Insurance problems - advice please

osiris100

I took out a new policy with 1st Central insurance at the end of March. Some weeks later I recieved a letter from them demanding £76 as I hadn't disclosed a non-fault accident. This was purely a mistake by myself as the accident was over 3 years old.

The £76 included a £50 admin fee and I felt this was excessive so decided to let them cancel the policy. I was told I would get a refund for the remainder of the policy minus and admin fee of £75.

After taking out a new policy with swiftcover, I have now been told by 1st central that they are not going to refund any amount!

Surely this can't be legal but I would like advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

mikey72

osiris100 wrote: »

I took out a new policy with 1st Central insurance at the end of March. Some weeks later I recieved a letter from them demanding £76 as I hadn't disclosed a non-fault accident. This was purely a mistake by myself as the accident was over 3 years old.

The £76 included a £50 admin fee and I felt this was excessive so decided to let them cancel the policy. I was told I would get a refund for the remainder of the policy minus and admin fee of £75.

After taking out a new policy with swiftcover, I have now been told by 1st central that they are not going to refund any amount!

Surely this can't be legal but I would like advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

They should only charge up to £50 cancellation fee, and any refund should be pro rata. http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u.../insurance.htm Write a letter of complaint, if they do not refund, refer it to the FOS.

dacouch

Did you pay in one go or via instalments

vaio

and I'd be inclined to be clear that you (rather than they) cancelled the policy

osiris100

Thanks for your replies guys.

I paid in one go , it was about £600.

I took the insurance policy out at the end of March and the letter they sent me said that the policy would be cancelled 18th May. They advised me that the refund would be paid pro-rate (minus the admin fee)

I called them yesterday and today and their seemed to be some confusion, then one of their staff put me on hold for ages, came back and said he'd been advised by his supervisor that their would be no refund and the reason was "non-disclosure of non-fault accident)

It was a genuine mistake by myself, I conpletely overlooked it when I filled out the form on money supermarket.

Quentin

You do need to sort this, as it looks like they have cancelled the policy due to your non disclosure (as opposed to you asking to cancel the policy). (The policy ts + cs do say they will cancel if they discover any misrepresentation, and the premium won't be refunded)

When you get cancelled, this is something that gets recorded, and you have to declare it to all other insurers you approach for ever!

Assuming they don't know, the Swiftcover policy will end up voided for more non disclosure, meaning trouble in the event of a claim

osiris100

Vaio, to answer your question, they sent me a letter warning me that my policy would be cancelled 18th May and I wrote back saying yes go ahead and cancel it, I'll take my custom elswhere.

vaio

put a complaint in along the lines that you cancelled the policy and they haven't refunded as they should.

The refund should be broadly pro rata for time on cover (so you should pay for about two months cover at the £675 premium rate) plus an admin fee of up to £50. So you should get £400+ back

As Quentin says, you really need this down as you cancelled rather than they cancelled

osiris100

I've put a complaint in and I'll see what happens. I have explained that I cancelled the policy upon their advice that I would get a pro-rate refund (which is true)

I was told earlier that I would get a phone call from the supervisor but I'm not holding my breath as their communication all the way through has not been good.

I've also made my current insurer (Swift Cover) aware of the situation.

Thanks for your help so far guys, I'll let you know what happens.

vaio

liamatkin wrote: »

What that written in the policy contact you signed? if not, write to them and chargeback if you paid using a credit card. If not, write to their head office and even take it up with the insurance regulator FSA

it's not really about getting the money back, it's more that it becomes officially recorded that the OP cancelled the policy rather than the insurer cancelling it.

the best way to achieve this is via their complaints procedure with escalation to the FOS if they don't play ball.

The FSA don't deal with individual complaints

If you are going to spam this site on behalf of an American insurance broker at least have the wit to read up on UK procedures

osiris100

Well I got an e-mail back from them today saying that I'm due a refund of just under £300. There's no breakdown of costs but they have said that the admin charge is £75. I paid just under £600 and I'd had less than 2 months cover. Part of this was breakdown cover so I'm not sure if this is something they don't refund. I'm not exactly happy with this but it's better than nothing and I'm tempted to just take the money and forget this poor excuse for a company existed.