Does Getting a Car Insurance Quote Affect Your Credit Score?

Those are two different things, and mixing them up is where most of the worry comes from.

The credit check: soft, not hard

Credit bureaus record two kinds of inquiries:

• Hard inquiries happen when you apply for a loan or a credit card. Fair Isaac, which makes the FICO score, says they have a "potential impact on credit score," and that for most people one more inquiry "will take less than five points off their FICO Scores." [2]
• Soft inquiries are checks that are not tied to an application for credit. Fair Isaac lists them as "no impact on credit score." [2]

Experian, one of the three nationwide credit bureaus, says insurers use the soft kind: "When you ask for a quote, the insurer may pull your credit reports and use the information to help tailor your results. But during this process, insurers use a 'soft' credit pull, which is a type of inquiry that doesn't affect your credit scores." [1] Experian says the same applies when an insurer checks credit "when starting coverage, setting rates or renewing a policy." [1]

So getting five quotes is not like applying for five credit cards. Your score does not move because you shopped.

Why an insurer checks credit at all

Federal law allows it. The Fair Credit Reporting Act lists, among the permitted reasons to pull a consumer report, use "in connection with the underwriting of insurance involving the consumer." [4]

What the insurer builds from it is a credit-based insurance score, which is not the score a lender sees. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the organization of state insurance regulators, explains the difference: "These scores are used to estimate how likely someone is to file an insurance claim, not how likely they are to repay a loan." [3]

Where your credit still matters: the price

This is the part the "no" answer leaves out. In most states, the insurance score can change what you are quoted. Experian says that in most states, "your credit-based insurance scores can affect your eligibility and premiums." [5]

State law limits how far that goes. The NAIC says: "In most states, insurers cannot use these scores as the sole reason to increase rates or to deny, cancel, or refuse to renew a policy." [3] Texas's insurance department, for example, says a company cannot "turn you down or charge you more only because of your credit score." [8]

States that limit or ban it

Experian lists seven states that restrict auto insurers' use of credit, and describes the rules this way: [1] [5]

Sorted by rule, then alphabetically. Experian is a credit bureau, not a regulator. State rules change, and your state's insurance department is the authority on what applies to you. We have not yet checked each row against the state laws themselves.

If your credit raises your price

Federal law gives you a right to know. The Fair Credit Reporting Act defines "adverse action" to include "an increase in any charge for" insurance "in connection with the underwriting of insurance." [6] When a company takes adverse action "based in whole or in part on any information contained in a consumer report," the law requires it to notify you. [7]

In practice, that notice is your cue to check the report the decision was based on. Every consumer can get a free report from each of the three nationwide bureaus "once a week" at AnnualCreditReport.com, according to the Federal Trade Commission. [9]

Quick answers

• Will ten quotes hurt more than one? Not your credit score. Soft inquiries do not count toward it, however many there are. [1] [2]
• Will I see the inquiries on my report? You may. Experian says an insurer's check "may be added to your credit report" as a soft inquiry, and Fair Isaac notes soft inquiries are "not visible to lenders." [5] [2]
• Can I ask whether a quote uses a soft or hard pull? Yes. If an agent or website is unclear, asking before giving a Social Security number costs nothing.

Who this fits

• Anyone about to compare car insurance quotes and worried about their credit score.
• Anyone who just got a higher quote than expected and wants to know whether credit played a part.

Who should skip this

• Drivers in California, Hawaii, or Massachusetts. Experian says insurers there are barred from using credit history for auto insurance, so the question does not apply. [1]
• Anyone whose real worry is phone calls after a quote. That is a different problem with a different fix: car insurance quotes without phone calls.

Related reading

• Car insurance quotes without phone calls
• How to shop for car insurance
• Why did my car insurance go up?