Elephant car insurance - £90 Address change fee!!

Mitsos17

Hello all,

I am a student, been reading the forum quite a long time now, but first time posting!

So, I have just moved from a small to a bigger city, taking my car with me and declaring the address change at Elephant Insurance. I had started this year's policy 2 months ago.

The result? An confirmation e-mail notifying me that next week, they will withdraw £90 from my associated debit card for this change to my policy!!

I mean ok, I was expecting some kind of applicable administration fee of £25-£35 maybe, but £90? It is outrageous!

As I have told you I am a student, so this is quite a lot of money for me to pay! What should I do?

Anyway, I hope for your best advice! Thank you in advance!

P.S.: I have already paid in advance the whole amount for my yearly policy. Are they allowed to ask me now for a higher premium, given the policy update chance?

forgotmyname

Is the £90 just the admin fee or including the fee because your new address maybe an extra risk?

They can ask for whatever premium they like. You changed the terms by moving address. If you dont like the new quote you can cancel and get insurance elsewhere.

wongataa

The admin fee won't be £90. That £90 will be made up of the admin fee and a premium adjustment.

dunstonh

Elephant car insurance - £90 Address change fee!!

They dont have an £90 admin fee. I suspect you are mixing up increased premium with the admin fee.

InsideInsurance

Mitsos17 wrote: »

I have already paid in advance the whole amount for my yearly policy. Are they allowed to ask me now for a higher premium, given the policy update chance?

Premium is the key word.

The "fee" you have been charged will be split over an admin fee and an additional premium. According to http://www.elephant.co.uk/policyDocs/EL-011-003-Keyfacts.pdf the admin fee should be £19.50, which is relatively low compared to many companies.

When you bought your policy they gave you a price based on your details at the point of inception. They obviously accept you and your car will get older during the year etc but that price is set for them and for you assuming nothing else changes. If you however change any of the risk rating factors like buying a new car, changing the number of miles you'll be doing or moving home then then the original price no longer stands and they are entitled to rerate the policy based on your new proposed circumstances.

In this case they appear to deem your new address a slightly higher risk than your old address so are charging circa £71.50 additional premium to cover it until the end of the policy year.

If you ask them they have to give you a breakdown of premium -v- fee as some will fudge numbers sometimes to give nice round results but the fee cannot go above that which is stated in your policybook.