SwiftCover AutoRenew & High Cancellation fees?

AndyBothered

Hi If anyone could advise on this it would be great...

I purchased a years car insurance from Swift Cover which ran until 6th December 2013. By the time it expired on 6th December I had had stomach operations and still couldn't drive and was very ill..... and I was less than interested in renewing insurance..and didn't think that I needed any. My car was parked off road but not SORN.

Swiftcover called today January 10th and said they had auto-renewed my policy. The renewal price is very high in my opinion - £379. I said I didn't ask for the renewal, didn't agree it and didn't want it....but they said they sent out a letter of terms and conditions on December 21st to me ...so that is the earliest that they can backdate a 'cancellation' to and that there would be £62.50 cancellation fee plus pro-rata cover charge of £15 or so...£76.16 in total.

They say that they would have been legally responsible if the car had been stolen or some such thing....so I guess I can understand them asking for the pro-rata cover amount and if I had been in better health I'd have been more proactive about cancelling it directly...but I'm not happy with the cancellation fee.

Are they within their rights to demand it?

Any advice much appreciated..

Thanks

AndyBothered

Just to add checking on comparison sites the yearly premium being quoted is £250 rather than the £370 Swiftcover are quoting as the renewal price.

PS. I have just noted there are 4 companies offering cover for 1 year under a new policy for about £250 or a little below..including SwiftCover themselves. I made no claim on my SwiftCover policy and have 11 years no claims discount...so wouldn't you expect a renewal to be at a price lower than there current 'new policy' rate?

InsideInsurance

AndyBothered wrote: »

I purchased a years car insurance from Swift Cover which ran until 6th December 2013. By the time it expired on 6th December I had had stomach operations and still couldn't drive and was very ill..... and I was less than interested in renewing insurance..and didn't think that I needed any. My car was parked off road but not SORN.

Legally you must have insurance if the vehicle is not under SORN even if it is parked off road.

So from what you say and your statement that the vehicle didnt have SORN then the fact they auto renewed your policy has saved you from committing a criminal offence.

When you signed up they inform you they will auto renew. When they send you out the renewal notice they tell you they will auto renew. You had two opportunities to say you dont agree to this.

If you get them to cancel it now/ back to mid december, what insurance do you have in place or did you do the SORN declaration 21st December?

InsideInsurance

AndyBothered wrote: »

so wouldn't you expect a renewal to be at a price lower than there current 'new policy' rate?

No, new customer deals are almost always better than existing ones. Year one is written at a loss in the hope of keeping customer into years 2, 3, 4 etch where you recoup the loss and start making a profit

AndyBothered

Thanks for your reply.

Must say I knew you needed to store it off road and SORN it if you didn't have road tax (I did have road tax...I just wasn't able to drive it)...but I didn't know you needed insurance as well even in this case where the car is off the road and not being used. Live and learn.

I called them back and went through it again and they were absolutely fine.... so good on SwiftCover ! I didn't need to make any claims with them or but I did find dealing with them to be very easy which is a good thing and I'd recommend them.

InsideInsurance

AndyBothered wrote: »

Must say I knew you needed to store it off road and SORN it if you didn't have road tax (I did have road tax...I just wasn't able to drive it)...but I didn't know you needed insurance as well even in this case where the car is off the road and not being used. Live and learn

The law changed recently, arguably to make enforcement of the requirement for insurance much easier given it can all now be done by computer remotely rather than having to physically catch people

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-insurance/uninsured-vehicles