Divorced Driving : “Going Up? “

The Daily Mail has picked up on a Radio 4 MoneyBox programme I happened to listen ..and nearly have a crash to…this week: it seems that a change in your status from married to divorced is likely to see an immediate rise in your insurance premiums of over 20%. Outrageous as it seems, there appears to be a common understanding by insurers of you being a greater risk if you are no longer married. Stay single by all means, but don’t marry then return to being single, as that’s where the problem will arise.

Apparently one justification is that you are likely to be driving more (for example transporting your child to the other parent for contact visits) or going off to new places on dates!  It certainly seems a rather random assumption for insurers to make.

One listener phoned in and suggested that once divorced, there’d be no risk of a good old marital row at the wheel, you should be considered a safer bet. I must say I agree.

Whilst you might think the answer lies in just not saying anything to your insurer: why is it any business of theirs anyway, apparently you are obliged under the terms of your policy to notify all material changes as they occur.

On a practical note, for those soon-to-be-divorced people working out what their future outgoings are going to be, so that maintenance figures can be agreed, its important to factor in that 20%+ premium hike.  Its certainly worth letting your solicitor know before the numbers are finalised.

Divorced drivers are charged hundreds of pounds more for car insurance than married people.

The difference was spotted after a listener to Radio 4’s Money Box programme said she was furious that the premium for her Nissan Note had increased by almost £340 – from £582 to £919 – after she updated her policy to say she had recently got divorced but wanted to keep her former husband as a named second driver. 

The listener, named only as Farrah, from London, told the personal finance programme: ‘I felt this was discrimination.’ Divorced drivers are charged hundreds of pounds more for car insurance than married people

Farrah had arranged her insurance through the RAC. She was told she would have to reapply after her divorce because the Co-op – which had underwritten her policy – would no longer cover her.