Huge hike in premiums after marriage

aimo123

Hi there, yesterday I contacted my insurance company to notify them of my name change and marriage (only got my updated license yesterday). I'm half way through a policy which ends in November. I was expecting the usual admin charge of £25 which I've had before for things like change of address or vehicle, but the guy on the phone said it was going to add £192 pound onto my policy! Taking my premiums up by £40+ per month. I've full no claims and no other changes to my policy other than the name change & marital status. In the end I was on the phone for over an hour working through all combinations to get it down to an extra £30 a month. When I asked to go away and think about it, they said I wouldn't be insured so I felt really pressured. I got passed to another advisor, then another trying out different changes to my policy and a new quote, all of which involved quite a steep price increase. They couldn't tell me the reason for the increase either and I was left feeling really confused. They mentioned something vague about a mid-term change to policy causing re-evaluation of rates. But I only updated name & marital status. Has this happened to anyone else?

WellKnownSid

Presumably your risk profile changed, and this could not be accommodated within the parameters of your existing policy.  I had it myself when we changed cars at the back end of last year and my wife switched to a much lower insurance group car four months into her policy - went from something like £220 to £700+.  I just cancelled and picked a new policy online for £150.

I don't know, but I would very much doubt that the people on the end of the phone would have any detailed knowledge of how insurance risks are profiled and packaged behind the scenes - they are just call handlers at the end of the day.

lisyloo

I'm speculation but I'm guessing they've repriced your policy (as they said on the phone) and prices have gone up quite a lot.

DullGreyGuy

aimo123 said:

Hi there, yesterday I contacted my insurance company to notify them of my name change and marriage (only got my updated license yesterday). I'm half way through a policy which ends in November. I was expecting the usual admin charge of £25 which I've had before for things like change of address or vehicle, but the guy on the phone said it was going to add £192 pound onto my policy! Taking my premiums up by £40+ per month. I've full no claims and no other changes to my policy other than the name change & marital status. In the end I was on the phone for over an hour working through all combinations to get it down to an extra £30 a month. When I asked to go away and think about it, they said I wouldn't be insured so I felt really pressured. I got passed to another advisor, then another trying out different changes to my policy and a new quote, all of which involved quite a steep price increase. They couldn't tell me the reason for the increase either and I was left feeling really confused. They mentioned something vague about a mid-term change to policy causing re-evaluation of rates. But I only updated name & marital status. Has this happened to anyone else?

Insurance premiums are often calculated as a base premium that is then multiplied by different percentages depending on how you answer the question, so saying you are 18 may be a 400% multiplier whereas being 40 could be a 80% multiplier. 

When someone does a mid term adjustment there are two ways this can be done, either you simply substitute the former say 120% multiplier with the new 90% multiplier and see a premium movement based just on what's changed. The other option is you rerate the whole policy based on today's rates so potentially all aspects of the policy could move in response to changing market conditions since you took the policy out. The second method tends to result in bigger movements but naturally it can be a big move up or down depending on the general direction of premiums. 

Your broker/insurer have informed you they do the later and as premiums have been going up in recent years its had the inevitable impact. 

Do some quotes online, remember to factor in the cancellation cost and see if its better to update the existing policy or cancel it and buy a new one (assuming no claims made this year)