Change of address extortion

flatulantyounggoat

So originally my insurance company wanted to £90 to change my address for one vehicle. This in my opinion is crazy high and I moaned to the broker. I had some success here, and they completely waivered their administration fee bringing down the cost to £40. However, this is still higher than I think it 'ought to be but the broker has told me the actual insurance company are refusing to budge.

The new address is literally 10 minutes walk away.

Any thoughts / advice?

I'm thinking about escalating this to the FSO.

Thanks

Weighty1

What is the £40 charge for? Processing the change, change of risk profile of the new address, producing new documentation, updating information on their systems?

Were the costs for changing the policy mid-term not available to you in the policy documents and if so, do this charge fall in line with what they are proposing?

Aside from this, the distance from the new to old property has nothing to do with it. The amount of work involved is the same even if you were moving next door.

AstroTurtle

It's probably an admin fee for processing a change if it's a brokerage.




Good job getting it reduced to £40 but Good luck escalating to the FSO whoever they are?


If you mean FOS/FCA They wont do anything as it's more than likely within the TOBA(Terms of Business Agreement) Which you would have been sent when setting up the policy.


If the additional charge was for a change of postcode than that's a commercial decision which they don't have to justify the pricing for.


Most insurers have admin fee's for having to re-issue documents mid term, Update MID, Staff processing cost etc.

HappyHarry

flatulantyounggoat wrote: »

So originally my insurance company wanted to £90 to change my address for one vehicle. This in my opinion is crazy high and I moaned to the broker. I had some success here, and they completely waivered their administration fee bringing down the cost to £40. However, this is still higher than I think it 'ought to be but the broker has told me the actual insurance company are refusing to budge.

The new address is literally 10 minutes walk away.

Any thoughts / advice?

I'm thinking about escalating this to the FSO.

Thanks

This comes up quite frequently. Budget insurers will always charge for amendments, not to make a profit, but to cover their costs.

If you're assuming that your £40 is only to pay the operators wages for the 10 minutes they spend amending your details, you are wrong.

Many people, including the OP it appears, see all charges as pure profit for the company making that charge.

To quote an earlier thread ...

£40 for ten minutes work is a lot of money if there were no other costs.

But, £40 to cover the wages for the employee, for the chair the employee sits in, for the desk the employee works at, for the telephone on the desk the employee uses, for the computer on the desk the employee uses, for the databases that need monitoring and updating, for the lighting in the call centre, for the heating in the call centre, for the rent of the call centre, for the call centre manager's wages, for the training costs for the employee, for the confirmation that is sent out, for the business rates, for the FSCS levy, for the FCA fees, for taxation and a thousand other things that need to be paid for so that someone can change their address on their policy. Oh, and some profit (who wants their insurance company running at a loss?)

£40 sounds like a good deal to me.

I don't think that the Fulham Symphony Orchestra (https://fso.org.uk/) would be overly interested.

Or even the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Reardoa

As above. You cant justify a premium increase by the time it takes you to walk to it. Rates will change depending on the specific postcode and it maybe that losses are higher there that you aren't aware of. An area I used to live in was nice but move to the other side of it put me closer to a really rough area therefore inevitably my premium would increase. As astroturtle says the ToBA will set out the admin charge which you have already agreed to.

flatulantyounggoat

FSO - Financial Services Ombudsman.

But yeah. I'm told that the £40 is literally to cover the 3 clicks to update their spreadsheet or whatever. The new postcode is basically the same. No new risk profile. Should I just take this on the chin, or continue trying to get this cost down.

The actual insurance company are called Tansar.

dunstonh

The £90 would have been made up of an admin charge and premium difference. They may budge on the admin charge but getting them to budge on the premium would be rare.

The new postcode is basically the same.

underwriting pricing is based on the full post code nowadays. So, basically the same is not the same. If it was the same postcode then you may have a case. If its a different post code then its not the same.

I'm thinking about escalating this to the FSO.

Who will not rule in your favour. We know the FOS will accept admin charges upto £50 as acceptable and they published that nearly 10 years ago. Your is less than £50 and they have waived it. So, the FOS wont rule in your favour.

The actual insurance company are called Tansar.

They specialise in non-standard coverage. So, a change of postcode could have a more significant movement than a mainstream provider.

Reardoa

You wont get anywhere with the FSO if the admin charge is set in the ToBA. Trust me it isn't as simple as 3 clicks. The broker has to make something from the transaction as they will get a tiny commission from the insurer and it isn't worth them doing the work.
Each postcode is rated down to even the house you live in so a change can result in paying an additional premium which is based on their own claims experience which they don't have to justify to the FSO.
Not all insurers charge admin fees so go direct and see what the likes of Direct Line and Aviva for example can do.

wongataa

flatulantyounggoat wrote: »

FSO - Financial Services Ombudsman.

But yeah. I'm told that the £40 is literally to cover the 3 clicks to update their spreadsheet or whatever.

You are forgetting all the business overheads that need to be paid for while the operator does those 3 clicks. That is a lot more than you think.

AstroTurtle

flatulantyounggoat wrote: »

FSO - Financial Services Ombudsman.

But yeah. I'm told that the £40 is literally to cover the 3 clicks to update their spreadsheet or whatever. The new postcode is basically the same. No new risk profile. Should I just take this on the chin, or continue trying to get this cost down.

The actual insurance company are called Tansar.

When i worked in a brokerage i wish it was only 3 clicks.


Change of address involves time on your phone call, Update existing internal systems with new address and a note of the call record incl dates and times. Calculation of the additional costs which involves phoning current insurer/emailing the to calculate the pro-rata premium. Replying to that insurer with your instruction to change address. Updating any direct debit or finance agreement's with new address information. Printing off and archiving copies of new documents. Emailing & Posting new documents to the client. Adding new charge to internal system or finance agreement. Creating a diary chase to ensure payment has been made for 7 days time. Creating a receipt or invoice. Closing any outstanding diary entries.




3 clicks... wake up.


and it's Financial Ombudsman Service who in 3 clicks would tell you to jog 10 minutes up the road.

Reardoa

and currently working in a brokerage it hasn't changed either. Spot on Astroturtle