Does anyone know which insurance companies don't impose big penalties if you cancel?

JennyP

I have found the small print in my RAC policy. If you cancel after 6 months, they keep 80% of the premium. They also impose an admin fee so that more or less wipes out any refund.
However, if you cancel after 1 month, you get 70% back less the admin fee so it might still be an option if Rob insured the car with them!

These charges aren't really very clear upfront when getting quotes online are they?

JennyP

You're really knowledgeable Viktor! Thank you!

Rob said it makes the quotes really high though .... if you get insurance on a vehicle you don't own?

victor2

JennyP wrote: »

You're really knowledgeable Viktor! Thank you!

Rob said it makes the quotes really high though .... if you get insurance on a vehicle you don't own?

You're welcome. Just what I've found from experience!
I don't believe it does inflate the policy. Try an online quote for Rob, first without saying it is not registered to him and then change it. I've just taken out a Tesco policy and I'm sure it had a box to say I wasn't the registered keeper.
I shopped around a bit before going with Tesco and they gave the best deal. Didn't try the comparison sites as I got bombarded with calls from companies I'd never heard of when I did once - that was a good few years ago though.

mikey72

JennyP wrote: »

You're really knowledgeable Viktor! Thank you!

Rob said it makes the quotes really high though .... if you get insurance on a vehicle you don't own?

Makes no difference to us.
I insure and am main driver on my wife's car, and vice versa.

goldspanners

im using ecar insure to temporarily insure my car. its about £60 per month. this was my cheapest option.
day insurance per month was working out £130 per 28 days.

obviously its more expensive than 12 month policy but it saves me money in the long run.

Wig

JennyP wrote: »

The insurance company said that you can't be the main driver on a car you don't own. Is that true? Or that, if you were, it was your no claims that got used rather than the owners? They said it was to stop a grandad insuring his 18 year old grandson's vehicle at grandad rates rather than at 18 year old rates.....

This is down to the insurance company and the underwriters, in other words whatever it says on their website when you take out a quote. What they said is not true for all ins co.s

Frizzell for example, who are backed by LVE, will allow the policy holder to not be the main driver, and still use the policy holders no claims.

Wig

JennyP wrote: »

I have found the small print in my RAC policy. If you cancel after 6 months, they keep 80% of the premium. They also impose an admin fee so that more or less wipes out any refund.
However, if you cancel after 1 month, you get 70% back less the admin fee so it might still be an option if Rob insured the car with them!

These charges aren't really very clear upfront when getting quotes online are they?

Knowing that your intention is to cancel, why on Earth would you consider going along with such draconian T&Cs when you can go with co.s like Tesco, Nationwide, Directline, who will have much better T&Cs for cancellation?

JennyP

That's really helpful, thanks Wig!
I like LVE - they were really good about giving me travel insurance as I have life-threatening allergies and sometimes can't get it! They came out near the top on confused.com and I was thinking of giving them a call tomorrow.

Wig

JennyP wrote: »

You're really knowledgeable Viktor! Thank you!

Rob said it makes the quotes really high though .... if you get insurance on a vehicle you don't own?

Most mainstream (online) insurers won't allow that. You'd have to go to a place like compare.com to find an insurer who will let you insure a car you don't own.

Wig

victor2 wrote: »

You're welcome. Just what I've found from experience!
I don't believe it does inflate the policy. Try an online quote for Rob, first without saying it is not registered to him and then change it. I've just taken out a Tesco policy and I'm sure it had a box to say I wasn't the registered keeper.
I shopped around a bit before going with Tesco and they gave the best deal. Didn't try the comparison sites as I got bombarded with calls from companies I'd never heard of when I did once - that was a good few years ago though.

That does surprise me, I wouldn't have expected Tesco to allow that. Hopefully you are the RK and didn't check that box, otherwise one would expect you to remember such an important detail.

** So use a nom de plume and fake address (neighbours) to get your quotes, until you know which co. you actually want to use.