Being Charged cancellation fee on car insurance

mikey72

monkeykler wrote: »

Hi There

I have just cancelled my car insurance, I asked the customer service rep to cancel my insurance the day it was paid up until (which was today the 18th) I also asked the rep "will I need to pay anything else, like a cancellation fee?" The answer was "No, nothing else to pay, its free to cancel" today i've recieved a letter from I think their underwriters telling me I owe them £47.21, when I rang up they said it was a cancellation fee, Are they able to do this? after telling me I have paid up and won't have any more to pay and then after cancelling asking for this payment?

Thanks in advance

As quentin says, excalate the complaint. If you can't get a goodwill gesture, ask for a breakdown of how they arrive at the charge, as the fact it has changed needs clarifying.

Quentin

mikey72 wrote: »

......As to the cancellation the FOS state a pro rata refund, and a fee of up to £50.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/54/insurance.htm

That link is out of date (2006) and irrelevant.

The £50 cancellation fee is not "up to", nor was it for motor insurance.

Nowadays motor insurance cancellation fees are regularly in excess of £50, (eg AXA £52.50, Sheila £55, Budget £75)

monkeykler

Quentin wrote: »

That link is out of date (2006) and irrelevant.

The £50 cancellation fee is not "up to", nor was it for motor insurance.

Nowadays motor insurance cancellation fees are regularly in excess of £50, (eg AXA £52.50, Shiela £55, Budget £75)

Dial Direct tried charging me £600 on my last policy... I think that is a bit high... I ended up just staying with them til the end.

mikey72

Quentin wrote: »

That link is out of date (2006) and irrelevant.

The £50 cancellation fee is not "up to", nor was it for motor insurance.

Nowadays motor insurance cancellation fees are regularly in excess of £50, (eg AXA £52.50, Sheila £55, Budget £75)

It's never been accepted that any higher fee is allowable, unless you can provide the new link? If you can fair enough. If not, we'll let the FOS decide if they want to say it's out of date next time a poster challenges the unfair charges Axa, Sheila, and Budget have tried to sneak in under the radar.

As to not irrelevant, I'm be interested how a ruling on
"annual insurance policies – cancellation rates"

specifically of cancellation of an annual car insurance policy, and cancellation of an annual house insurance policy isn't relevant in a thread on cancellation of an annual car insurance policy?

Quentin

mikey72 wrote: »

It's never been accepted that any higher fee is allowable, unless you can provide the new link? If you can fair enough. If not, we'll let the FOS decide if they want to say it's out of date next time a poster challenges the unfair charges Axa, Sheila, and Budget have tried to sneak in under the radar.

As to not irrelevant, I'm be interested how a ruling on
"annual insurance policies – cancellation rates"

specifically of cancellation of an annual car insurance policy, and cancellation of an annual house insurance policy isn't relevant in a thread on cancellation of an annual car insurance policy?

You advising the OP that the FOS has said that cancellation fees can be "up to £50" on motor insurance cancellation fees is misleading, (as it's untrue), and thus irrelevant.

In the link you posted, the comment on a £50 cancellation fee being correct was in reference to a home insurance cancellation.

There is no reference in the article on motor insurance whatsoever to any figure for motor insurance cancellation fees, other than saying an insurer can make a "reasonable" one.

mikey72

So
I propose the op tells us the result of his complaint.
Then the FOS can tell us.
I don't know why you keep advising everyone just to pay.
The FOS is a free service to customers, so use them. Worse case, you pay exactly what the insurer wants.
Best case, you pay a "reasonable fee" as Quentin quite rightly says the FOS have said.
Just don't let the insurers tell you what's reasonable.
They may be biased.
Let the FOS decide on it, they don't have to pay the shareholders.

Quentin

mikey72 wrote: »

....I don't know why you keep advising everyone just to pay.....

I don't!

All I have done is point out that you are misleading everyone by wrongly stating that the FOS have stated that there is a maximum of £50 that a motor insurer can charge for a cancellation fee.

That cannot be the basis for any argument about cancellation fees as it is an untrue statement (as anyone reading the link you gave us in support of your incorrect advice will see!)

mikey72

You pay if you want to. Let others read it and decide. They're all big enough to make up their own minds.