I suspect though this is because they now have to pay out for the car and this is an excuse to cut the value of the car by half, and act like its a base spec model, despite the car having every possible extra and genuinely being one of a kind in the country.
Insurance will tell you one thing before you buy and will do everything in their power to f*ck you over when it comes time to receive the service you've been overpaying for.

For the record, it was Zurich who claimed this was their method of valuation.

Lol, not a chance in hell that Zurich pays its actuaries stupid high salaries to make calculations simply on the engine size of a car. If it was Quinn I consider it.

Insurance company's quotes are figure relating to the risk and cost of a accident based on a set amount of variables. That figure is then subjected to market research and other useless jobs, examples of which are determining the correct demographics the company wants to target as customers. The original figure is massaged either way to reflect this and a accountant somewhere makes it so that there is a still a reasonable profit margin at the end and the overall risk isn't above the income.

Then to make sure that everything will be ok, the insurance company insures itself based on the figures above.

visual

Its a pity there is not more transparency in the insurance industry and a level playing field when calculating prices.

There is every combination possible real or imagery use to justify higher premiums.

The one I thing is a con is asking you to value your car, base the policy cover on this price then if car is to be replaced they have an internal book price sometimes refered to as trade price of car that is much lower than insured price.

Standard extras should be covered in the value you insure the car for not yet another way to add extra charges on to price.

I really think a lot of insurance companies are too creative adding on extra charges.

SniperSight

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Lol, not a chance in hell that Zurich pays its actuaries stupid high salaries to make calculations simply on the engine size of a car. If it was Quinn I consider it.

Insurance company's quotes are figure relating to the risk and cost of a accident based on a set amount of variables. That figure is then subjected to market research and other useless jobs, examples of which are determining the correct demographics the company wants to target as customers. The original figure is massaged either way to reflect this and a accountant somewhere makes it so that there is a still a reasonable profit margin at the end and the overall risk isn't above the income.

Then to make sure that everything will be ok, the insurance company insures itself based on the figures above.

Ya, I know its bogus and so does my relative. But I'm just saying thats what she was told when she was questioning the amount they were offering to pay out.

Mister Jingles

sean1141 wrote: »

Is it a mk4 golf?

Yep

djimi wrote: »

If its the same broker in Donegal that Im thinking of them they gave me two quotes of nearly a grand apart for the exact same car (not model, the actual car) about six weeks apart.

I have found that getting a quote from them is a bit of a lottery as you could get a very good one or a wildly ridiculous quote, with no real reason for variation.

The is then which quote will be picked, the cheaper one of the F off one.

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

I suppose they say "He's got money for all those lovely extras, sure he's got a few extra quid for us too!"
I wouldn't declare A/C if it bombed my premium.

Wouldn't surprise me :pac:

When I said A/C i didn't mean declaring it, I just meant that some basic spec cars in the 00s don't have A/C, fogs ect

sean1141

Mister Jingles wrote: »

Yep

Are you insuring it as a gt tdi?

Mister Jingles

sean1141 wrote: »

Are you insuring it as a gt tdi?

I dunno what I'll end up with so I cant really answer that.

sean1141

Mister Jingles wrote: »

I dunno what I'll end up with so I cant really answer that.

If your going to buy a 'gt tdi' check the data sticker in the boot. It will look like this


That is for a 150bhp highline golf. I bet if you look at any gt tdi they will say highline on this so that is what I would be insuring them as