When taking time to find the best policy, you’ll soon realise that insurance companies are crazy about statistics. Instead of trying to battle with numbers you don’t quite understand, we’ve delved into the reasons that insurance companies vary their rates so much and so often.
Insurance premiums can differ tremendously between companies because of the rating factors that they use, the statistics that they look at, their own experience with claims, and the overall cost of doing business. These are the factors that we’ll look into in more detail as accurately as possible.
Each insurance company uses its own unique formula in order to assess risk and determine how much policyholders pay. They will base your rate on a number of variables, meaning that no two companies will end up having the same result.
The risk that you pose to the insurer is one of the main deciding factors when it comes to the price you’ll pay. The company needs to take time to determine how likely you are to experience an accident, and they will do this by looking at the following:
For example, if you are a driver under 25 who has a history of claims, you will pose a higher risk and should expect to pay more for your insurance than a 50-year-old driver who has never made a claim since they started driving.
Although these are the most common factors, many insurance providers also look at your location, how many miles you drive annually, your marital status, your previous insurance coverage, and whether or not you have any medical conditions that may affect your ability to drive. Each factor is weighed differently, with something such as marital status carrying less weight than where you’re based.
Insurance companies don’t have anything against you. In fact, they assess millions of drivers every year so that they can identify who is more likely to file claims that would cost the company money. Insurers will, therefore, group you with others of the same age, gender, occupation and driving experience and calculate prices accordingly.
Understandably, there’s no way that insurance companies can know what’s going to happen in the future. That’s why they must plan ahead, looking at past experiences to try and determine future losses. Of course, every insurance company will have different experiences with different groups of people, so the rates they charge for an insurance policy will always differ.
Every business, regardless of whether they’re in the insurance industry or not, must take into account their income and outgoings so that they can achieve their financial goals. This is different for every company, resulting in various prices.
Now that we understand how car insurance companies calculate their rates, it makes perfect sense that to find the best rate you must complete a thorough car insurance comparison. It’s important to remember that thinking cheap isn’t always the best approach to take. This generally tends to mean that you’ll be receiving less cover and a lack of benefits. Switch your mindset to value instead and consider the following:
As one of the UK’s leading comparison sites, Call Wiser gives you the chance to assess a number of insurance companies to say goodbye to higher premiums and hello to insurance costs that suit your wallet. With an expert team on hand to help, we’ll help you lower your rate because, at the end of the day, no one wants to break the bank with their car insurance quotes.