A bit of a rant over what seems a ridiculous additional charge for car insurance.
My wife has just changed her car from a Volvo XC40 to an EX30. I phoned her insurance company to switch over to the new car and paid a small additional amount in terms of premium. I expected this as it’s a newer, more powerful car. As we were waiting for the log books to come from DVLA I had to insure it on the existing plate, not my wife’s private plate. I’ve just phoned to tell them about the switch to the private plate, hoping but not expecting to avoid an additional admin charge.
However, they tell me there’s an additional premium of nearly £70 due because it’s going onto a private plate!! How can that possibly make any difference to the cost of insurance? Needless to say, they won’t be getting our business come renewal time.
I expect the underwriters deem a personalised number plate presents an additional risk, possibly more likely to be vandalised perhaps.
I’ve seen the algorithms used, having worked in IT in insurance, they are very complex and take all manner of things into account based on previous claim history.
There are anomalies though. My late uncle was a musician and his premiums were always unusually high, presumably the underwriters thought he had a rock and roll lifestyle whereas he was a first violist in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra!
Pretty standard. Any changes incur a standard admin charge of £50. Plus having private number plate makes car different in terms of insurance.
I have personalised plates which sometimes I put on a vehicle. It always costs money for any changes. I always shop around for insutance as they are all the same. I generally go for the cheapest, unless my renewal is close to other prices.
And then DVLA charge to put it on the car as well. Which was about £80 last time I did it a few years ago.
So that’s £150. Plus you might need new plates made up, depending on their condition.
The price for vanity! I would just take it on the chin, and not worry about it.