How much information is your AUTO insurance co. collecting from you???

H.G.P. · 10:20 AM

Well I'm almost had it with our auto insurance co. After over 30 years with the same co., AND an almost spottless driiving record with no accidents, all of a sudden in the last several months they:

1. Send a letter from their "Insurance Services" asking for (calling it an records "update"), information as of the following:

a. Vehicle info. including such questions as "How many miles is vehicle driven driven to work, school, etc., one way?, and.....
b. "how many days is vehicle driven is vehicle driven to work, school, or commuter point and.......
c. Is the vehicle kept on a farm.."...etc.,
d. "Vehicles kept at any other location than the address" etc.,

And THEN these personal other questions.....

Calling it, "Driver Information", asking for including:
a. date of birth,
b. sex,
c. Marital status,
d. % of driving by said vehicle(s),
e. occupation.

They then further go on and ask the following...
"Any Other Vehicles in the Household.?"

AND now about a month after the above questionaire, I get another letter, this from their local agent (again to "update" their records) asking for my SS number.

Anyone else going through this with their AUTO insurance? If this is not normal practice, I may start shopping.

pwd72s · 10-27-2006, 10:26 AM

There is a ballot issue that Oregonians are voting on now. If it passes, it would forbid insurance companies to use credit reports as one means for setting rates. Evidently poor credit report folks have more accidents than those with good credit reports? Anyway, $$$$ being spent like crazy on TV commercials urging a no vote. Gosh, I wonder where the campaign $ are coming from?

RM512 · 10-27-2006, 10:34 AM

Why the hell would they need your s/s?

Howard Agency · 10-27-2006, 10:46 AM

FWIW, California doesn't do this. Credit scores cannot be used, you NEVER need to supply your SS# here. The rest of the stuff are legit questions for rating purposes.

Here's the way it works. The companies that ask the most questions and beat you to death usually have the lowest rates. The 'kinder and gentler' ones have a fudge factor built in to compensate for you not telling them you deliver pizzas part time. Or that your crazy brother with the 6 tickets really drives your car on a regular basis.

Don't shoot me, that's just the facts.

RM512.. Some states do use credit score for rating. Some pencil pusher figured out that flakes have higher claim frequency. What would be your guess?

H.G.P. · 10-27-2006, 10:54 AM

After over 30 some years asking for my SS no????????????

And my occupation???????

I've already started shopping, made a phone call to one agent, say they use the SS no. to check driving record. Legit??

(By the way, not worried at all about my excellent driving record)

RM512 · 10-27-2006, 10:55 AM

Haven't got a clue. IMO, the only institution that really needs your s/s would be the IRS.
I agree about the claim frequency thing, maybe they're just being nosy.

scottmandue · 10-27-2006, 11:47 AM

What part of the country are you in? Which insurance company? Are you sure the company hasn't been bought out?

Most of those question don't seem too far off except for the SS#.

H.G.P. · 10-27-2006, 11:57 AM

What part of the country are you in? Which insurance company? Are you sure the company hasn't been bought out?

Most of those question don't seem too far off except for the SS#.What part of the country are you in? Which insurance company? Are you sure the company hasn't been bought out?

Ohio...Midwest, and the SS no. request came from the second letter, from the local agent (have not resonded to it yet).

stevepaa · 10-27-2006, 12:04 PM

nothing unusual with those requests. I won't give my SS to them, but everything else is used to get the best rate. I found an error that went back a year and a half and got more money back from then than I computed.

And I have been with them 40 years.

RallyJon · 10-27-2006, 12:05 PM

People with really good credit can get amazingly low rates from some companies. If they need my SS# to run my credit to save me $1000 a year, is that so bad? Actually, I've saved more like $1500 a year across all cars. Over the past seven years, that's serious money.

I got a quote from a non-rating company. They couldn't touch it. Everybody has access to the same actuarial information, yet the rates are widely different. What does that tell you about the insurance industry?

H.G.P. · 12:51 PM

Well does this apply still? Or is this only a govt. act

Well does this apply still?

Privacy Act of 1974

Section 7 of the Privacy Act further provides that any agency requesting an individual to disclose his SSN must "inform that individual whether that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory authority such number is solicited, and what uses will be made of it."

