Car insurance overlap help

lizzycurry

Hi, I was away when my insurance reminder and renewal came through and as such forgot to shop around. My renewal premium is extortionate so I shopped around as I am still within the 14 days cancellation. I have purchased a new policy to begin on Saturday 12th (much cheaper than doing it for today) and I will ring and cancel the same day. I am a little worried though that the new policy will begin at midnight on 12th, but I won't be contacting the old company until they open on Saturday morning - 8am. That means my insurance will overlap by 8 hours. The other alternative is to phone them on Friday night before they shut, but then I'll be uninsured for about 3 hours. Which do I do?

InsideInsurance

Have the overlap

Remember that when you cancel your existing policy you will have a cancellation fee and only receive a pro-rated refund - ensure that it is still going to be cheaper once you've factored these in.

paddedjohn

When you contact them on the Friday night tell them to cancel from midnight. Even though you are cancelling within the 14 days you may still have to pay a cancellation fee and a fee for the 14 days you have been covered for.

anniecave

I would call them on Friday and tell them you'd like them to cancel the policy with effect from midnight.

With insurance companies it's common to ask for changes in advance and a policy cancellation should also be something that happens regularly. Just be clear on the date/time you want it to be cancelled with effect from.

In regards to your old policy, they will then charge you a pro-rata amount based on the policy amount and the number of days they will have insured you for. I'm not sure whether a cancellation fee will also apply. The 14 days cooling off period may only be if you've actually already taken a policy out with someone else before the renewal date.

Well done on getting a cheaper renewal quote. Amore expensive premium if you want to take it out immediately is a common occurrance. I think it's because the insurance companies know that lots of people leave it until the last minute to look for quotes, so they can make more by charging more for a last minute deal.

InsuranceGuru

Be warned though, you will get a pro-rata refund when cancelling on the Saturday, however they may charge an administration fee, I know for example Swinton insurance do charge £50 for any cancellation.

I would personally ring the insurer on Friday night and let them know it needs to be cancelled at 23:59 on the Friday. They do have the right to ask for the certificate back however, which means you cannot cancel it until you send the certificate back to them.

Best of luck

InsuranceGuru

anniecave wrote: »

if something did happen, both companies can decline to take responsibility!

That isn't actually true. If you are insured twice for a period of time and something happens in that time period, the first insurer would have to accept responsibility for the claim. This would however mean you couldn't claim a pro-rata refund when cancelling the policy as previously intended.

InsideInsurance

InsuranceGuru wrote: »

That isn't actually true. If you are insured twice for a period of time and something happens in that time period, the first insurer would have to accept responsibility for the claim.

Why the first and not the second? What piece of legislation are you referring to?

In my experience if you have two policies inforce at the time of the incident that are not designed to be as such (ie not a primary and then excess casualty) then they split the cost across the two policies (though there may be some in fighting before that)

InsuranceGuru

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Why the first and not the second? What piece of legislation are you referring to?

In my experience if you have two policies inforce at the time of the incident that are not designed to be as such (ie not a primary and then excess casualty) then they split the cost across the two policies (though there may be some in fighting before that)

I am an insurance broker with many years experience. I just asked our expert claims handler (with years upon years of experience) what would happen. He advised me that in the majority of cases, the first insurer will take responsibility. However, they may seek a contribution from the second insurer.