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Diamond Car Insurance Rip Off - Advice Needed!
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ross1701
Posts: 8 Forumite
Hi all,
My fiance has a car insurance policy with Diamond which she pays about £70 monthly to. Last week her car failed her MOT with expensive work needed to fix it which we couldn't afford so had to have it scrapped.
As a consequence we no longer need the insurance policy and could well do with the extra £70 a month that it will free up.
However to cancel, Diamond are demanding that we pay the remaining months to go, 4 left I think till renewal, plus a £45 cancellation fee. They say that it is because we made two claims two years ago (both not our fault - the handbrake failed, rolled into another car. And some junkie stole the CD player).
Reading the small print as far as I can see they can charge 80% or something of the remaining time left on the policy if claims are made "within the period of insurance".
As the claims were made two years ago, can I argue that "the period of insurance" relates to the policy two years ago? i.e. the renwal being a new period.
Also can anybody recommend any action that we could take to somehow make Diamond just cancel the damned thing without us having to pay for something we don't need anymore?
As it was we were hit with the £250 + £50 window repair excess on each claim which was hard to budget for, plus losing the NCB each time makes us think that Diamond has had more than enough of our money.
Any advice will be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Ross.
My fiance has a car insurance policy with Diamond which she pays about £70 monthly to. Last week her car failed her MOT with expensive work needed to fix it which we couldn't afford so had to have it scrapped.
As a consequence we no longer need the insurance policy and could well do with the extra £70 a month that it will free up.
However to cancel, Diamond are demanding that we pay the remaining months to go, 4 left I think till renewal, plus a £45 cancellation fee. They say that it is because we made two claims two years ago (both not our fault - the handbrake failed, rolled into another car. And some junkie stole the CD player).
Reading the small print as far as I can see they can charge 80% or something of the remaining time left on the policy if claims are made "within the period of insurance".
As the claims were made two years ago, can I argue that "the period of insurance" relates to the policy two years ago? i.e. the renwal being a new period.
Also can anybody recommend any action that we could take to somehow make Diamond just cancel the damned thing without us having to pay for something we don't need anymore?
As it was we were hit with the £250 + £50 window repair excess on each claim which was hard to budget for, plus losing the NCB each time makes us think that Diamond has had more than enough of our money.
Any advice will be much appreciated.
Cheers,
Ross.
Ross.
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Comments
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is there a definition of the 'period of insurance'?2014 Target;
To overpay CC by £1,000.
Overpayment to date : £310
2nd Purse Challenge:
£15.88 saved to date0 -
The period of insurance is surely not in doubt: it has to be stated on your certificate of insurance (and is presumably one year). I have seen examples where insurance companies refer to the first period of insurance to refer to the time when you took out a policy that you have since renewed.
I wonder if you have misunderstood what Diamond have told you. If you have their response in writing, can you post it? Or if they told you by phone, can you call them back and ask them again, to make sure you understand?
Having said that, as far as I know, your insurance contract will be for one year and you are liable for the full year's premium. The fact that they let you pay monthly doesn't change that contract.Eh?? I give up!! Towel is getting thrown in here!
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mountainofdebt wrote:is there a definition of the 'period of insurance'?
I dont have the the blurb to hand right now, will do tomorrow though, but AFAICR there was no definition.
I would take it to mean the time between the dates on the insurance policy document, i.e. the current from and to dates.Ross.0 -
greenwich wrote:The period of insurance is surely not in doubt: it has to be stated on your certificate of insurance (and is presumably one year). I have seen examples where insurance companies refer to the first period of insurance to refer to the time when you took out a policy that you have since renewed.
Again, thats what I would have thought. I'll double check tomorrow.I wonder if you have misunderstood what Diamond have told you. If you have their response in writing, can you post it? Or if they told you by phone, can you call them back and ask them again, to make sure you understand?
My fiance is/was the primary driver and it is in her name that the insurance policy is taken out so she was the one on the phone to them. She did get quite angry and upset when told that they wanted the remaining months payments up front plus charges to cancel (which we cannot afford).
I'll suggest that she phones again and asks for it in writing (no doubt there will be another charge for this)
I'll also suggest that she argues that the claims were made in the previous period of insurance and see what they say.Having said that, as far as I know, your insurance contract will be for one year and you are liable for the full year's premium. The fact that they let you pay monthly doesn't change that contract.
To be honest, I thought it was so.
It just pisses me off no end that we have to continue paying a great deal for something that we have no need for and IMHO is unfairly expensive to begin with.Ross.0 -
You do have cancellation rights but you may be due a short period charge (which may well be the whole premium if cancelling after month 8) and admin charge (£45 is correct). You should have the details on the back of your certificate according to Diamond.
The fact you made a claim a number of years ago is completely irrelevant as the contract is annual so the only way to view the current period is in this renewal year.
I would call them as a new customer and just ask what happens if you wish to cancel as you can't find the details when applying online to see if they say something different.
It is worth bearing in mind that 80% of call centre staff know less than 50% about their own product and know even less about general practices in Insurance.0
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