Beware car insurance cancellation fee

Rosy_May

I have just been charged a cancellation fee by Hastings Direct when we sold a vehicle and did not want to roll over the insurance to a new vehicle within 2 weeks, this left us with a refund which was less than the cancellation fee, so for not delivering a service they have charged me £25. The moral of this is check your terms and conditions carefully, and understand a cancellation fee is exactly that even if you only have one day left on the policy.
I was advised by the company just leaving the policy in place wasn't an option as we no longer owned the vehicle.
The company were polite but totally inflexible, but it would seem a stratagy to help fund low cost insurance.

bikez

Also with Hastings Direct I cancelled BEFORE the insurance came into force and got charged £25. Also they wanted to charge me £11+ to add no claims protection to my policy which again had yet to start with a further £35 admin charge

It was cheaper to cancel the whole thing and start over. Good on price? Yes but thats it!!

dunstonh

so for not delivering a service they have charged me £25.

A £25 charge seems very reasonable.

I was advised by the company just leaving the policy in place wasn't an option as we no longer owned the vehicle.

Although many people do it.

but it would seem a stratagy to help fund low cost insurance.

Yes it is. Whilst the consumer if fixated on the annual premium and companies find ways to make their premium cheaper, they remove bits of cover or bring in admin charges to make up for it.

ihateyes

Rosy_May wrote: »

I have just been charged a cancellation fee by Hastings Direct when we sold a vehicle and did not want to roll over the insurance to a new vehicle within 2 weeks, this left us with a refund which was less than the cancellation fee, so for not delivering a service they have charged me £25. The moral of this is check your terms and conditions carefully, and understand a cancellation fee is exactly that even if you only have one day left on the policy.
I was advised by the company just leaving the policy in place wasn't an option as we no longer owned the vehicle.
The company were polite but totally inflexible, but it would seem a stratagy to help fund low cost insurance.

generally speaking any type of insurance is a contract....breaking that contract has fees.