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 Social Security Number when you want to buy an auto insurance policy but you don’t need it just to get quotes. We will discuss its significance in premium calculations below and try to answer any relevant question. Hopefully, you will feel a bit better about the whole thing after reading this post.
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 records 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.
They 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 been obeying rules and avoiding accidents. Nearly all of them run credit score checks as well. So, yes, they will need it along with a few more personal particulars to offer you the best car insurance rates possible.
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 quotation without it. 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 as you wouldn’t want to give sensitive details to everybody you want prices from. You should get at least five of them before worrying about which automobile insurance is best for you.
Once you make a choice you will probably be asked to provide all these details for them to complete their checks. All being well, the quotation you received earlier would stand. Otherwise, you may see slight difference 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 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 lack of history in the US anyway that they would probably be happy to pay higher rates just to get covered.
They may appear to be too nosy and want to know a lot about you and listed drivers. However, this is the new trend in the industry. High competition and difficult market environment currently prevents companies to raise rates. Instead, they 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.
They 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 meeting their due punishment. This is usually considered revenue loss and failing to collect it properly result in extra levy on everyone else.