Social Security Numbers are unique identifiers as one given to each person. When auto insurance companies want to pull reports on you to verify the information you provided on a quote form or to an agent, check further into your eligibility for coverage and decide how much premium they should charge, they need your social security number to start the process.
Vehicle insurance companies carry out some checks on you when you ask to be covered. They look at driving history and CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) report to see if you have traffic convictions and are involved in accidents. Nearly all of them run credit score checks as well. So, yes, they will need SSN along with a few more personal particulars like driver license number to offer you the best car insurance rates possible.
Many people get protective when they need to give sensitive information about themselves, especially online, even though those websites are protected and certain details are encrypted. However you need to provide a Social Security Number when you want to buy an auto insurance policy but you don’t necessarily need it just to get quotes, although you get more accurate prices if you do.
A lot of information is loaded on a Social Security Number. It is like a national identification card. Driver licenses don’t offer this much insight as they are issued by one state and mostly record the things within that state. Also, It is like a key vehicle insurance companies need to open up reports about you. Therefore, it is a valuable detail to have before they can properly assess the risks involved in covering a vehicle and its likely drivers.
Nonetheless, it is perfectly legal to refuse providing it to anyone. However, this could be interpreted as you are hiding incriminating details. If any of them accepts to offer coverage without SSN they would probably bump up rates due to extra risk associated with unknown information. Furthermore, they can report the refusal to credit agencies, which could result in loss of credit score points.
Can You Get Auto Insurance Quotes without SSN?
On the other hand, you can get quotations without a Social Security Number. There are some questions on proposal forms relating to facts they can find using SSN and you will need to answer them. It is probably best to get quotes first if you don’t want to give sensitive details to everybody you want prices from. You should get at least five quotes before worrying about which car insurance is best for you.
Once you make a choice based on quotes and want to buy a policy, automobile insurers will probably ask your Social Security Number to complete their checks. All being well, the quotation you received earlier would stand. Otherwise, you may see slight differences in the final premium on offer. That is why it is important to be accurate in the first place.
It is possible to get car insurance without a social security number with few companies. This would be especially handy for arranging auto policies for non-US citizens visiting the country. They are naturally expected to pay a lot because of the lack of history in the US anyway that they would probably have to accept to pay higher rates just to get covered.
Insurance companies may appear to be nosy and want to know a lot about you and listed drivers. However, high competition and a difficult market environment makes it harder for carriers to raise rates. Instead, insurers try to gather all the relevant facts in order to assess risks and price them as well as they can. It is a good thing that they are trying to get it right because a healthy marketplace is beneficial to everyone.
Car insurance carriers try hard to get premiums as accurate as they can so that good drivers are rewarded appropriately while bad ones cannot slip through the net without paying their just dues. This is usually considered revenue loss. If auto insurers fail to collect the right premium, they would have to add extra levy on everyone to cover the loss revenue.