Denied quote without a reason given?

brimur69

This is more of a curiosity than anything for me. Can insurance companies just not give a reason when they refuse to quote you?

I just tried to get a quote from its4women.ie and they would not quote me. I'm driving 20 years with a clean license, no penalty points or claims and I got a message saying...

"Unfortunately we are unable to quote for your circumstances at this present time as you fall outside of our underwriting criteria.... We (its4women.ie) are not made aware of the underwriting criteria as it is confidential to the underwriter"

So they are saying they wont quote me and will not say why? Based on my clean driving history,full NCB, no points,no claims the only criteria I can think of that would be that I am a man. Am I wrong? It seems like they are using the underwriter criteria and its "confidentiality" to get around the gender equality thing.

I was sent in circles also, I tried the website and failed so my interest was piqued. I then rang their contact number only to be told they do not take incoming calls and to use the live chat. When I used the live chat I was told I can only be quoted on the website and to use that. Hilarious. :rolleyes:

godtabh

are you a women?

mcgiggles

I got the same from them when shopping around for quotes this year. The reason they gave me was that my car was written off in England before I bought it. I told them yes that I knew this, it was a low grade write off (aesthetic only) and they insisted I had to send them my log book and my nct cert. I sent them my log book and a copy of my nct disc and they said no that they needed the actual cert one is not valid without the other (car was nct'd when I bought it, didn't have cert!) that I would have to contact the nct centre to get a copy sent out. They took forever to come back to me to tell me this (i called/messaged and talked to them 4 or 5 times) that by the time I got all the info from them I wouldnt have time to get a cert sent out to me. Surely if the disc is enough for the guards its enough for the insurance company.

Anyways something must have changed in the last year with their requirements because the year before this when I was going to buy the car they didn't ask me for any of this! (Didn't end up going with them that year either!)

brimur69

@godtabh No I am a man, that was my point above

@mcgiggles My car is relatively new, a PCP car, so I would doubt its the car

BrokenArrows

brimur69 wrote: »

@godtabh No I am a man, that was my point above

@mcgiggles My car is relatively new, a PCP car, so I would doubt its the car

Maybe the problem is in the description. "Its For Women"

challengemaster

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Maybe the problem is in the description. "Its For Women"

Which would be illegal discrimination...

Colser

I got the same and I'm a woman,I pushed for an explanation but she just kept saying that I fall outside their criteria.I'd be guessing it's the car,is it in the perceived fast/sporty range?

BrokenArrows

challengemaster wrote: »

Which would be illegal discrimination...

No its not.
You're providing a service and choosing to target a single gender.

There are plenty of female only gyms in existence. Its the same thing.

Foggy Jew

I am insured with Its 4 Women. Renewal due end of August. To get an idea of probable cost, I went online, and I got the same message - 'Unfortunately we are unable to quote.... blah blah'. It's impossible to speak to anybody in Its 4 Women, so I went on the live chat and was told that they would be sending out my renewal notice 3 weeks before the due date. Long story short - I got the renewal notice..... Premium had increased by approx. €100, shopped around, and got insured with Liberty for €125 less than Its 4 Women. Goodbye and thanks, It's 4 Women.

BrokenArrows

BrokenArrows wrote: »

No its not.
You're providing a service and choosing to target a single gender.

There are plenty of female only gyms in existence. Its the same thing.

Yes it is

challengemaster

BrokenArrows wrote: »

No its not.
You're providing a service and choosing to target a single gender.

There are plenty of female only gyms in existence. Its the same thing.

Apart from there's no EU wide ruling on gym membership. There is one on Insurance.

In its ruling on 1 March 2011 in the Test-Achats case (C‑236/09), the Court of Justice of the EU gave insurers until 21 December 2012 to change their pricing policies in order to treat individual male and female customers equally in terms of insurance premiums and benefits (MEMO/11/123).

Outright denial of insurance due to gender is not equal treatment and would be illegal discrimination under EU legislation.

mcgiggles

BrokenArrows wrote:

Maybe the problem is in the description. "Its For Women"

They can't discriminate.

If you wanted to check was it that reason, 25plus is a sister company.. you'll probably get the same story from them!

grogi

brimur69 wrote: »

Based on my clean driving history,full NCB, no points,no claims the only criteria I can think of that would be that I am a man. Am I wrong?

Yes. To check that fill the same quote, but this time pretend you are Mrs Brimur69. You will not get quoted either.

cplwhisper

brimur69 wrote: »

This is more of a curiosity than anything for me. Can insurance companies just not give a reason when they refuse to quote you?

I just tried to get a quote from its4women.ie and they would not quote me. I'm driving 20 years with a clean license, no penalty points or claims and I got a message saying...

"Unfortunately we are unable to quote for your circumstances at this present time as you fall outside of our underwriting criteria.... We (its4women.ie) are not made aware of the underwriting criteria as it is confidential to the underwriter"

So they are saying they wont quote me and will not say why? Based on my clean driving history,full NCB, no points,no claims the only criteria I can think of that would be that I am a man. Am I wrong? It seems like they are using the underwriter criteria and its "confidentiality" to get around the gender equality thing.

I was sent in circles also, I tried the website and failed so my interest was piqued. I then rang their contact number only to be told they do not take incoming calls and to use the live chat. When I used the live chat I was told I can only be quoted on the website and to use that. Hilarious. :rolleyes:

Could I asked simple info
Age,
Car type
NCB earned on same car
Other drivers
P-points/isssues

brimur69

Just an update as today was my shopping day for car insurance.
After ringing around I was getting quotes for 200+ more than my current insurer, which in turn was 400 more than last years price. I got a tip on another forum to try https://www.postinsurance.ie/ by An Post underwritten by AIG, and as an example it came in nearly €500 cheaper than AXA and €120 cheaper than my current insurer and close to last years price. So if you are looking around at the moment give them a shout, cant hurt.

grogi

brimur69 wrote: »

Just an update as today was my shopping day for car insurance.
After ringing around I was getting quotes for 200+ more than my current insurer, which in turn was 400 more than last years price. I got a tip on another forum to try https://www.postinsurance.ie/ by An Post underwritten by AIG, and as an example it came in nearly €500 cheaper than AXA and €120 cheaper than my current insurer and close to last years price. So if you are looking around at the moment give them a shout, cant hurt.

What's weird that they would not quote my wife if I am listed as a main driver. 6 years NCB in Ireland, 10+ years license blablah... No issues when she's alone at the policy :d