Car Insurance Cancellation

05ajohnston

Hi,

I purchased car insurance online last night through right choice insurance brokers (RCIB) and paid the premium in full on my debit card (£637 odd),

This morning i received a call from one if their customer service team as they wanted to check details,

After confirming that the details submitted to them via the website were correct the guy went off and then came back to me to inform me that as my car has a standard manufacturer fitted alarm and not an aftermarket system that the premium had increased to around £850,

My question is, where do i stand with this as i have currently refused to pay it but was told that as a result i have no insurance with them and that they are unable to refund me?

Surely they have broken the terms of the agreement/contract?

What are my options? and should they refund the premium paid in full?

Kind Regards,
Aaron

jonesMUFCforever

You have 14 days to cancel.
They should refund in full all payments made.
As debit card transaction has not yet been made (merely earmarked) tell your bank that you want to dispute it and have it chargedback.

As for breaking the terms of any agreement the fact that they phoned you to sort out an issue I don't see where you can go with this.

Male sure to get alternative insurance ASAP.

05ajohnston

thanks for your reply,

do they have the right to charge me cancellation fees or should i receive a refund in full?

i have spoken with the bank today and they confirmed that the money was indeed earmarked but until it completed there was nothing they can do, do you think it's worth going back to them so get them to chargeback the amount,

the only reason i asked about them changing the terms was that i was thinking that based on this they would not be able to charge me any kind of cancellation fee, what do you think?

vaio

did you claim to have an after market immobiliser when you filled in the on line proposal?

If you did then they are entitled to increase the premium.

If you didn't (or they didn't ask) then they should honour the original premium

05ajohnston

when i filled in the online forms originally on compare the market i selected fitted as standard for both the alarm and immobiliser and then had to confirm this a second time on the insurer site,

this info was then confirmed with the agent this morning,

shall give them a call first thing so see what they come back with i think,

thanks for your advice,

jonesMUFCforever

05ajohnston wrote: »

thanks for your reply,

do they have the right to charge me cancellation fees or should i receive a refund in full?

i have spoken with the bank today and they confirmed that the money was indeed earmarked but until it completed there was nothing they can do, do you think it's worth going back to them so get them to chargeback the amount,

the only reason i asked about them changing the terms was that i was thinking that based on this they would not be able to charge me any kind of cancellation fee, what do you think?

IMO you have the right to a full refund but and it is a big BUT you will have to declare to any new insurance company the reason why this one has declined to cover you.
This might have a significant impact on your future premiums.

05ajohnston

would this count as them refusing to insure me as they have tried to increase the premium but not actively refused to insure me, or does this still count against me?

if so, that sucks

dunstonh

If you cancel within the cancellation rights then it is you cancelling. Not them. However, they are entitled to be paid for the few days on cover and possibly a cancellation charge. No more than that though and you wont have to declare it.

05ajohnston

dunstonh wrote: »

If you cancel within the cancellation rights then it is you cancelling. Not them. However, they are entitled to be paid for the few days on cover and possibly a cancellation charge. No more than that though and you wont have to declare it.

Thanks for your advice,

do you think its worth arguing with them if they try to enforce fees that the only reason that i am cancelling is due to them changing the premium? had the premium remained the same then i would have proceeded with the cover,

i understand that sometimes mistakes etc can be made and that if they can't provide me insurance at the original quoted price then i am happy for them to tell me that they can't honour it but it seems unfair that i possibly stand to lose out financially for something over which i have no control,

also with regards to them possibly charging me for a few days covers does this still stand if the policy never actually started? as they told me that until the additional money was paid then i have no policy?

i don't know its all fun and games sorting out insurance

vaio

Once they have issued a policy then you are covered and to cancel that cover there is a procedure they need to go through. Part of that is 7 days notice in writing.

More generally, this sounds like a shyster operation ringing and trying to extract more money from punters after the policy has been sold. The whole point of on line sales systems is that if you answer all the questions truthfully then your insurer can't go increasing the premium after they have sold you the policy based on the answers you have given.

Once you are safely insured elsewhere I'd be tempted to stick a complaint in to recover the extra costs & hassle involved and refer to FOS if you don't get satisfaction.

05ajohnston

vaio wrote: »

Once they have issued a policy then you are covered and to cancel that cover there is a procedure they need to go through. Part of that is 7 days notice in writing.

More generally, this sounds like a shyster operation ringing and trying to extract more money from punters after the policy has been sold. The whole point of on line sales systems is that if you answer all the questions truthfully then your insurer can't go increasing the premium after they have sold you the policy based on the answers you have given.

Once you are safely insured elsewhere I'd be tempted to stick a complaint in to recover the extra costs & hassle involved and refer to FOS if you don't get satisfaction.

I have been on the phone all morning but i am now insured elsewhere and RCIB have issued me a full refund for the amount paid after i out my foot down,

I agree this is not a way that they should be conducting business and i will be sending a letter of complaint as the way that i was spoken to and how they demanded the extra money was not cool,

I have learnt a very valuable lesson though, its worth paying that little extra to go through one of the bigger names i think,