Names on car insurance & driving license

GreyWind

I got married a few months ago, and decided to double-barrel my name. Sent my license off to DVLA to get  my name changed, knowing they had a massive backlog so it would take ages.

In the meantime our car insurance came up for renewal so we put me on the insurance under my new name.

DVLA sent license back just before Xmas - they were unable to update it because I'd missed something on the form. Oops! I thought I'd deal with it in the new year.

This week, I had a car accident. Reported it to the insurance and it's in their hands now. Had to give my driving license details as well - which still has my old name. Husband and I are both really concerned that this discrepancy is going to invalidate the insurance, and I can't find any information. Everything else (address, etc.) are all correct.

Am I right to be worried? Is there anything I can do?

dunstonh

No need to worry as you will be able to show the audit trail in your name change (marriage certificate).  

GreyWind

@dunstonh Thank you! We've certainly not tried to lie or pull a fast one on the insurers, so hopefully the marriage certificate will be enough if they question it. Just worried that insurance companies will take any chance to get out of paying, and we certainly can't afford the cost of the repairs!

Aretnap

Insurance covers a person, not a string of letters. A person might easily be identified by more than one name - it's not unusual for married women to use their birth names for some purposes and their married names for others. So long as there's no real that you are the person the policy was bought to cover, you will not have any problems. 

GreyWind

@Aretnap Thank you, that's reassuring! It's just unfortunate timing of the accident with the changing of details. When we updated the insurance we thought the licence change was being processed (if slowly) so thought nothing of it. Hopefully it's fairly obvious that I'm the same person, especially since my maiden name is still part of my surname.

Sandtree

Worst case scenario really is that the claim is slightly delayed and they ask for a copy of the marriage certificate and other standard ID type docs showing the name change (ie bank statements, utility bills, council tax etc)

mr_stripey

My first name has been spelt incorrectly on my driving license for the 30 years I have held it. I've often requested it to be changed, but each time they issue a new license the spelling mistake remains. No one has ever noticed it (apart from me).

mr_stripey

mr_stripey said:

My first name has been spelt incorrectly on my driving license for the 30 years I have held it. I've often requested it to be changed, but each time they issue a new license the spelling mistake remains. No one has ever noticed it (apart from me).

Quoting myself here, but just after I said "no one has ever noticed" (the spelling mistake on my driving licence) - I got stopped by a policeman the other day and showed him my licence and he spotted it straight away (we do share the same name though)!