Motorbike insurance cancellation

livinginhope

DH has sold his bike and phoned the insurance company to cancel the policy,he paid the whole year up front and there are 3 and half months left to run,he was told on the phone that he won't get any refund (I expected this) but also that he has to pay an EXTRA £30,surely this can't be right? he argued for a while and they said that he could not just let the insurance run out as the bike would be insured by someone else,they are sending a bill and demanding this payment,DH is adamant he is not going to pay it,we have had this same insurance company for 5 years,never so much as needed to even call them before and can't quite believe the cheek of it! he just then got angry and told them they will have to take him to court to get the money and there is a queue
Any advice?
LIH

sharon_currie

Hi I just sold my partners car and it had 6 mths left to run we paid it by instalments. When we cancelled it the person said she was due a refund as we were overpiad. I think the insurance companys at it by charging you £30 to cancel the insurance. Why should you have to pay insurance for someone else to ride the bike dosnt make sense to me.

Go to the ombudsman and report the company



Wullie

Keith

Allow the policy to expire, I've done this in the past and I am now using the NCB on another vehicle.

The only problem with this is that if the new owner does not insure it and a claim is made your OH policy may become liable.

livinginhope

Thanks,
DH did tell them he would just let it expire,but the ins co say this is illegal as a vehicle cannot be insured twice at the same time? I am so angry over this,I don't want the NCB as I already have 3 sets of full NCB with only 1 car! I rotate them to keep them active,just in case we get another car in the future
Think I will try and calm down,wait for the letter to arrive,then see if a mistake has been made
LIH

MarkyMarkD

What they are saying isn't necessarily wholly unfair, but it sounds like they are being a bit extreme.

As the OP stated, they didn't necessarily expect a refund. Insurance is an annual contract and it's perfectly reasonable for insurers to give a non-pro-rata refund to account for the administrative costs involved in setting up a policy. Or alternatively, they can charge a fixed cancellation charge and give a pro-rata refund (which is actually arguably fairer).

But to give a non-pro-rata refund (ie no refund at all, in the OP's case) AND charge a £30 fee is excessive and unreasonable IMHO.

It's also less justifiable to charge an early cancellation fee in subsequent years of insurance, as the set-up costs were incurred up front and were obviously significantly less in subsequent years of insurance.

I think it's worth writing to the company telling them that you will take the case to the Insurance Ombudsman Service.

olly300

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

But to give a non-pro-rata refund (ie no refund at all, in the OP's case) AND charge a £30 fee is excessive and unreasonable IMHO.

If you search on the financial ombudsman website you will also find that it is their opinion in a lot of insurance cases. Insurance companies have to be reasonable about their administrative charges.

The OP should write to the company using recorded delivery as it's amazing how many companies' don't receive their mail, give the the letter the title "formal complaint" and make it very clear that they will be taking the case to the financial ombudsman if the issues they raised are not answered in writing.

I just done this with my car insurance company who claimed they didn't receive my letter. As soon as I pointed out who signed for it and told them I would be taking them to the financial ombudsman if they tried to fob me off with a standard written reply again they left a telephone message for me and then replied to the issues I raised in writing.

sharon_currie

olly300 wrote: »

If you search on the financial ombudsman website you will also find that it is their opinion in a lot of insurance cases. Insurance companies have to be reasonable about their administrative charges.

The OP should write to the company using recorded delivery as it's amazing how many companies' don't receive their mail, give the the letter the title "formal complaint" and make it very clear that they will be taking the case to the financial ombudsman if the issues they raised are not answered in writing.

I just done this with my car insurance company who claimed they didn't receive my letter. As soon as I pointed out who signed for it and told them I would be taking them to the financial ombudsman if they tried to fob me off with a standard written reply again they left a telephone message for me and then replied to the issues I raised in writing.

Yes file a complaint with the ombudsman as everytime someone complains about a company they get charged £400

MarkyMarkD

That's the second post I've seen today saying that - posted by sharon currie.

What is this thing you have for making companies get penalised?

It's fair enough to take a complaint to the FOS if you have a genuine cause for complaint, and you've gone through the company's own complaints procedure.

If you complain to the FOS too soon, the company will NOT get charged £400. The FOS will just write to them and the company will say "we haven't reached deadlock yet - we will resolve the issue with the customer" and that will be an end to the matter.

All involving FOS in those circumstances does is to waste FOS's resources.

Andy_L

Appealing to my sense of the perverse, if you've got a legal advice line with the insurance policy (or anyother insurance, eg household) give them a ring & see what they say.

livinginhope

Still upset and angry about this today,i am going to the CAB on Monday to find out where I stand.
Thanks for all the replies,will let you know how I get on,I am also writing to these awful people today,but will wait till Monday to post it due to postal strike

Don't know if I'm allowed to do this,but I am going to anyway,I thought I would name and shame this company,just in case anyone else is thinking of cancelling with them,they are

Bennetts motorbike insurance,very well known company,but should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves!

LIH

Gold_Shogun

livinginhope wrote: »

I thought I would name and shame this company ...

Bennetts motorbike insurance,very well known company,but should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves!

That quite surprises me, as I dealt with Bennetts over many years (although not directly in the last few years) and usually found them to be a quite honourable & reasonable firm.

I wonder if this is an issue caused (and escalated) by one of their "Junior ScriptMonkeys" wrongly getting his/her knickers in a twist through ignorance or inexperience (and who sounds like they may need some "retraining")

Might I suggest you contact Bennetts again, but this time POLITELY INSIST upon being put through to either a "Senior Supervisor" or their "Formal Complaints Supervisor" ...
... Explain the situation to the Supervisor (CALMLY & POLITELY), and including the "very rude man who called me 'darling'!! I was called 'stupid' and 'naive' I finished the call in tears and have been crying for about an hour" call details you mentioned earlier (giving the time & date), and advise that you are :-
"prepared to take whatever steps may be necessary to defend yourself & to proceed with a Formal Complaint"

... I suspect that you may well be offered a "cancellation" of this spurious charge on the spot, and may possibly even be able to extract some form of refund or compensation.

Calmness & Politeness is THE Key to being successful, as people are used to regularly getting verbal abuse over the phone, and always bear in mind that you can catch more flies with Honey, than you can with Vinegar.

I am personally a FIRM believer of the "Talk quietly, but Carry a Big Stick" school of dealing with people.

Cheers
Bob