Blumen' Blasty, Pain in Bottom Insurance Companies!

[Firestorm]

Depending on how your insurance is sold,the insured may not have paid any fee at the outset.
If when , the initial cost is agreed, it includes premium x Fee y in the total then an administration fee for the intermediary has been charged and paid.
if however the charge just says insurance premium , then that is the amount the Underwriter will be getting and any paymentto the Iintermediary will come from the underwriter not the Insured.
if the intermediary inflates the price of the premium in order to cream off , this Is calledgrossing up and the FCA will be very Interested in it as both the individual and the company will be fined , particularly if the Intermediary is a Lloyds broker

 

[HF2300]

The broker will have to change the address om their records, the underwriter will need to be informed, their records changed as well as the national database.
plus there could be a rating change as the premium rates may be different for the new post code , ie a greater number of thefts in the new area creating a different risk...

That'll all be simple, almost automatic changes. Any change in risk will be handled separately as a surcharge on the policy, not as part of the admin fee.

[QUOTE 3368655, member: 45"]Can't remember who, but a couple of years ago an insurance company we used let you log in online and make changes ourselves for free.[/QUOTE]

Aviva do this. In fact, they're pretty good about changing stuff over the phone without charge as well, in my experience.

Insurance companies know that from time to time folk will need to change details on their policies there is no justification all in charging their customer for it, it's a cost of doing business.

It's the same as car hire companies and budget airlines nickel and diming you on charges - it's a way of keeping the headline price down while keeping the profits up. Wrapping up all the costs of business into one and then making X% profit on top and putting it all in one price is so old hat these days.

 

[srw]

[QUOTE 3368659, member: 45"]Isn't that all done automatically when the info. Is put into their software?[/QUOTE]
Usually, but not always - a lot of the insurance industry still runs on bits of software from the 1980s which don't necessarily talk to each other very well. Many companies still have dual keying, because it's cheaper (and hence results in cheaper products) to do that than to invest to change the systems. As well, someone needs to program and then maintain the software and the computers, and the people who make the 0s and 1s blat around the internet charge a fee for each transfer.

All insurance companies and brokers (Bennetts is a broker) maintain complaints systems - feel free to complain if you want. I wouldn't take a sample of two as an indication that charging for mid-term changes is on its way out.

Don't hold your hopes up for a PPI-style payout. PPI was a case of mis-selling - it was often sold as compulsory when it should have been optional, and often sold to people who were never going to be able to claim. And the cost wasn't £15 for changing a policy (something which happens on average less often than once per year per policy) but £15 per month over years, ramped up by large amounts of interest.

If the FCA decides that charging for mid-term changes is against customer interests it's unlikely to apply the change retrospectively.

 

[HF2300]

...And another thing - I've just found out while phoning for renewals that many companies now charge £0 accidental excess UNLESS you ask for protected nCD, in which case they'll add an accident excess of £50 - £150!