Car / Van insurance cancellation & Costs

bh0687

Hi all, first post although often trawl through the forums for plenty of helpful advice, and for that, i thank you all! Lol

I'm looking into changing vehicles from a business vehicle (lwb low top van, which looks like it must be sold, money saving exercise) to a car for sdp&c use only and have come across a problem, hoping some of you knowledgeable people can clarify and confirm some things?

I am the registered keeper of the van, and the policy is in my name, sole driver. The premium takes into account the 3 years NCD i hold from previous years on car policies. However inquiring with Insureyourmotor.com i am told that

A) they charge a £200 cancellation fee (leaving my refund at an astronomical 37.59, 6 months in). I was unaware of this, admittedly i may have not read the super fine print in its entirety, regardless this seems unreasonable. Please can anyone confirm or otherwise that this is the case?

And Because my 3 years NCD has now been used on a van policy i will not be able to use it when taking out a new policy on a normal car. insureyourmotor will issue confirmation of the NCD, but they are telling me it is useless as it is not possible to apply it to a new car policy. Again, can anyone confirm or otherwise that this is the case?

For the record, i'm not planning on downsizing and still using my own vehicle for work, only for getting to the office and then traveling in the work van.

Thanks in advance, i hope some of you can help me clarify these points without having to phone every tom, !!!!!! and harry insurance company!

InsideInsurance

1) you need to read the fine print. It is unlikely that the cancellation fee is £200 however it can be that the total charges add up to that in terms of any add ons which are non-refundable, the cancellation fee, the commission clawback etc. Once you know what you've agreed to ask them to breakdown the costs and check they've adhered to the terms correctly

2) Some insurers will allow you to use the NCD on a private car policy and some wont. Before buying check the insures/ brokers you are looking at will accept a van NCD

forgotmyname

A mate lost his no claims after transferring it to a trade policy. Nobody would accept it back.

bh0687

Thank you insideinsurance.

I'll be digging out the relevant paperwork and looking into the small print and conditions, my concern now is if i cancel the policy in a few months for whatever reason i'll be liable to pay this £200 fee! At least if i cancel it now then i'll be losing £200 that i've already spent and not forking out extra!

Forgotmyname, i cant believe this is the case, if i had been told that i will be practically losing my ncd by taking out a trade policy it would have seriously affected my decision to take out such a policy and purchase the vehicle in the first place!

I'm 26, have been driving for over 4 years, have passed IAM test, never had any convictions and never had an accident and yet got quoted over £2500 to insure a cheap run about motor today!

Is there any surprise we have an issue with uninsured drivers when we are financially driven off the road by this kind of thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

forgotmyname

It worked out cheaper for him to insure in his partners name with him as the main driver.

One of those things where 1+1 = 5.

Add an accident prone sister to my clean record and my insurance is cheaper. Work that one out.