Penalised for removing extra driver from renewal

claire07

My recent car insurance renewal had increased which I anticipated but shopping around seemed not to bad so I checked the policy and phoned to renew.  My OH has been added before but due to serious health issues and him giving up driving and selling his car this year I thought it best to remove him from the policy and explained.

I didn't expect the quote to be reduced but naively thought it might be the same.  However they are charging an extra £150 which I certainly wasn't expecting.  I'm now wondering if I could have renewed the policy and not said anything but presumably that would have been a worse mistake!

Jemma01

Cant you get a new policy with them instead of renewing? 150 sounds extortionate for an admin fee

jimjames

Why not add him back in? If he has a licence it would still be valid on policy even if he doesnt drive it

tonygold

It is a strange thing but happens a lot. Adding my wife to my policy who never has, and never will drive my car reduces my annual insurance by £100pa. We have identical driving records and NCD (she has her own car also).

Okell

claire07 said:

My recent car insurance renewal had increased which I anticipated but shopping around seemed not to bad so I checked the policy and phoned to renew.  My OH has been added before but due to serious health issues and him giving up driving and selling his car this year I thought it best to remove him from the policy and explained.

I didn't expect the quote to be reduced but naively thought it might be the same.  However they are charging an extra £150 which I certainly wasn't expecting.  I'm now wondering if I could have renewed the policy and not said anything but presumably that would have been a worse mistake!

If you 'phoned up to renew and they told you the premium would go up by £150 if you took your husband off the policy, why didn't you just say "Well in that case I'll just keep him on the policy thank you"?

Unless you are saying that your husband is actually medically unfit to drive and the DVLA have either taken away or suspended his licence, I don't think there was any reason to say anything at all about taking your husband off the policy.

jimjames said:

Why not add him back in? If he has a licence it would still be valid on policy even if he doesnt drive it

If he's not banned from driving this ^^^ is what I'd try to do.  Get back to where you were.

Jemma01 said:

Cant you get a new policy with them instead of renewing? 150 sounds extortionate for an admin fee

I think it's a premium increase, not an admin fee...

claire07

Many thanks for the replies.  It would have been tempting to just put him back on if I'd known beforehand it would make this much difference!

However in a few weeks he will have to complete the over 70s DVLA three yearly medical form and due to various serious health issues it is likely he will be classed as medically unfit.  That is why I thought it best to take him off the policy before I paid the renewal rather than have to do it when the policy was running.

user1977

Is there any need for an additional driver on a policy to currently be entitled to drive? I know they don't need to actually ever drive the vehicle, just wondering whether the insurers still expect there to be a possibility that they could...

sheramber

Putting it another way you have been getting a discount by having an named driver on your insurance,

You can add anybody as a named driver as long as thye have a current licence to drive.

Have you got a  family member (brother, sister, etc ) you could add.

My son lived 260 miles away from me  but was a named driver on my insurance. 

Herzlos

Statistically, people who have other drivers using the car tend to be safer, so adding drivers that never actually use the car can reduce the premium. You're just seeing the opposite happening.

If it's cheaper to keep him on the policy even if he no longer drives then there's no downside to that. It's a bit more of a grey area if they give up their license though as they'll likely only ask about driving history and convictions.

Bigphil1474

I've been a named driver on at least 6 other people's insurance, and have only driven other peoples car once. Mostly for just in case reasons. Always legal. If your husband won't be fit to drive, what about any children, brothers, sisters etc.