Sunday, July 5, 2009

Insurance and Gender Shiz

So I'm shopping around for car insurance. I'm applying for a bunch of online quotes. And a few websites (though I can't remember who), really really pissed me off.

Several, upon finding that I was married, then asked for the information on my spouse, and auto-filled the spousal last name to be the same as mine. It just struck me as strange, to see Mr. Phizz's first name paired with my last name. It made me just a little bit mad, that they made this assumption that spouses have the same last name.

Then, there was one website that actually HAD NO FIELD AT ALL for putting in the spouse last name. In other words, they had no means for me to indicate that Mr. Phizz and I have different last names. At all. I was like, wtf?

For some reason, this made me really really mad.

9 comments:

Rebecca said...

Yeah that sucks. Most couples do have the same last name, so I can almost understand the autofill one. But no field for different last names? WTF! I'd tell those losers that they're not getting your business because of their sexist website.

Of course, there's nothing quite like doing all the insurance research, picking the best company, and going to get the insurance, only to have the asshole on the other side of the table write it up in your husband's name.

Alyssa said...

I can see the autofill thing, since most people do share names, but NO option? That's insane, and I'd take them off the list of options :P

Jim L. said...

Sexist pigs. I prefer to have a different last name than my wife. That way I can still pick up other women :-)

Candid Engineer said...

As my husband and I have different last names, I am often surprised by the wide # of things I come across that have no provision for 2 different last names.

Unknown said...

Gee, Phizz, I have no idea why you'd be upset that everyone assumes that you are your husband's property.

Nicky said...

We're shopping for new car insurance right now, too, so this had me laughing out loud.

In my own insurance search, I was amused that at 30+ years old, I get a "student discount." Because yes, still being in school at this age totally makes me more responsible....

Toaster Sunshine said...

DDOS them!

microbiologist xx said...

I too have a different last name than my spouse. I really didn't think it was going to be that big of a deal, but apparently I was wrong. I mean, if my own family can't get my last name right, then I guess expecting a corporation to do it is asking too much.

PhizzleDizzle said...

I realize that the people that I know are not representative of society as a whole, but man I know a lot of married women who did not change their names. I can't decide if the subgroup of people that I know is just THAT weird from the norm, or if these companies are just totally behind the times.

Probably both.

Rebecca - THAT would piss me off to no end. To no end.