Car ins charging £51 to change from mr to mrs??? What do i do??

rs65

KAM_MAZ wrote: »

Surely, there must be a governing, independent body that monitors and control the actions of car insurance companies so the consumer doesnt get ripped off ???? Anyone know of who it is ???

Is it this Bedford Insurance?


http://www.bedfordinsurance.co.uk/Terms.pdf

Buzby

Your complaining, yet you have not made an effort to read and understand the policy you've bought (and if need be reject it?).

You still have a esponsibility for your actions, and not looking a your email - whatever the reason - it remains your responsibility to do this, and if you did not cancel in time, you've accepted it!

dunstonh

Surely, there must be a governing, independent body that monitors and control the actions of car insurance companies so the consumer doesnt get ripped off ???? Anyone know of who it is ???

The FCA does that. However, nothing you have said indicates anyone being ripped off.

Thousands out there use the 3-4 major comparisons sites which compares 100's of companies. The ease of it via the internet and
getting it booked quickly heavily outweighs ringing individual companies. Am i the only one who's made a couple of clerical errors and being threatened with a big penalty to correct something that can be easily done on a computer at there end ???? Theres got to be many but i guess they are the lucky one's whos's insurance companies simply correct it without fuss.

The thing about buying via the internet is that it is cheaper because there is less human work involved. In your case, you created human work because of your errors. The company has a choice. Either increase the premiums for everyone (which would drop them down the comparison site price order) or make those that create the admin pay for it. The regulator likes explicit fees. Indeed, it has shoved a whole range of financial companies over to explicit fees recently as the only way they can operate. Whilst some cross subsidy can still exist, there good reason why you are being charged.

The_Magnificent_Spoon

I can kind of understand accidentally selecting mr instead of mrs. But I can't understand 'accidentally' entering house husband instead of house wife... and then taking a month to notice it.

Sorry, but I don't think there's anything you can do about their charges as I'm sure they were well detailed within the policy documentation that you did read before taking your policy, didn't you? Have a look. If £51 isn't what it says in the policy documentation then go back to them.

Lots of us have been stung like this. I had to take a £270 charge on the chin once because I went with a cheap internet insurer who turns our did not cover windscreens. It's only when things like this happen that you realise the insurers who come out a few pounds more, but who have far better reputations, are actually much better value.

So, lessons learnt:

1) The cheapest isn't always the cheapest.
2) Read your policy documentation
3) Check your submission and policy certificate as soon as it arrives. It wouldn't have cost you a penny if you'd noticed it the day it was sent.
4) Figure out whether you are actually a man or a woman.

Good luck!

burnoutbabe

I checked by going on Bedfords.

If you put Mr at the top, and then select "working in the home" as employment status it automatically selects househusband (and same if you put Mrs, it autofills housewife down the bottom). so they are linked.

and also used to determine sex as it doesn't ask that (it does have Dr (M) and Dr (F) as options as well as Lord and lady.

But i still wonder if you need to actually change it as a title is just a title and legally there is nothing to say you can't be a Mr if you are a woman.

Do they say you HAVE to change it, or just it will cost £51 if you WANT to change it.

Aretnap

I also wonder whether the OP is under any actual obligation to make the correction.

The insurer cannot (legally) adjust the premium on the basis of her sex, so whether she is mr or mrs is not a material fact. IIRC there's case law to the effect that an insurer cannot void cover for non-disclosure of a fact if they would have offered cover at the same price had it been disclosed.

The other reason the error would need correcting would be if it created uncertainty about the identity of the person insured. If there is only one person (male or female) with the OP's name and date of birth at the OP's address then I'd suggest that there's no real ambiguity about the identity of the person insured.

However I'd want to be pretty damn sure of my ground before I decided not to make the correction, as I wouldn't want to risk being left uninsured if I was wrong.

burnoutbabe

also, this insurance company did not ask if they were male or female, they assumed it from the title.

Lord_Baltimore

Don't get mad, get even. Leave Bedford as soon as you can without incurring any further penalties. When you have left pursue a complaint with them to generate admin work that they cannot charge you for. The more complaints they have to handle, the more their admin costs and premium will go up. Their competitive edge however, will go down.

Fleecing customers will become less attractive .