Car Insurance Renewal - How much notice should I get?

[TrundleAlong]

Rang Aviva about my wife's car insurance renewal. We found that getting a quote as a new customer was considerably cheaper than paying her renewal. Anyhow, got the online quote, tried to pay, but their system wouldn't accept her payment. So we made the phone call.

My wife suffers from Tinnitus and has difficulty speaking on the phone as it sets it off. I phoned and I asked if I could arrange to pay over the phone on her behalf. My wife gave the customer service rep her permission to speak to me over the phone. Aviva refused to accept this insisting that they had to speak with my wife. My wife was then subjected to having all the questions asked to her despite the fact that we had the insurance quote reference number with all the questions answered.

End result. Got the insurance but my wife's head is lifting. Surely they could have accepted her request to talk to me on the phone? After all it was their system that would not accept the online quote.

 

[Leo]

Surely they could have accepted her request to talk to me on the phone? After all it was their system that would not accept the online quote.

They have a challenge in that unless you are correctly authorised, you cannot enter into a binding contract on your wife's behalf. Some of the institutions are also dealing with complaints where customers are saying they are being coerced by controlling partners. Ask them if they have a procedure to authorise you as a contact on your wife's policy.