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Budget Insurance Cancellation fee PLUS "Short Term Rates"

My Budget Car Insurance renewed automatically on 2nd March. As I'd recently moved house and have had a pile of stuff on my plate the renewal letter slipped my attention - my bad.

My car has developed a fault and I took if off the road about a month ago. Realising the money had gone from my account (£726.12), I called Budget, explained the car was off the road and I'd need to cancel my policy.

They charged me a £75 cancellation fee (which I expected) PLUS told me I'd be charged "Short Term Rates" for the 17 days the car was insured of £249.09 - 4 months premiums. I've been offered a refund of £344.48 against the £726.12 that left my account on the 2nd of March.

Apparently these "Short Term Rates" apply if you ever WANT or NEED to leave your policy early - selling your car, for example.

Looking back at my policy docs dating from 2006, the Short term rates are indeed listed, buried a few pages in, but have been raised by a months premiums every year since 2007. They are not included in the policy summary and despite having a pretty extensive filing system, I cannot find the policy docs which outline this for the 2010 policy.

Does this seem normal or reasonable and were others aware of this? Do I have any chances of getting anything else refunded - I've canceled the policy but I haven't yet accepted the refund until I've checked this out.

Can anyone recommend a course of action?

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