Car Insurance -- address blacklisted?
Posted: September 2nd, 2018, 8:50 am
Having just moved to a new address, I was told by my car insurer that they could not continue our policy at the new address for anything less than ten times the price paid when we bought the policy at the last address. Suspecting some kind of computer mistake I enquired as to the reasons. I was told that the current underwriter would not provide a quote for the new address so a different underwriter had to be used and theirs was the much higher quote. So then I asked why that underwriter's quote might be so much higher and was told it must be because of the change of postcode, no other details of the quote are different.
So I investigated a bit myself using a comparison site, and I can't understand what is happening. First, I should say the new property is spitting distance from the old in the same quiet rural village. But here's the even weirder thing: if I get quotes based on my former two addresses in different postcodes (in the same area) the best quotes are £x; if I get a quote using a former address we occupied in the same postcode as our new home the best quote is also £x. But if I get a quote at the new home address the best quote is £2x and from "dodgy" insurers only.
Thus it seems to me my quote is worse based only on the specific address I have moved to, not the postcode or anything else, yet I believed that addresses could not be blacklisted, only people or postcode areas. Is that belief wrong? Having googled extensively I've found no previous examples of this problem.
Now I happen to know the previous occupants have had a couple of very large claims on their home insurance in recent years, perhaps a few car claims too. Is it possible that their bad claim history is associated with their address and affecting our quotes?
Does anyone have experience of this or know how the underwriting process works?
Any ideas as to the best way to resolve the issue? Ideally I'd like my current underwriter to remove whatever is stopping them from quoting on this address and offer me insurance on similar terms to my existing policy. However I bought the policy through an intermediary (RAC) and they showed no inclination to help in dealing with the underwriter.
TIA
GS
So I investigated a bit myself using a comparison site, and I can't understand what is happening. First, I should say the new property is spitting distance from the old in the same quiet rural village. But here's the even weirder thing: if I get quotes based on my former two addresses in different postcodes (in the same area) the best quotes are £x; if I get a quote using a former address we occupied in the same postcode as our new home the best quote is also £x. But if I get a quote at the new home address the best quote is £2x and from "dodgy" insurers only.
Thus it seems to me my quote is worse based only on the specific address I have moved to, not the postcode or anything else, yet I believed that addresses could not be blacklisted, only people or postcode areas. Is that belief wrong? Having googled extensively I've found no previous examples of this problem.
Now I happen to know the previous occupants have had a couple of very large claims on their home insurance in recent years, perhaps a few car claims too. Is it possible that their bad claim history is associated with their address and affecting our quotes?
Does anyone have experience of this or know how the underwriting process works?
Any ideas as to the best way to resolve the issue? Ideally I'd like my current underwriter to remove whatever is stopping them from quoting on this address and offer me insurance on similar terms to my existing policy. However I bought the policy through an intermediary (RAC) and they showed no inclination to help in dealing with the underwriter.
TIA
GS