How to get anonymous car insurance quotes

What information do I need to get a car insurance quote?

In most situations, auto insurers require a handful of personalized details when providing rates for recommended coverage. Looking at these variables helps the insurance company to estimate the financial risk associated with insuring any given customer and vehicle.

• Demographics: Statistics show that different age and gender demographics are more or less likely to get into an auto accident, commit a traffic violation or receive a ticket. Generally, certain groups with a higher likelihood of these types of incidents are more expensive to insure. Hawaii and Massachusetts ban age as a rating factor while California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania do not allow ratings based on gender.
• Driving record: Driving history is one of the top indicators of how likely it is that an insurance company will have to pay out a costly claim. A driver with several accidents or tickets may be considered to be a higher risk to insure and can therefore expect a higher premium.
• Driver's license: Your driver’s license is used both as proof of identity and proof that you are legally permitted to drive. While this won’t necessarily impact your quote, it is often necessary in order to obtain a quote.
• Address: Where you live can have a notable impact on the likelihood of vehicle theft and the chances of having an auto accident. These factors can contribute to higher or lower premiums based on the risk that correlates to your ZIP code. There are five states that ban the use of ZIP codes as a rating factor: California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Michigan.
• Vehicle information: The year, make and model of your car are generally required. Vehicles have different safety ratings and repair or replacement costs which factor into how expensive a car is to insure.
• Coverage limits and types: The type of coverage you want on your policy and the limits on those coverage options are needed to calculate a quote.

Can you get an anonymous car insurance quote?

While you could attempt to submit a quote request with some omitted details, it’s challenging to get a car insurance quote without personal information, let alone receive a quote that is accurate. When premiums are calculated, the formula is based primarily on your personal information and background. Details like your driving record, age (in most states), address, credit-based insurance score (in most states), vehicle make and model and more contribute to these calculations. From an insurance company’s perspective, it would be considered inaccurate to offer anonymous car insurance quotes generated by a car insurance calculator without personal information, knowing that your actual policy cost is based on your undisclosed factors.

Anonymous quotes can mislead people into thinking their rates will be higher or lower than what they realistically would be. In fact, even quotes that rely on driver specifics can be inaccurate. Some frequent user errors that cause quoted rates to change upon policy issuance are:

• Forgetting to include drivers that should be listed on the policy
• Forgetting to input the driver's license number of every driver listed on the policy
• Forgetting to input prior claims or tickets
• Skipping education and occupation questions on the application
• Birth date typos
• Errors in annual mileage or commuting inputs

How do you get a car insurance quote without personal information?

There are a few ways you might be able to obtain an anonymous auto insurance quote. You may be able to find a company that provides a quote with limited information, or you can use an insurance comparison tool that will find these companies for you.

Find a company that allows it

Some auto insurance companies will allow you to get quotes using minimal information. Even so, there are some essential details that are still commonly required. Items such as age, ZIP code and driving record are generally required — even for drivers intending to be as anonymous as possible. With these variables, some companies can provide reasonably accurate quotes.

Use a comparison website

Comparison websites and digital tools may use minimal information to gather quotes quickly from multiple insurance providers. These websites often use the same basic information as individual companies do, meaning that you’ll still have to provide your ZIP code, age and basic driving history. Then, the comparison website will query numerous companies with that information to provide you with a list of competing quotes.

Use Bankrate’s estimation calculator

Some of the confusion around getting a car insurance quote is the word "quote." Since Merriam-Webster defines a quote as "to give exact information on," then a car insurance quote without personal information is more of an estimate. Using a tool like Bankrate's estimation calculator may prove helpful to drivers seeking a ballpark figure with regard to how much they can expect to pay for insurance. With this calculator, you are asked for basic information and receive a rough insurance premium estimate. While this is not an exact quote, it can give you a good starting point with the understanding that your personal rate will be different with additional specific rating information.

Can you purchase an anonymous car insurance quote?

In short, no. Car insurance quotes are typically free. There should be no need to “purchase” a quote.

Once you have decided to go through with purchasing a policy, you will be required to provide the missing information you omitted when getting an anonymous quote. Keep in mind that at this stage, your quoted premium could vary drastically, especially if you have omitted information known to impact premiums. Quotes are not binding agreements but are simply estimates of expected costs based on the information available at the time. While quotes can sometimes be gained with some level of anonymity, purchasing your actual policy requires specific details about you and your vehicle (and all other drivers you wish to list on the policy).

Frequently asked questions