OMG!!! 1st Central Car Insurance. ..stay away from them!

1st_Central_Harrassment

What can I do ???? I used a price comparison site to get car insurance from "1st Central" Car Insurance....I insured my car for 3 weeks to cover me as my insurance would have ran out whilst I was on a week holiday. A couple of weeks after returning from my holiday, I had sold my car (as was the intention). Of course I no longer needed car insurance and cancelled it. I had already paid approx £50 up front....then they asked for £50 to cancel it and now I'm being harassed with phone calls , text messages and letters for a further £74.04 for a car I do not own!!!! I spoke to them once via phone and was told the two £50 transactions were for setting up and cancelling the insurance and they were a broker. Can you believe it !!!!! Tell me if I'm exaggerating when I say a total of £174.04 is a ludicrous amount to be expected to pay for 3 weeks car insurance!?? Broker or no Broker. What can I do ? Any suggestions??? Thinking of reporting them to the newspapers!!??

tberry6686

Try reading the terms and conditions that you agreed to. I am sure it will all be in there. Do you think that they should insure your car for free ?

fluffnutter

Well, the bad news is that it doesn't sound like they've done anything illegal, simply that you failed to understand the deal you were getting into.

Did you specifically arrange for short term insurance or did you take out a year's policy assuming you could just cancel whenever you felt like it? You can't just take out a policy for a year, then cancel it willy-nilly and expect to be only charged for three weeks' worth, pro rata. It doesn't work like that.

What price were you given? What payment arrangements were made? A lump sum or a monthly payment? I'm confused as to what this original £50 constituted? You say it was a broker's fee yet you weren't made aware of that. What did the paperwork say? What is this extra £74.04 for?

And the fact that you don't have the car any more is irrelevant I'm afraid. But we need more details. We need to know what the paperwork said and we need a breakdown of the charges.

Money-Saving-King

I recently sold a car & did the same. I specifically looked for short term car insurance. The companies involved had options such as daily, weekly or monthly insurance. I then chose what I needed. If you had to cancel it then it doesn't actually sound like you took out short term car insurance.

fluffnutter

Seems like it's not so much of a big deal after all.... tumbleweed.

stugib

1st_Central_Harrassment wrote: »

Tell me if I'm exaggerating when I say a total of £174.04 is a ludicrous amount to be expected to pay for 3 weeks car insurance!??

Have you taken a look at how much short-term insurance is for 3 weeks as a comparison?

1st_Central_Harrassment wrote: »

Thinking of reporting them to the newspapers!!??

<chuckle>

agrinnall

Never heard of the insurer but I'm taking a guess that they appear early in the comparison list. If so, the reason they are early is likely to be that they have a low headline price but lots of charges if you need to add anything to the basic offering or change anything once the policy is running.

Caveat emptor.

Caz3121

1st_Central_Harrassment wrote: »

I insured my car for 3 weeks to cover me as my insurance would have ran out whilst I was on a week holiday. A couple of weeks after returning from my holiday, I had sold my car (as was the intention). Of course I no longer needed car insurance and cancelled it.

If you purchased short term car insurance for 3 weeks I am unsure why you had to cancel it, surely it would be better to just let it expire after the 3 weeks were up
If you bought an annual policy thinking you could just stop paying when you no longer needed it, I agree, that it does not sound like you read the T&Cs or asked the question around what would happen if you wish to terminate the policy early
Paying for a policy on a monthly basis does not make it a monthly policy, often when you buy an annual policy you are taking finance to pay it up front and you repay that loan over 12 months

sheramber

from the policy document online



.
The policy is arranged by First Central Insurance Management Ltd on behalf of the insurer(s) named on your Certificate of Insurance (excluding the Key Assist benefit, which is underwritten by Evolution



What will you have to pay for services?

Arrangement Fees For the set up of your policy (non refundable) £50
For the renewal of your policy (non refundable) £50
Cancellation Fees
Cancellation before the policy start date No Fee

More than 14 days after policy start date : £50


10.7
Cancelling your policy
If your policy is cancelled, we will return any premium you paid for this policy less:
• a charge for the number of days the
insurer has provided cover for; and
• any applicable fees as shown in the Important Customer Information section
• any other credit card or credit finance charges
•any deficit in any other insurance contract you may have with us or any debt assigned to us

hcb42

better option might have been to renew and then cancel that

ChrissyBe

I find that there is a real problem with cancelling insurance. I had a van insured with autonet and I just sent it to the recycle centre. I contacted the insurance company to cancel the policy and was told there would be a premium refund. OK thats great... then they told me that they need to charge me a cancellation fee of £50.00 which means I have an outstanding balance of £27.00 which I now owe them. I told them that I might as well just leave the insurance policy in place and they kindly told me that I have a legal duty to cancel the insurance policy because I no longer have the van. Apparently I cannot insure a vehicle that I no longer have. At least I don't have the van anymore and I don't have to deal with autonet again !! small blessings I guess... But is it really the case that you 'legally' cannot continue a car insurance policy if you sell the vehicle? If this is the case then what if you sell it in the last month of your insurance cover....? You are expected to pay them £50.00 or more cancellation fee because you cancelled your policy a few days before renewal because you are 'Legally' obliged to do so?