cancellation of car insurance £180 !!!!

becks666

Hello,

My current car insurer ibuyeco have quoted me £1042 a year for my new car a peaugeot 307. I am 29, no convictions, own home and child. I have been quoted £326 from Sheilas Wheels. Understandably I do not intend to stay with ibuyeco but when I told them I would be cancelling my insurance with them they told me they would be charging me £38 cancellation fee {this I can accept} but on top of this they said they would be charging me £142 ontop as a % of what was left on my insurance to pay. They automatically renewed my insurance 3 months ago.

I have emailed them to tell them AI have cancelled my direct debit and that I feel their charge is unfair.

I do not feel that £180 is a fair cancellation fee, where do I stand with this legally please??

many thanks in advance!

Becks :-0

lisyloo

I do not feel that £180 is a fair cancellation fee

It's not a cancellation fee.
It's the remaining amount that's left on your insurance to pay for the 3 months insurance that you have had.
You need to bear in mind that 3 months insurance is not 25% of 12 months insurance, that's not how it works.
There is a big discount for buying 12 months at a time, so 3 months is generally quite a bit more than 25% of the 12 months price.
The short term rates should be documented in your policy that you had delivered to you at the start and by accepting the insurance you are deemed to have accepted those terms and conditions (you would have had 14 days to read and accept/reject).

If the calculations are indeed correct and match the policy you accepted then you will have to pay it.

If you don't pay it then the debt will probably initially be passed to a debt collection agency. They may call you a couple of times a day.
They could pursue you through the courts.

First you need to establish if the figures are correct i.e. in line with what you agreed in the policy.
If it's incorrect then complain and get it amended.
If it's correct then legally you owe the money and will get a lot of grief if you don't pay.

glider3560

And to follow on from lisyloo's very informative post, the best time to cancel/switch insurer is at renewal, not part way through the policy!

lisyloo

Also make sure that Sheilas wheels do not mind a 3 month gap in you no claims bonus, otherwise you are going to be getting another shock.

NCB is generally valid for 2 years, but there was a post on here recently where it wasn't accepted after 28 days.

becks666

Well thats not what I wanted to hear but thanks anyway :-) I am not in a position to be able to pay £180 in one go, would they take installments do you think? thanks

olly300

becks666 wrote: »

Well thats not what I wanted to hear but thanks anyway :-) I am not in a position to be able to pay £180 in one go, would they take installments do you think? thanks

Tell them that you can't pay and offer them reasonable instalments. However the instalments you are offering don't equal what you use to pay monthly then expect them to tell you to forget it.

Make sure you formalise anything you offer them in writing and keep a copy of the letter you sent them plus get a proof of posting for the letter.

mikey72

You must be paying £90 or £100 month at the moment?
Offer to pay over two months and see if they accept.
Never ever accept auto renew, it's usually 50 to 100% on top of the best price for the same cover.

DCFC79

Make a note of when your car and home insurance is due to run out and a month or with more than a month left to go you get some prices from the comparison sites and see whats cheaper than your renewal quote. You do not go and cancel a direct debit for insurance as it may get worse for you

Quote

mikey72 wrote: »

Never ever accept auto renew, it's usually 50 to 100% on top of the best price for the same cover.

Is it really? Do you have a source for this statistic, other than the top of your head?

mikey72

Quote wrote: »

Is it really? Do you have a source for this statistic, other than the top of your head?

tbh, who cares.

If you want the top of my head, go for 400%
If you want a source, read post #1 of this thread.

If I'm wrong, no-one will save money.
If I'm right, you'll get less commission, and we'll keep a lot of cash.

You keep beating the drum for how people should pay regardless, the rest of us will keep advising to shop around.

But, who cares about the source.
Save hundreds, shop around.

becks666 wrote: »

Hello,

My current car insurer ibuyeco have quoted me £1042 a year for my new car a peaugeot 307. I am 29, no convictions, own home and child. I have been quoted £326 from Sheilas Wheels.

Quote

I don't remember saying people should pay regardless. I just remember saying that the cheapest insurance can end up costing you money. How many complaints are there on this forum from people who have shopped around and settled for the cheapest insurance they can find?