Car insurance cancellation fee help

sar89

So I brought a car, and went online and paid for a policy.

Now, the policy wasnt complete until they call to confirm details, but I entered my bank info assuming it was complete.

When they called id made a mistake with my NCB (Thought I had 1 year but it had expired). So this made the premium go up by £300, I said I wont pay this. And the man said I wont find cheaper anywhere else and he has worked in the industry for 10 years. He then said if I want to cancel it would cost £65. £65 to cancel a cover I technically didnt even have.

So, I stupidly took the policy for about £950 for the year, paying monthly payments of £95. I go home and find that I can get insured witha different company for £600 annually. So take this policy.

I then call back and say as its inside the 14 day cooling of period I wish to cancel (This is about 6 hours afer taking the policy), and im told ill need to pay a cancellation fee of £142.20.

He said its part of there T&C, they can take 10% of my annual premium. Whereas in this file
www rcib co uk / rightchoice_toba pdf (Add the . where needed, cant post links due to new account)

It says without 14 days ill recieve a £45 cancellation fee.

What can I do?

£142.20 for a 6 hour policy is daylight robbery. Please help!!

Edit:
The insurance company is Right choice Insurance brokers LTD

DCFC79

sar89 wrote: »

Edit:
The insurance company is Right choice Insurance brokers LTD

They're brokers (and not insurers themsleves.) who have searched other insurers for a policy for you,

sar89

DCFC79 wrote: »

They're brokers (and not insurers themsleves.) who have searched other insurers for a policy for you,

Ah yeah thats true. Sorry, im terrible at writing things in a hurry. But does this change anything?

£142.20 is a stupid amount of money.

DCFC79

sar89 wrote: »

Ah yeah thats true. Sorry, im terrible at writing things in a hurry. But does this change anything?

£142.20 is a stupid amount of money.

What does the docs you have been sent say about cancellation within the 14 days ?

[STRIKE]I presume you were sent them ?[/STRIKE] Scratch that as you may not have been sent them, did you receive anything eg an email from the broker detailing T&C's or from the insurer ?

Do you know who the insurer was ? might find the terms on there.

yes £142 is stupid money for the 6 hours.

sar89

DCFC79 wrote: »

What does the docs you have been sent say about cancellation within the 14 days ?

[STRIKE]I presume you were sent them ?[/STRIKE] Scratch that as you may not have been sent them, did you receive anything eg an email from the broker detailing T&C's or from the insurer ?

Do you know who the insurer was ? might find the terms on there.

yes £142 is stupid money for the 6 hours.

I havent looked through them. But found this in their "Terms and conditions of business"

"Your cancellation rights
If you are a private customer, you have the right to cancel a new policy within 14 days
of when you purchase your policy or of when you receive your policy document,
whichever is later, and a renewed policy within 14 days of renewal date. Provided you
have not incurred any claims during that period, the insurers will pay a pro-rata refund
of premium, subject to a minimum charge, from which we will deduct a cancellation
fee of £45."

forgotmyname

So £45 cancellation fee + any charges for legal cover etc + 24 hours or a few days cover?

Ask for an itemised breakdown. If the charge is more than £45 then pull them up on it.

sar89

forgotmyname wrote: »

So £45 cancellation fee + any charges for legal cover etc + 24 hours or a few days cover?

Ask for an itemised breakdown. If the charge is more than £45 then pull them up on it.

When I tried question the guy on the phone he said its because they are a broker, and can charge 10% of my annual premium as a cancellation fee on top of the £45.

Surely thats wrong? It sickens me how some companys do this!

dacouch

Try googling RCIB or even do a search of MSE for RCIB to see their business practices.

Nasty Nasty company.

How old is your no claims bonus eg what month and year did your last policy expire / cancelled

sar89

dacouch wrote: »

Try googling RCIB or even do a search of MSE for RCIB to see their business practices.

Nasty Nasty company.

How old is your no claims bonus eg what month and year did your last policy expire / cancelled

Ahh it was about 4-5 years old. My own fault but I didnt relise that NCB have an expiry date. I stopped using cars and used a motorbike until it was stolen on sunday.

dacouch

Here are their Terms and Conditions which they conveniently do not highlight on their website.

http://www.rcib.co.uk/rightchoice_toba.pdf

Note cancellations within 14 days are subject to a £45 admin fee plus a pro rata of your premium. To calculate the pro rata of your premium you simply divide the premium excluding any of their fees and optional extras by 365 which gives you the daily charge.

Note they do not refund any of their fees eg

http://www.rcib.co.uk/rightchoice_toba.pdf

The FSA really need to look into RCIBs business practices.

Here's a thread about them Hermes appears to be an ex employee, I've seen another ex employee basically stating their basic premise is to quote a low premium that they cannot actually offer and then find ways to up the premium.

Could potentially fall foul of the following if you fancy complaining to their local Trading Standards.

"5. Special offer – not in stock
Making an invitation to purchase products at a specified
price, without disclosing the existence of any reasonable
grounds the trader may have for believing that he/she
will not be able to offer for supply or to procure another
trader to supply, those products or equivalent products
at that price for a period that is, and in quantities that are,
reasonable having regard to the product, the scale
of advertising of the product and the price offered.
This is known as bait advertising"

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/cpregs/oft979.pdf

dacouch

You need to ask them to provide you with a full break down of the premiums and their fees. They're obliged to give you this, you can then use their own terms and conditions to see if the amount they're quoting to cancel is correct.