Charge to change to married name

sausagedoglover3

I’m furious! Rang to update my name to my married name now that I have my updated driving license. My insurance company is charging me over £130 to do this!
Is this normal?
My new passport will be cheaper 🙄

daveyjp

Its normal if the admin charge for mid policy change is £130, but you need to check your policy for those details.

These charges are often waived if changes are done online.

Okell

I'd have waited until the insurance was up for renewal, when I assume you could have changed it for nothing.

(Was there any necessity to change your name at all?  My wife continues to use her maiden name for "official" purposes - eg insurance, driving licnce, passport - but uses her married name for almost everything else)

DullGreyGuy

sausagedoglover3 said:

I’m furious! Rang to update my name to my married name now that I have my updated driving license. My insurance company is charging me over £130 to do this!
Is this normal?
My new passport will be cheaper 🙄

Well you arent only changing your name but also changing your marital status aren't you? 

Did they not have a way you could do it online yourself? 

Did you ask them what the split was between admin fee and additional premiums? 

What was your marital status beforehand? Certainly the last time I saw rating tables "married" was cheaper than "single" but can't comment about the relativities with "divorced" or "widowed" etc. 

paul_c123

There's got to be more to it than this.

sausagedoglover3

Thanks for your replies, I’ve been trying to sort this for 4 hours. Apparently I am seen as being higher risk because I’m now married - this absolutely doesn’t make sense!
I do want to change my surname officially as my previous husband was abusive - it is a relief to have a different surname.
Nothing else on my policy has changed.
I hand filed a complaint…

sausagedoglover3

I have done it all online, but they are still charging £15 admin fee and the rest as an increase of premium due to my change of name 🤷🏻

la531983

sausagedoglover3 said:

Thanks for your replies, I’ve been trying to sort this for 4 hours. Apparently I am seen as being higher risk because I’m now married - this absolutely doesn’t make sense!
I do want to change my surname officially as my previous husband was abusive - it is a relief to have a different surname.
Nothing else on my policy has changed.
I hand filed a complaint…

Which will lead you nowhere as they wont reveal their risk profiles, these are commercially sensitive.

DullGreyGuy

sausagedoglover3 said:

I have done it all online, but they are still charging £15 admin fee and the rest as an increase of premium due to my change of name 🤷🏻

You won't do yourself any favours by repeating something you know that is wrong... as said here and as they have already said, its the change of marital status that is causing the price change not the change of name. 

IT systems dont develop or maintain themselves (yet) and certainly some insurers online systems used to be a bit of smoke and mirrors with online changes actually requiring a manual rekey by an agent behind the scenes. There are two business models, charge everyone more but do amendments for free or charge everyone less and only charge those that make changes for the changes. Generally the later is considered fairer and given the vast majority of people will select some unknown offshore brand over a well known household name with a reasonable reputation to save less than £5 a year there's a reason why most opt for fees. 

sheramber

Can you get cheaper insurance elsewhere?

If so, check the cancelllation charge for your current insurance and change.

sausagedoglover3

Update!
The complaints staff member has waived the admin fee and increased policy charge - he agreed it was ridiculous! 

Phew!
Total £159 saved 😊