insurance cancellation for 55 quid?

simonHB

hi all - simple question about policies etc (and i think i know the answer!)

i took out insurance for my motorbike in april this year for £233.01 and i decided to pay it over 6 months so the grand total was £271.65.

i am going to sell my motorbike this weekend and so will cancel the policy. however having spoken to the insurer (Hastings Bike Team) they have told me that having had the insurance for over 6 months i am not entitled to any refund at all and will owe them £55 as a cancellation charge.

i looked on the back of the insurance certificate and it is clearly stated that this is the case but i am a little miffed that having paid the full premium of £271 quid i have to pay extra now to cancel! shouldnt it be the opposite? that you pay 55 pounds to cancel in the first 6 months but after paying in full you can cancel for free!

i have made no claims on the policy and i just wanted to know if i were to complain about this how far do you think i'd get? and how would i word it to make it sound like i know what im saying..

hope you all can help! thanks

sprite1508

iv just had the same thing with bennetts, may as well of not bothered telling them...............grrrrrrrrrrr!!

simonHB

yeh but do we have to accept it? or is there a route we can take to complain??

Retire

I had that as well when I bought a new car. It was going to cost me £50 to cancel then insure my new car.

I just left the insurance running and went elsewhere.

simonHB

is it legal to keep the insurance running even though you dont own the bike and the person who does will have also taken out a policy for the bike?

unholyangel

You dont have to own a vehicle in order to be insured for it.

Just remember that most (if not all) insurance policies have a auto-renewal on them. So you would still have to cancel at that time.

mildred1978

If a vehicle has 2 insurance policies on it, both will be liable in the event of a claim. So if the person who has bought the car/bike has an accident (or it's stolen) you'll end up with a claim against your record on CUE. Increased premiums/cancelled policies in the future (due to non-disclosure) will cost far more than £55.

Flyfisher_2

Retire wrote: »

I had that as well when I bought a new car. It was going to cost me £50 to cancel then insure my new car.

I just left the insurance running and went elsewhere.

Were you able to transfer your no claims bonus to a new policy without canceling your old policy?

vax2002

You have a contract, it is a two way contract, you can inform them you have sold the motorcycle and just let the policy run, if they want it cancelling, let them cancel it, in the meantime you can avail yourself of the third party and legal cover it provides and the extra years no claims bonus, they can not cancel it on your behalf and charge you, if they cancel it, then no cancellation fee is due.
It is about time we started standing up to these bullies in insurance companies, if they dont want to cancel the policy, good for them, let them be responsible for any flak that comes there way.

mildred1978

vax2002 wrote: »

You have a contract, it is a two way contract, you can inform them you have sold the motorcycle and just let the policy run, if they want it cancelling, let them cancel it, in the meantime you can avail yourself of the third party and legal cover it provides and the extra years no claims bonus, they can not cancel it on your behalf and charge you, if they cancel it, then no cancellation fee is due.
It is about time we started standing up to these bullies in insurance companies, if they dont want to cancel the policy, good for them, let them be responsible for any flak that comes there way.

Really bad advice as cancelled policies have to be declared.

The OP obviously hasn't read any of the hundreds of posts about the same issue. I believe the FSA have ruled that in the event of cancellation a fee of around £50 is fair, but that an almost pro rata refund must be given. So in the OP's case he could reasonably expect say £120 refund less the £55 charge.

unholyangel

mildred1978 wrote: »

If a vehicle has 2 insurance policies on it, both will be liable in the event of a claim. So if the person who has bought the car/bike has an accident (or it's stolen) you'll end up with a claim against your record on CUE. Increased premiums/cancelled policies in the future (due to non-disclosure) will cost far more than £55.

But its the driver thats insured. Not the vehicle. Thats like saying if i have a accident while driving my parents car and have to claim under my own insurance it will increase their premiums.

I'm insured to drive a few cars fully comp. Other people have had accidents in those cars and it doesnt affect my premiums whatsoever. Nor would their insurance be held liable if I had an accident.

What you're referring to (i think) is the same person having more than 1 insurance policy for the same driver. This cant just affect your premiums, it can invalidate your insurance policy.