Car Insurance ripoff - please help!!

stu762

I am quite new to this whole car insurance malarky so please forgive me if I say anything here that makes you think "yeah thats normal".

The crux of my issue is that I had fully comp insurance via the post office for a few months and was then posted to Germany for my job (working with HM Forces), I had 60 days cover for european driving so I didn't cancel the policy at that time. Then I was posted to Iraq on a last minute dot com for 3 months taking me 6 months into this policy. As the Post office policy doesn't cover me to drive in Germany full time, I have had to buy a new policy at astronomical amounts and today I rang the post office to cancel their policy, the woman I spoke to has advised me that the post office will penalise me to the tune of £437.48 to cancel this early, despite them not being able to offer me a policy that will actually cover me.

Surely this cannot be correct? I have told the P.O that I am deeply unhappy about this but their attitude is basically that I moved away and so it's my fault and I should just accept losing this 400 odd quid. I even requested that I speak to a supervisor who is supposed to ring me back - but I somehow doubt that this will happen.

Does anyone have any experience of this type of issue? Surely this cannot be right that despite the PO being unable to provide adequate cover, I will be penalised.

Any comments / help / advise will be gratefully received

Thanks

Stuart

raskazz

Much as I admire what you do for a living, I really don't think you have cause for complaint.

Did you ever ask them if they would cover you whilst you are residing abroad? Did they ever intimate that they would? If not, they haven't really done anything wrong.
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IIRC Towergate have a policy for HM Forces where you can switch between the UK and Germany.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hi there

Raskazz is right; if you had asked the question at the outset, you would not find yourself in this position now. The policy was provided to you and you were given 14 days to investigate the policy and query anything you were not happy with.

Best of luck with your complaint.

dunstonh

In addition to the above....

Car insurance is an annual contract. Not a monthly one. If you decide to pay monthly then it is often done under a credit agreement with the insurer being paid up front and then you paying the credit company.

If you cancel mid term, the insurance company is entitled to be paid for cover so far and a little bit of extra and an admin charge. If you had paid up front, you would get a refund. If you pay monthly, your monthly payments may not be in sync with the period of cover you are being charged for. So, you often have to pay to catch up as well as pay the fee.

Example, if you cancel at the half way point in the year, the insurer may only give a 40% refund. Your monthly premium may only have paid 45% of the premium to date so you are 15% out plus the admin charge and possibly a credit charge.

A few of the decent insurers will not charge you if they cannot offer cover. Screentrade wouldnt offer me cover back in 2007 because the car I bought wasnt on their system yet as it was a new model. They didnt charge their normal costs as it was they who could not offer cover. However, its up to the provider if they do that or not and its the sort of thing you should be aware of before you purchase.

The role of a broker is to ask you these sort of questions before you purchase. That gives you the consumer protection if the wrong policy is sold. If you dont use a broker and buy direct (or through quote site) then you take on the responsibility for knowing what you are doing. Its that lack of liability that makes buying direct cheaper typically.

stu762

Well thank you all for your input here - I think I clearly am just going to have swallow my pride and let these lovely people have yet more of my cash.

Nevertheless I do appreciate that you all took time to offer advice.

Thanks

Stuart

purplelotus

Stuart, point out to them that you're terribly sorry you're unable to continue with them and you would have loved to because they've been so fantastic in the past and it's such a shame they weren't able to provide the cover you require and therefore you've had no choice but to look elsewhere and to cancel existing policy, but you hope they'll be able to help you again in future, and if they let you off the payment there will be no hard feelings and they will be your first point of call when you return to the uk.

It's worth a shot!

ETA:
on second thoughts is it possible to "pause" the insurance?