I recently changed my car insurance to RAC. Today I got a call from them, wanting to know whether I have a part-time job (they know I hava a full-time one) and whether I have any criminal convictions.

I asked why they wished to know, and was told that they are just new standard questions that the underwriters had introduced.

Has anybody else come across this? What's it got to do with them? Surely they can't increase the premiums if the answer to either question was 'yes'?

Thankfully my van is paid for by the company so I don't have contact with insurance companies. I fail to see why those questions would be relevant for car insurance. I would suspect it might be to find a way of increasing premiums.

You should have told them you were a convicted murderer with a hair-trigger temper.

hugorune wrote:
No, I prefer to lie to them.

G'day Gilly.

Ask them to provide you with a contractual agreement that you have co-signed with them that states that you must answer such questions. If they are unable to provide such a contractual agreement, the you are unwilling to answer their questions ... and tell them to please kindly fuck off.

I did a bit of an idle, half-arsed search yesterday, and discovered that, unbeknown to me, you do actually pay higher premiums for car and home & contents insurances if you've a criminal record. I'd previously thought that it would only be relevant to car ins if it was a motoring related conviction, but I saw nothing to that effect yesterday.

I don't know if that's only recently been introduced, or if I just hadn't noticed it before, and I seriously can't imagine how they can justify it. They just get away with robbery and aren't convicted for it.

In australia i think it is a standard question for insurance companies going back for years, do you have a criminal record...i remember always being asked that from the start.

If one does, and they lie and say no, i see the insurance co's likely checking up with the police if you make a claim, and then not paying out.

Yes, it would render the policy void, so you'd get smacked about for, effectively, driving without insurance.