Cancelling car insurance

chrisfreelander54

We are soon of to France for the first time, :j,
as we are going to be driving as we will be taking our folding camper, I decided to call our car insurance provider to see about getting a green card, we were informed that we only need to take or certificate but only have third party only when driving in France, even so we have fully comp.

After hearing this I decided to search around for a better deal which includes fully comp insurance in France, which I did, at a good saving compared to whats already in place, so gets back on the phone to our current prover only to be told there is a cancelation fee for the remainder of the policy which will cost me £313 :eek: :mad:.

How can they charge me for the remainder of the policy if I won't be using it, I thought that it would have been a fixed fee of £50 or something similar?

vaio

Cancellation will attract an admin fee (up to £50) and obviously you will need to pay for the time you have been on cover so, assuming you paid for the year up front and you are six months into the policy, you should get a refund of about half the premium less the admin fee.

If your numbers are significantly different then put a complaint in and refer to the FOS if you still aren't satisfied.

I suspect others will say that broker fees/finance fees/add ons etc won't be refundable, I'm inclined to disagree with that and would include the whole lot in the complaint and see what the FOS have to say about it.

McKneff

Do you have anything else lumped in with your insurance ie
RAC or AA, these cannot be cancelled and youwould have to pay for the whole year for them

chrisfreelander54

vaio wrote: »

Cancellation will attract an admin fee (up to £50) and obviously you will need to pay for the time you have been on cover so, assuming you paid for the year up front and you are six months into the policy, you should get a refund of about half the premium less the admin fee.

If your numbers are significantly different then put a complaint in and refer to the FOS if you still aren't satisfied.

I suspect others will say that broker fees/finance fees/add ons etc won't be refundable, I'm inclined to disagree with that and would include the whole lot in the complaint and see what the FOS have to say about it.

Forgot to say that the premium is paid for monthly, and that it is due for renewal on the 1st of December, so can't understand why we have to pay for the remainder if we won't be using it.

chrisfreelander54

McKneff wrote: »

Do you have anything else lumped in with your insurance ie
RAC or AA, these cannot be cancelled and youwould have to pay for the whole year for them

Don't think we have breakdown included as we have this on our bank card.

Buzby

Your policy is annual, you only pay it monthly. You have a commitment for the whole term, and you are attempting an early cancellation. Te time o assess your insurer is before you are out the policy, not after. As it is you who wants to change, it is correct you be charged to cancel at the rate outlined when you took out the policy.

Also if going to France you'll remember to carry TWO breathalysers with you.

vaio

Buzby wrote: »

Your policy is annual, you only pay it monthly. You have a commitment for the whole term, and you are attempting an early cancellation. Te time o assess your insurer is before you are out the policy, not after. As it is you who wants to change, it is correct you be charged to cancel at the rate outlined when you took out the policy. ....

yep, and any unfair terms that breach the "treat the punter fairly" rules will be overturned by the FOS.

Their view on mid term cancellation is broadly as outlined in my previous post, I'd suggest anything that isn't generally in line with that should be referred to the FOS and they will assess if it is fair, irrespective of what the company T&C says

InsideInsurance

vaio wrote: »

yep, and any unfair terms that breach the "treat the punter fairly" rules will be overturned by the FOS.

May be overturned. The FOS is a rule unto itself and does at times decide that the strangest of things are "fair" and this comes from someone who works for insurance companies and therefore probably has a lower definition of fair than most.

All insurers have to provide the equiv of RTO/ TPO in europe as standard on their policies. Some include a number of days with full cover as standard and others you to pay to add them which is normally done on an at point of use time.

I am surprised that your insurers didnt give you the option to pay extra now to extend your cover to France temporarily. I'd suggest challenging that first.

On the cancellation front, did you make any claims this policy year? Others have already covered off the rest about admin fees, add ons not being cancellable etc.

Aretnap

Buzby wrote: »

Also if going to France you'll remember to carry TWO breathalysers with you.

When last heard of that seemed to have been postponed indefinitely. It was only ever a requirement to carry one breathyliser anyway. It was "recommended" (mainly by the manufacturers, as far as I could tell) that you carry two so you'd still be legal if you "have" to use one... but if you don't use the silly thing that problem doesn't arise.

AlSelley

Chrisfreelander dear these monthly policies are such a shame. I only hope that someone reading this thread takes note, and makes a monthly no obligation insurance company. I mean, they attract some profits, but they give so little regard to us users. I for example am a woman with 20 years clean driving history, but they haven't reduced my rates in 13 years!! so mean!

chrisfreelander54

InsideInsurance wrote: »

May be overturned. The FOS is a rule unto itself and does at times decide that the strangest of things are "fair" and this comes from someone who works for insurance companies and therefore probably has a lower definition of fair than most.

All insurers have to provide the equiv of RTO/ TPO in europe as standard on their policies. Some include a number of days with full cover as standard and others you to pay to add them which is normally done on an at point of use time.

I am surprised that your insurers didnt give you the option to pay extra now to extend your cover to France temporarily. I'd suggest challenging that first.

On the cancellation front, did you make any claims this policy year? Others have already covered off the rest about admin fees, add ons not being cancellable etc.

please could you explain the the following as not sure what the mean, FOS, RTO and I assume that TPO is third party only?

As for claims, none have been made on the policy so far this year, would this make any difference?

I asked the insurer if it was possible to pay extra to cover me fully comp while in France and was told that they don't offer it as an extra but could quote me again with someone that does, but will still have to pay for the remainder of the policy I have at present.

Makes me think that I wish I had booked to go the Isle of Wight again instead.