How easy is it to changing Insurance ?

Youdontseeme

Good afternoon,

Just a quick question (and probably a bit silly!)

When I renewed my contents insurance in December I really did have a good look about to get the best quotes, but today I did one of those compare sites and found much better cover at £12 less a month!

I pay by DD and have never claimed do I just phone up and cancel my existing? Will there be a penalty to cancel half way through?

Should I just stop being such a wuss and just phone them to find out??:o

I think I have just answered my own question but some reassurance would be nice.

Thanks
YDSM

McKneff

Have you looked at the terms and conditions of your policy.

To be honest i would just let it run its course to December.

It may cost you 4 x £12 (Sept to December) but its likely the penalty for cancelling the policy will wipe this out.

You could ring up and ask how much the cancellation fee would be but Im probably right.

Make sure also that your present policy is not on auto renew, you should get a letter before hand but post does get lost.

Letting it run on would be the easiest but thats only my opinion mind.

Youdontseeme

Thanks I had a look through the T&C's and there is a penalty.

Will leave it for now.

Hannah_10

As McNeff says it'll cost you £48 to let it run, how much will it cost you to cancel? I've known cancellation of insurance to cost £25 (thus saving £23 by changing) or for it to cost 90% of the full amount (which might mean you end up worse off). You can find out two ways, either by checking the terms and conditions (you should have these somewhere) or by giving them a ring.

Giving them a ring though might mean they re-negotiate the payments! They would want to know why you were thinking of cancelling, so you would tell them the truth- that you are watching the pennies and have found a company offering cheaper cover... Then if you were to ask them "can you do me a better deal than that if I were to stay with you" you might be surprised to find they can. Even if they could save you £2 or £3 a month until the end of the policy in December it would be a bit of a bonus wouldn't it. A saving of just a few quid a month could mean that you're better off not cancelling. (£48 to gain minus the cancellation fee, minus the amount they are prepared to reduce the payments by... if this comes to a negative number you're better off staying put).

No claims discount counts up in whole years too, so by letting it run it's course until December you may be better off than by switching. To find that out run another comparisson for a year more's NCD as if it was now Decemeber and your old policy had finished. The money you save then might be more than the £48 over-the-odds it will currently cost to let your current policy run out.