People may worry about getting too many follow up calls and emails when they provide their details to get a quote. And often companies ask Social Security, Driver License and Vehicle Identification Numbers to provide accurate auto insurance quotes and this may put off some applicants. Many companies are aware of this and willing to offer estimated prices without SSN, DLN and VIN.
People often create second email accounts and choose usernames which aren’t their real names online and it is a highly accepted method in forums and social sites. But vehicle insurers need to know as much information about you as they can to calculate the right premium.
So, even if you choose not to use your real name, email and address, you still have to give the right Zip Code, vehicle make and model and driver details like their accident and ticket history. You will need to tell them about your usual vehicle usage like commute, and estimate things like credit score and yearly mileage. You can comfortably choose the level of coverage required. There shouldn’t be any problem providing accurate details with most information required, except the ones that can personally identify you or can be used for scams.
You may need to answer some other questions if you want to avoid giving personally identifiable details. Also, you may have to skip some companies that insist on information you aren’t willing to provide. Many auto insurers, even the large ones, are willing to work with motorists who choose not to provide certain personally identifying details and offer them as good estimates as possible. Agents would require more detailed information to work with you. So, you would probably need to stick to online quotes.
However, you cannot rely on those estimates like you can a firm quote. Also, you cannot proceed to buy them. You will have to provide all the relevant details including Social Security Number (SSN), Driver License Number and Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) when it comes to buying a policy.
Providing all they need when you decide on a provider and policy and like to buy shouldn’t be a problem. It is necessary anyway. Then, the automobile insurer would do all the necessary checks including credit check and confirm the final premium which may actually be lower.
When companies are offering estimates on rough details, they have to charge a bit more to be cautious about the unknowns. They cannot be precise or offer their best prices because they don’t even know they want to insure you at the end of the day. If their checks come back worse than initially indicated, they can even rescind the previous offer.
So, if you want to be as anonymous as possible when getting auto insurance quotes you should decide which information you definitely don’t want to give. But provide the rest of the information as accurately as possible and answer additional questions as honestly as you can. For example, they would want to know how good (or bad) your credit score is when you don’t want to give SSN. So, you might want to find out and let them know because credit score is an important factor in premium calculations.
Alternatively, motorists can check carefully which websites they are on before giving sensitive details. If they are sure that they are on a safe website they can provide all the information required and get a firm car insurance quote, which they can rely on and compare with others. This would be the preferred option if you are actively looking to buy coverage.
If you are only checking prices and not sure if you would want to switch at the end or not, you may choose to go anonymous and get your rough estimates, which would still offer a pretty good idea. At least, it is better than giving up totally and staying put although you have no clue if your current vehicle insurer is any competitive or very expensive. This may be a good option when you just want to find out how much a certain car you are considering buying costs to insure as well.
Comparison websites can be helpful in this aspect as they often need less information to list the latest policy offers with coverage, discount and company details and allow motorists to choose the ones to go directly. So, you choose if you want to know more about a special deal or if others are more promising.
Probably, most of the vehicle insurance calculators you see online will not really help much because there are so many personal details going into premium calculations and without providing most of them you cannot even come close to knowing what your premium would be. You might as well check the average rates in your state, which can be found on the Internet with a quick search.