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I canceled car insurance, they are asking me to pay 20 pounds
vb3d
Posts: 101 Forumite
I am looking for an advice, please help
- I called on the first day of my car insurance started, and canceled.
- The night before, I received an email telling me that the policy has automatically renewed.
- On that night, before the start of the first day of my policy, I replied to that email telling them I don't want to renew.
- This morning, (6 days after) I called and asked why should I pay this, they said they don't accept cancellation by email, it has to be verbal.
- They told me if I have another policy, they can refund me.
But the new policy I got is 3 days after the first day of my canceled policy, so I stayed without a car for these days, to get better deal on insurance.
My Questions
1 - Is it true that my form of telling them the cancellation of my policy isn't acceptable?
2 - Can they refuse refund the 20 pounds because I didn't get insurance on the cancellation day?
- I called on the first day of my car insurance started, and canceled.
- The night before, I received an email telling me that the policy has automatically renewed.
- On that night, before the start of the first day of my policy, I replied to that email telling them I don't want to renew.
- This morning, (6 days after) I called and asked why should I pay this, they said they don't accept cancellation by email, it has to be verbal.
- They told me if I have another policy, they can refund me.
But the new policy I got is 3 days after the first day of my canceled policy, so I stayed without a car for these days, to get better deal on insurance.
My Questions
1 - Is it true that my form of telling them the cancellation of my policy isn't acceptable?
2 - Can they refuse refund the 20 pounds because I didn't get insurance on the cancellation day?
0
Comments
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1 - Is it true that my form of telling them the cancellation of my policy isn't acceptable?
Did you tell them that you didnt want to renew or that you wanted to cancel? Former would not incur a charge. Latter would incur a charge.2 - Can they refuse refund the 20 pounds because I didn't get insurance on the cancellation day?
yes they can.
If you allege that you had cover elsewhere and that you phoned to not renew they will usually ask you to show evidence of your cover elsewhere. If you had a gap in the insurance then the old policy was actually in use. If you had suffered a claimable event, the insurer would have been liable.
However, if there was no gap in the insurance and you were dual insured, they would usually refund without issue.
On paper, it looks like you changed your mind after buying it which is a cancellation. Not a decision not to renew.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
.
But the new policy I got is 3 days after the first day of my canceled policy, so I stayed without a car for these days, to get better deal on insurance........
My Questions
1 - Is it true that my form of telling them the cancellation of my policy isn't acceptable?
2 - Can they refuse refund the 20 pounds because I didn't get insurance on the cancellation day?
(You did commit an offence by leaving your car uninsured!)
1. You need to see if there is anything about how to stop your policy renewing (which is what you wanted to do rather than "cancel it") in the ts + cs of the policy, or in the email they sent you.
2. They cannot "fine" you for not getting insured, though this £20 will be some sort of cancellation charge possibly combined with the cost of the six days' cover.
Generally £20 is very low for a cancellation fee, so maybe just bite the bullet and swallow it.
But it will cost you nothing if you want to to pursue the matter via an official complaint.
See the policy docs for details of their complaints procedure, (if there is no mention what means is accepted to stop a renewal, then this could be the basis of your complaint), and write a complaint.
If you are unhappy with their response you can escalate the matter to the FOS.
If they take up the complaint, the insurer has to pay all their costs (£500+), and it's not unknown for insurers to nip it in the bud by making a goodwill gesture to custoners to close the matter! (Whatever the outcome you don't have to pay anything when following this route)0 -
.......On paper, it looks like you changed your mind after buying it which is a cancellation. Not a decision not to renew.
Not on the paper we can see here.vb3d wrote:.....I received an email telling me that the policy has automatically
renewed.
- On that night, before the start of the first day of my policy, I
replied to that email telling them I don't want to renew.
The OP replied to an email that he did not want the policy to continue, but they refused to accept emailed instructions and ignored the email!
He subsequently found this out, and they then accepted his verbal instructions, but by that time the policy had started, thus he was forced to "cancel".0 -
I called telling that I didn't want to renew, and I was surprised that the insurance automatically renewed. So I wanted to cancel, because I knew I could get 150 pounds cheaper insurance somewhere else.Did you tell them that you didnt want to renew or that you wanted to cancel? Former would not incur a charge. Latter would incur a charge.
The thing is, before my insurance ran out, I was checking on compare websites, and I found and marked down the insurance I want to go with, and I left it to the last day forgetting all about buying it.yes they can.
If you allege that you had cover elsewhere and that you phoned to not renew they will usually ask you to show evidence of your cover elsewhere. If you had a gap in the insurance then the old policy was actually in use. If you had suffered a claimable event, the insurer would have been liable.
However, if there was no gap in the insurance and you were dual insured, they would usually refund without issue.
On paper, it looks like you changed your mind after buying it which is a cancellation. Not a decision not to renew.
