Cancelling car insurance not happy

musefan1966

Hello,
I hope this is in the right place, i am new to this so please be gentle...
My husband took out insurance in February this year on his second vehicle. He decided that he could no longer justify running two cars so decided to sell one. He sent a letter cancelling the insurance and has had a reply back saying he is not entitled to a refund!! to say he's not happy is an understatement. how can they justify keeping 7 months worth of an insurance premium? He paid the premium in full.

I don't want to name the insurance company as I don't know if I should. :mad:

colino

Depends on their t&cs, but they held the total risk the second the policy went live so any refunds are a benefit to policyholders.

Rolandtheroadie

Possibly a short term insurance charge, a cancellation charge and an admin fee.
Happened to me once, thems the breaks.

OddballJamie

If you don't name them, then how can anyone look into the terms for you?

dacouch

Has he had a claim?

musefan1966

Hi all,
Adrian flux is the insurance broker. No claim has been made on the policy since it has been taken out. We understand there may be a charge, in their t&c's it does state that any refund due are not proportionate to the annual premium, whatever that Means. The premium he paid was £268.

Thanks for you replies

OddballJamie

I was with them on my previous car and when I swapped cars, I cancelled and went with Tesco. I definitely remember getting a refund, about £60 on a £250 policy. They are a broker so it may also depend on the actual insurers for their terms too, mine was something Red Star.

londonTiger

wow, I wouldn't complain if my premium were £250. cheaper than road tax.

Apples2

My documents normally tell me the refund policy.

It does make for poor reading, it goes something like
Cancel after one month get 70%, after two 50%, after three 20% so I'm not surprised by this

p00hsticks

musefan1966 wrote: »

. We understand there may be a charge, in their t&c's it does state that any refund due are not proportionate to the annual premium, whatever that Means.

It means that the refund isn't calculated simply in proportion to the number of months you have held it - so for example if you cancel the policy three months in you aren't entitled to a refund of nine twelfths of the original premium just because there are nine months left.

Given the relatively low annual premium and the fact that the insurance has been running for four-five months I imagine that any potential refund would be swallowed up in the admin costs.

musefan1966

I suppose that having such a low premium that any refund due will be swallowed up in admin fees... Makes me mad, but I suppose thems the t&c's!
Thanks all