.......Or is this related only to government agencies, and not govt. regulated ones??? Not State or private?

Nothing about this on the letter I received from the agent.

dtw · 10-27-2006, 01:14 PM

The below, told to me "off the record" by an insurance professional, applicable in NC:

Insurance companies cannot legally make sweeping checks on their policy holders' driving records. The catch is, if they have a reason to suspect they should check, they can go for it. They must document their reasons for running a check.

The info requests are to drum up data that could suggest a 'reason' they need to pull your driving record and possibly jack up your rates. My insurer, USAA, is a stellar company in most respects and I have no complaints with them, but they send me these requests frequently. I toss them straight in the can.

...

....then again, given how obsessively secretive you are, I'm surprised your insurance company has your real name and address...

scottmandue · 10-27-2006, 01:23 PM

I also have USAA and they have the best service and prices I have found, but they do hit me up for info once or twice a year. I just ignore the inquires although I suspected their interest was perked by the fact that I owned two motorcycles and had no motorcycle stamp on my license.

Sonic dB · Sonic dB's Garage

Could be a phisher... dont ever give your SS to anyone if you can help it

Moneyguy1 · 10-27-2006, 02:16 PM

No share SS under any circumstances.

Insurance coverage is based on part on annual mileage, type of security for the vehicle (out in the open, garage, carport), type of usage (pleasure, work, school, etc). All legitimate questions. It makes sense you should pay less for a vehicle that is, say, driven under 5,000 per, kept in a garage in the evening, etc. I know I do.

H.G.P. · 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
No share SS under any circumstances.

That's my plan. But the letter specifically states:

Subject: Automobile Insurance
............ Policy No.

And then states:

"We are in the process of updating our records and do not have the following information on file for you.

Occupation___________
Social Security Number __________

Please return this information in the return envelope or call me at.............."
(They give the proper phone number and extension)

Signed by the Client Service Representative.

I'm wondering if they can threaten to cancel if I refuse?

H.G.P. · 10-30-2006, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moneyguy1
No share SS under any circumstances.

Insurance coverage is based on part on annual mileage, type of security for the vehicle (out in the open, garage, carport), type of usage (pleasure, work, school, etc). All legitimate questions. It makes sense you should pay less for a vehicle that is, say, driven under 5,000 per, kept in a garage in the evening, etc. I know I do.

Update: I made an appointment with the agent and went in and touched base on the questionaire sent, and the SS no request. I asked if the SS no. was mandatory (and if it was required because of the Patriot Act), and she said no.

(Also, she said the survey/questionaire was new this year.)

So then she gave me a copy of their Privacy (also on their web site). I decided to leave with her the occupation update, but not the SS no., (I also brought several papers siting not to give it out, as back up). She said they use the SS for checking driving records for example.

So I guess basically I have a choice not to disclose SS no. But I don't want to put off my auto insurance co. which we have been with for many years.

Anyone with any idea of how I should gracefully communicate to her if she contacts me again that I prefer not to give then my SS no.?

Thanks

mikester · 10-30-2006, 03:28 PM

Simply the way you said it right there should do it. Why are you so concerned with not putting them off? They aren't concerned with not putting you off...

legion · 05:05 PM

Wow, the ignorance over actuarial science here is just too great to overcome.

Suffice to say, there is greater than a .90 correlation between credit score and likelihood of having an accident. The factors that have high correlation to frequency and severity aren't necessarily those that make the most sense on the surface.

And if rates were set the way HGP wants them to be, there would be little incentive to practice behaviors that lower rates....and the jerk wad who drives a Bentley and totals it once a year would be charged the same rates as someone with a Ford Focus and immaculate driving record. People who lived in high-crime areas would pay the same rates as people who live in low-crime areas.

Take a look at states that have legislated away insurers ability to set rates freely: Massachussettes and California. I guarantee everyone pays higher rates because insurers can no longer accurately price insurance. New Jersey was headed this direction until a few years ago.

teenerted1 · 10-30-2006, 03:33 PM

why would they need your SS# for driVing records

i would think your DRIVERS LICENSE # would be the correct reference for this. the police use your DL# on their info and don't ask for your SS#. and the cars Vin# is what they need for the cars history.

why would somebody you have been with for 30yrs all of a sudden need this info. don't they know who are and what you have been driVing all this time.