Can swift cover charge me a cancellation fee?

Sagar_Fuzz

I took out car insurance online yesterday, and cancelled it today. They are charging me a £25 cancellation fee, but I thought I had seven days to 'cool off'? I told them this and they said that in their terms and conditions there is a £25 cancellation fee.

The insurance wasn't due to start until end of August and they haven't even taken the money out of my account yet.

Can they do this?

stugib

There's a 14 day cooling off period on insurance contracts, but they're still entitled to charge a cancellation fee to cover arranging the policy.

Distance Selling Regs do not apply to financial services.

erdd2

Was this clearly pointed out to you or hidden away in small print? Either way, it does not ring of usual good practise. Whilst there are costs for setting up policies etc...with so much competition around offering this service without cancellation fee, why does this company feel the need to have a cancellation fee, are there so many people cancelling at such an early stage?

shaun_from_Africa

This page will give you the relevant info.

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/cooling-off-and-cancellations/

Financial products and services

Financial products including banking, credit, insurance, personal pensions and investments, sold by distance means are subject to a 14 day cooling off period (this is 30 days in the case of life insurance and personal pensions). This includes renewals for insurance where the agreement has been sent by post. This 14 day cooling off period also covers situations where you bought a financial product from an intermediary or a broker, even if it was discussed and signed face to face. You must be sure to follow correct procedure for cancellation (see below). The insurer or broker must refund any monies paid by you within 30 days, although they have the right to deduct a reasonable admin charge, and a sum proportionate to the number of days cover you have had. If you have any related credit agreements, these will also be cancelled.

arcon5

erdd2 wrote: »

Was this clearly pointed out to you or hidden away in small print? Either way, it does not ring of usual good practise. Whilst there are costs for setting up policies etc...with so much competition around offering this service without cancellation fee, why does this company feel the need to have a cancellation fee, are there so many people cancelling at such an early stage?

Or to turn that statement around...

the customer is cancelling so we have lost their business anyway, why not cover our costs atleast?

pitkin2020

£25 thats cheap, my last insurer charged me £45 to change the car and than a week later another £45 to cancel the policy lol

Sagar_Fuzz

Considering it was under 12 hours later I cancelled it, they hadn't done any work on it ( I on the other hand spent 20 minutes filling in their long form!) I think it stinks. I have lodged a complaint and asked for a break down of the fee, so I can check if it is a reasonable or not. They haven't sent this yet...

arcon5

Sagar_Fuzz wrote: »

Considering it was under 12 hours later I cancelled it, they hadn't done any work on it ( I on the other hand spent 20 minutes filling in their long form!) I think it stinks. I have lodged a complaint and asked for a break down of the fee, so I can check if it is a reasonable or not. They haven't sent this yet...

In all fairness op you don't really know what they do behind the scenes and when. Although admittedly they probabbly haven't done anything..

But they now have to spend their time cancelling your policy and stopping any payment be charged to you, £25 will cover administration/time to cancel the policy -- which will all be done in premises with furniture, heating, electricity, insurance, ect ect which has to be paid for also out of their takings also.

And I assume you read the terms & conditions you agreed to when you signed up which most likely states there will be a fee?

Personally I think £25 is very reasonable and fair and for an amount so small not sure exactly how that would be done.

Aginoth

We never pay these fees, just point out to them that they are legally only allowed to charge their actual costs for the process of cancellation or in effect they are enforcing an illegal penalty clause in the contract with you breaching The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

Explain you are willing to pay their real cost for the cancellation, and that those real costs will probably be the cost of clicking the cancel policy button on a computer screen so shouldn't be more than about £1 for a few seconds work.

Stand your ground , ask to speak to a supervisor/manager as necessary. Be polite but forceful.

My wife and I have never paid these ridiculous fees to any company or body.

As an example our latest win of the is sort was a couple of weeks ago when we needed to get a copy of my wife's Car insurance certificate. The insurers demanded £45 for them to email us an electronic copy of the certificate (£20 for the certificate and £25 for sending the email) we spoke to a manager then we pointed out The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and the unreasonableness (possible illegality) of their charges for what amounted to under a minutes work for them by 1 person with no physical certificate to send - they immediately backed down and waived the charges.

arcon5

Aginoth wrote: »

As an example our latest win of the is sort was a couple of weeks ago when we needed to get a copy of my wife's Car insurance certificate. The insurers demanded £45 for them to email us an electronic copy of the certificate (£20 for the certificate and £25 for sending the email) we spoke to a manager then we pointed out The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and the unreasonableness (possible illegality) of their charges for what amounted to under a minutes work for them by 1 person with no physical certificate to send - they immediately backed down and waived the charges.

What are you talking about? They probably refunded to get rid of you, not because it is illegal.

If you want a second copy of the insurance certificate then it will be classed as an additional service and something chargable.

Thats like going into Argos and asking why they're charging so much more for their TVs than what they pay at wholesale and that you wan't to see a breakdown and proof of all costs incurred to justify the price.

You could class alot of terms as 'unfair' if you want, that doesn't necessarily mean it is.

somethingcorporate

A chargeable service doesn't have to be a reflection of cost to the company