On the last night of my insurance, I received that email, so emailed back thinking "I can get cheaper than this", and emailed back that I don't want to renew. Next day morning I went online to buy the insurance I wanted, I found that it is gone up!, it would be the same price I saw before but it starts three days later, so I thought I won't drive the car for these days, leave it parked and start driving it when the insurance starts.
So, yes, there is a gap.
I didn't drive my car in these 3 days, it was parked in a private car park, is it still an offense?(You did commit an offence by leaving your car uninsured!)
Should I expect to receive a fine or something next coming days?
The email doesn't say anything about stopping the renewal, as it confirms that the renewal is already done.1. You need to see if there is anything about how to stop your policy renewing (which is what you wanted to do rather than "cancel it") in the ts + cs of the policy, or in the email they sent you.
They said there is no fees other than the cancellation fees.2. They cannot "fine" you for not getting insured, though this £20 will be some sort of cancellation charge possibly combined with the cost of the six days' cover.
The gap between policies is 3 days.
That's what I thought.Generally £20 is very low for a cancellation fee, so maybe just bite the bullet and swallow it.
Knowing now that it was an offense to stay uninsured, I rather not escalate it and expose thatBut it will cost you nothing if you want to to pursue the matter via an official complaint.
See the policy docs for details of their complaints procedure, (if there is no mention what means is accepted to stop a renewal, then this could be the basis of your complaint), and write a complaint.
If you are unhappy with their response you can escalate the matter to the FOS.
If they take up the complaint, the insurer has to pay all their costs (£500+), and it's not unknown for insurers to nip it in the bud by making a goodwill gesture to custoners to close the matter! (Whatever the outcome you don't have to pay anything when following this route)
True, I found myself forced to cancel.Not on the paper we can see here.
The OP replied to an email that he did not want the policy to continue, but they refused to accept emailed instructions and ignored the email!
He subsequently found this out, and they then accepted his verbal instructions, but by that time the policy had started, thus he was forced to "cancel".
They argue I had the chance to call and not to renew, because they sent me a letter 28 days before the renewal date.
When I received that letter, I didn't read it carefully, I only looked at the new year price, as I was assuming they won't renew it without my instructions.
Well, I learned a lesson for 20 pounds here on how to deal with insurance companies.
Thank you all.0 -
Although it is an offence not to insure continously in practice not being insured for 3 days won't come back to bite you, so don't worry about that.
So if you want to dispute the £20 charge on the grounds you did stop the renewal prior to your policy ending then do so.0 -
If you gave the insurer an instruction to cancel and they didnt then go back and complain about it. They will check their files and if they find you did they will refund the £20. At the moment, they appear to be looking at it as dual insurance. Whereas they should be looking at it as not acting upon an instruction you gave them.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0
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tbh the OP left it rather late to email..... the night before it was due to renew.Promo codes are never always cheaper..... isnt that right EuropCar?0
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Also emails from insurance companies and other big corporates are often from unmonitored email addresses with names like "noreply" or such, and/or have disclaimers saying "please do not reply to this address as this mailbox is not monitored". I have an email from Barclays here, for example, from [EMAIL="no-reply@barclays.com"]no-reply@barclays.com[/EMAIL] with a line reading "Note: This is an automated email. Please do not reply to this message."
I would never assume that replying to an automatically sent email - especially not one sent the night before renewal - would be enough to effect cancellation of an insurance policy.urs sinserly,
~~joosy jeezus~~0 -
Quentin's right - it is an offence to leave a vehicle uninsured even if it's not on a public road unless you have made a SORN declaration. This didn't use to be the case but there was a change in the law a while ago (18 months ago I think).
OP, if you knew when your renewal was due then you should have rung the insurers well in advance to tell them not to renew. Even if, after getting a load of quotes, they end up being the cheapest you generally still have the option of taking up the renewal quote - it just won't happen automatically. In my experience I've never come across an insurer who doesn't automatically renew so ensuring this doesn't happen should be par for the course.
£20 isn't bad for a cancellation charge - I've paid £50 in the past - so bite the bullet and pay it. Then make a careful note on your calendar when your insurance is next up for renewal so you remember to cancel the auto-renewal and look elsewhere in plenty of time!I don't like chick flicks, I get grazed knuckles doing my own car repairs and I ride a massive cruiser motorbike. To many this makes me a bloke in disguise but to my husband this makes me perfect
:A0 -
MrsPBikerChick wrote: »
OP, if you knew when your renewal was due then you should have rung the insurers well in advance to tell them not to renew......
Not really necessary to tell them well in advance, only in advance!
And definitely saying the only way to give instructions is by phone is poor advice. How can you prove you rang if they ignore those instuctions?
The OP did give instructions but they refused to accept his emailed request, which is the point of his thread.
£20 is bad if they are wrongly demanding it be paid!0
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