Car insurance 14 day cancellation period, but I broke down

switch007

Hi everyone,

I took out a car insurance policy with M&S 10:07 on the 16th Jan, with a breakdown recovery element. Unfortunately, the car I bought broken down an hour later and decided to hand it back to the owner. I phoned the RAC and thus used the breakdown element of the policy.

I phoned up M&S that afternoon to cancel and I explained everything that happened and they said no problem, we'll refund everything. I thought, wow, great. Then I received the cancellation confirmation letter, which stated that as I cancelled it on the day I took it out, "there had been no cover." Funny, because the letter states the cancellation date as 24:00 16th January, which, by ISO time/date representation standards, is the END of the day of the 16th.

I feel they are going to charge me full whack for the recovery. I am fully willing to pay a days worth of insurance plus an admin fee, as that is what I felt I was covered for. I do not accept their statement that I in fact had *no* cover - that can't change after the fact. They were happy to say I was insured so I could drive the car away..

Now, do I contest the fact that I was covered? Am I right? Using the Certificate of Motor Insurance policy start date and cancellation letter policy end date, it clearly shows that I had a day's worth of cover.

I feel if I ignore the confirmation letter, and they consequently decide to charge me for recovery, I will have silently accepted the statement that I was not covered.

Any advice please?

Thanks!

Anihilator

It will depend on the terms.

Normally you find the recovery component is non refundable anyway so whilst they are likely to refund the insurance they will probably hold you to the RAC cover.

Someone else will need to confirm whether RAC has a no claims period.

switch007

Ah good point. I had a look over the policies earlier, but I believe the cancellation of the breakdown cover just mentioned that it was tied to the insurance policy. (Bit ill at the moment, I'll read it properly tomorrow).

Well the "premier" cover which includes more than the breakdown cover was £6 more than the standard, so I expect it to be less than £72