Motor Insurance & Marriage

Liz706

On 12 March 2011 I married my partner and so on 14 March 2011 telephoned my motor insurance company Budget Insurance (who trade as BISL Limited on behalf of Aviva Insurance UK Ltd) to report my change of name.
You should bear in mind my partner and I lived together prior to our marriage at the same address and that he has been on my motor insurance policy since the commencement on 7 September 2010.
I was staggered to learn that because of my marriage ‘ the risk was affected’ and that the annual premium would rise from £839.41 to £1089.11. The ONLY change is my name and my marital status.
At this point I asked to speak to a supervisor and was kept waiting 10 minutes and 9 seconds before being cut off.
I then researched a premium comparison website and found that if I was taking a new policy out with Budget as at today’s date the annual premium for exactly the same cover and additional drivers as a married woman would be £663.32. Why may I ask is the risk £425.79 less on a new policy than on an existing one?
I telephoned Budget again to report this fact but was told this did not apply in my case and that as I pay my premium monthly if I wished to cancel the policy and take out a new one the cost would be an additional £506.71 to cancel.
The final insult was that I was told an email had been sent with the new certificate. This email has never arrived. If I wish for a second email to be sent the cost would be £10.00 but with no guarantee it would be received. I opted for a postal copy and for this privilege I have been charged £10.00.
I would mention that I am also a named driver on my husband’s policy and that when he reported our marriage he has no additional premium whatsoever to pay.
Has anyone any ideas whether or not there is anyine to complain to with regards to the situation.

dogbot

Budget are the brand, BISL are the company not the other way around. BISL are part of the BGL group. Compicated eh? They are one of, if not the, largest volume broker in the country - as such they are not an insurer.

As you are doing a mid term adjustment, that will be based on your insurer's (Aviva) terms and pricing - given there have been very large price rises in the market you will pick some of these up. There will also be BGL's charges and AVIVA might be making charges. Because you are paying in installments you have bought a policy on credit so this makes things more complicated.

BGL are known for charging admin fees and those fees can be fairly high. They are, however, clealry stated when you take out the policy.

Ask for a breakdown of the charges made if you cancel - it might be the amount quoted to you includes some charge for the time already on risk. More likley it will be the lost interest charges because you bought on credit.

By going online and getting a new 'new business' quote from Budget they will be quoting you based on the best price NOW availible on new business rates from their panel of insurers (which is large). Chances are this new business rate will be discounted by Budget to win the business - they are very agressive in their pricing online at winning business.

mikey72

Print out all the quotes, all the lower prices, make an official complaint, and if it's not resolved, make a complaint to the FOS, about "treating the customer fairly"

PNPSUKNET

nope when I got married cost zero

mikey72

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

nope when I got married cost zero

Been paying ever since though.

magpiecottage

I think you may have a complaint on the grounds of sexual discrimination. Logically, if you had been Mr rather than Mrs there would have been no need to inform them your name had changed.

Although insurers remain, for the time being, able to differentiate on gender grounds, this is only to the extent that it reflects a different risk. The fact that you have changed your name does not do that so I suspect that it is already unlawful.

lisyloo

Logically, if you had been Mr rather than Mrs there would have been no need to inform them your name had changed.

Although insurers remain, for the time being, able to differentiate on gender grounds, this is only to the extent that it reflects a different risk. The fact that you have changed your name does not do that

I'm not sure about that.
In the OPs first post, she states that the risk was affected due to marriage (rather than name change).
I do believe that insurers believe the risk is different if you are in a committed relationship (I'm not saying that you can't be committed outside marriage but the way this is normally officially recognised is still marriage/civil partnership).
Perhaps someone from the industry cann confirm or if anyone is curious they can try quotes both as a single person and as a married person.
But if insurers have statistics to back it up then it's legal and will continue to be so after Dec 2012 (provided it applies to both genders).

As an aside I believe the risk is generally regarded to go down when people "settle down".