Insurance basics
Insurance quote checklist: what details do insurers ask for and why
What you need for an insurance quote: the personal, vehicle, home and business details insurers ask for, why they ask, and what happens if one is wrong.
To get an insurance quote you need four kinds of information: who you are, what you want to insure, how and where it is used, and your history of claims and convictions. Car and van quotes add your driving licence and the vehicle's registration, home quotes add the property's build and rebuild cost, and business quotes add your trade, turnover and staff.
What information do you need for any insurance quote?
Whatever the cover, expect to be asked for:
- Your name, date of birth and address, including how long you have lived there.
- Your occupation, and any second job. Insurers use job titles to judge risk, so pick the title that most accurately describes what you do.
- Previous claims and losses, usually for the last few years, with dates, what happened and whether you were at fault. Insurers use your claims record to judge how likely you are to claim again.
- Convictions. You must answer the question as asked. Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, spent convictions do not have to be declared to insurers, whatever questions you are asked, but unspent ones do if the insurer asks. Some home policies ask about everyone living in the household. There is more on this in our guide to motorbike insurance with criminal convictions.
- Past insurance history, such as whether you have ever had a policy cancelled or been refused cover.
- When you want cover to start and how you would like to pay.
What do you need to get a car insurance quote?
A car insurance quote needs details about the driver, the car and how it will be used.
Driver details
- Your driving licence type (full, provisional, UK, EU or other) and how long you have held it.
- Your licence number. In England, Wales and Scotland you can see your own record, including penalty points and disqualifications, on GOV.UK's view or share your driving licence service. You need your licence number, National Insurance number and the postcode on your licence. The service can also create a check code to share your record, valid for 21 days. Northern Ireland licences are handled by nidirect.
- Motoring convictions, with offence codes and dates, and any medical conditions the DVLA has been told about.
- Years of no claims bonus and proof of it from your last insurer.
- The same details for anyone else you want named on the policy.
Car details
- The registration number, make, model, year and engine size.
- The value of the car and any modifications (alloy wheels, tinted windows, engine remaps and so on). Modifications can change how likely a car is to be stolen or crash, and how much a repair costs.
- Where it is kept overnight (garage, drive or street) and who the registered keeper and legal owner are.
- Security devices or a black box, if fitted.
How it will be used
You will be asked for your estimated annual mileage and the class of use: social, domestic and pleasure only, commuting, or business use. This question matters more than most people think. The Financial Ombudsman Service has highlighted a case where a driver's policy did not include commuting and an accident on his way home from work was not covered as a result.
Do I need my registration number for an insurance quote?
It helps a great deal. The registration lets the insurer identify the exact model, trim and engine, which affect the price. It also matters once you buy, because cover is tied to the vehicle: you can check your own vehicle on the Motor Insurance Database for free using askMID to confirm the record is right.
If you have not chosen the car or van yet, say so when you ask for a quote and give the make, model and engine size of the vehicle you are considering. Remember that you must have at least third party insurance to drive on UK roads, so the actual vehicle needs to be on a policy before you drive it away.
What documents do I need for a van insurance quote?
Van quotes ask for everything a car quote does, plus details about the work the van does. Useful things to have to hand:
- Your driving licence (and those of any other drivers).
- The V5C logbook, or the registration, make, model and gross vehicle weight if you do not have the logbook yet.
- Proof of no claims bonus from your previous insurer.
- Your trade or business description and whether you are self-employed or a limited company.
- A list of any racking, signwriting or conversions.
The key extra question is how the van is used. Carrying your own tools and materials is usually a different class of use from carrying other people's goods for payment, such as parcel delivery. Our guides to social, domestic and pleasure vs carriage of own goods and hire and reward insurance explain the difference.
What details do insurers ask for on home and business quotes?
Home insurance
- The property: type (detached, semi, terraced, flat), number of bedrooms, year built, wall and roof construction, and whether it is listed.
- Rebuild cost for buildings cover. This is not the market value. The Association of British Insurers describes it as the amount it would cost to completely rebuild your home if it was destroyed beyond repair, and offers a free calculator for general guidance on houses and some flats.
- Contents value. The Financial Ombudsman Service points out that this is a question about what it would actually cost to replace everything, not how much cover you would like. High-value items such as jewellery or watches are often listed separately.
- Security: door and window locks and any alarm.
- Flood history and subsidence, and whether the home is near water. If you live in a flood risk area, Flood Re may help insurers offer cover on eligible homes built before 1 January 2009.
- Occupancy: who lives there, whether it is ever left empty for long periods, and whether any of it is let out or used for business. Second homes and let properties are treated differently, as our guide to holiday home insurance vs home insurance explains.
Business insurance
- What the business does, in plain terms, and any activities outside the main trade.
- Annual turnover, years trading and claims history.
- Number of employees, including part-timers and labour-only subcontractors. Most employers must hold employers' liability insurance, and the law sets the minimum cover at not less than £5 million for any one occurrence.
- The level of public liability cover you need, if any, which customers or contracts sometimes set.
- Premises details, stock and equipment values, and any vehicles.
Quick comparison
| Cover | Must-have details | Handy documents |
|---|---|---|
| Car | Licence, registration, drivers, class of use, mileage, claims, convictions | Driving licence, V5C, no claims proof |
| Van | As car, plus trade, goods carried, tools, gross weight | As car, plus business details |
| Home | Property type, build, rebuild cost, contents value, security, flood history | Previous policy schedule, valuations for high-value items |
| Business | Trade, turnover, staff, premises, claims | Accounts or turnover figures, previous schedule |
What happens if you get a detail wrong on an insurance quote?
For personal (consumer) insurance, the law puts a duty on you to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer. What happens if you get something wrong depends on how it happened, under Schedule 1 of the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012:
| Type of mistake | What the insurer can do |
|---|---|
| Deliberate or reckless | Cancel the policy as if it never existed, refuse all claims and, usually, keep the premiums |
| Careless, and the insurer would not have offered cover at all | Cancel the policy and refuse claims, but return the premiums |
| Careless, and the insurer would have used different terms | Treat the policy as if it had those terms |
| Careless, and the insurer would have charged more | Reduce a claim in proportion |
For example, if a correct answer would have meant a premium of £1,000 instead of the £800 you paid, the insurer could pay 80% of the claim (made-up round numbers).
If you took reasonable care and answered a clear question honestly, the Ombudsman says there is unlikely to be a misrepresentation at all. It also says you are expected to read the documents you are sent and check they are right, and that ignoring a request to confirm your details at renewal can count as saying nothing has changed. Business policies fall under different law, so check the terms carefully.
If you spot a mistake after buying, tell the broker or insurer straight away. Correcting it then is far better than having it found during a claim.
How to make getting an insurance quote quicker
- Gather your licence, logbook, previous policy schedule and claims dates before you start.
- Check your licence record and any convictions so your answers match official records.
- Work out mileage, rebuild cost or turnover from real figures rather than guesses.
- Read each question in full and ask if anything is unclear.
- Check the quote and policy documents against what you said.
With Kompare, you fill in one short form and a specialist FCA-authorised broker from the panel contacts you with quotes, so they can ask follow-up questions on anything unusual. Kompare does not give advice, so do read each quote and policy to see whether it fits your needs.