Recently paid 1yr Insurance - But Failed MOT 2 months later

peter12345678910

Rolandtheroadie wrote: »

This is my experience of cancelling mid term, in my case, it cost the full premium.

OP, if you scrap the car, I'd be tempted (as long as I knew the car would definately be getting crushed) to leave the policy running and call up to change vehicle when I got my next car.

I would have to agree, remember you would be rewarded to keep the scrapped car insured. So when you do get your new car, time it to start when the old policy stops, it should be cheaper because of an extra years no claims bonus.

agrinnall

motorguy wrote: »

No.

You buy a year long contract, not a monthly one.

Point at anything in my post that contradicts that. I'm saying that when you cancel you are entitled to a return of the premiums for the period that you are not on cover.

zappahey

agrinnall wrote: »

I'm saying that when you cancel you are entitled to a return of the premiums for the period that you are not on cover.

Only if the cancellation policy says you are entitled. Theoretically, the policy conditions could say that no refund is offered and that would be that.

DUTR

peter12345678910 wrote: »

I would have to agree, remember you would be rewarded to keep the scrapped car insured. So when you do get your new car, time it to start when the old policy stops, it should be cheaper because of an extra years no claims bonus.

Rolandtheroadie wrote: »

This is my experience of cancelling mid term, in my case, it cost the full premium.

OP, if you scrap the car, I'd be tempted (as long as I knew the car would definately be getting crushed) to leave the policy running and call up to change vehicle when I got my next car.

The terms and conditions dictate that you cannot insure a none existant vehicle (You can already see the loop hole to be exploited , building up NCB without driving experience to match), the OP best seek getting the policy suspended, or depending on the premium a refund of the pro rate remaining whole months less admin fees.

angrycrow

Rolandtheroadie wrote: »

OP, if you scrap the car, I'd be tempted (as long as I knew the car would definately be getting crushed) to leave the policy running and call up to change vehicle when I got my next car.

I would advise not to follow this advice. They is currently a new scam cropping up where in certain areas that when a car ends up in the scrap yard but still has insurance on it, it mysteriously ends up being involved in an accident (that never really happened) with another car. The other car tends to have 4 or 5 people in it who are all injured. Your insurers have to pay out if they can not prove the accident is staged and they then come to you for the cost of the claim for not cancelling the policy. It is really not worth the risk. Also remember when scraping it to notify the dvla that you have passed it to a scrap dealer and get a certificate of destruction to avoid the above scenario.

motorguy

agrinnall wrote: »

Point at anything in my post that contradicts that. I'm saying that when you cancel you are entitled to a return of the premiums for the period that you are not on cover.

You were stating - and are stating again - that insurance can be cancelled on a monthly pro-rata basis. This is NOT the case.

There is no monthly cancellation option and the O/P wont get 10/12ths or 9/12ths of their policy.

You are not "entitled" to a return on the remaining months and this is clearly set out in the policy booklet of the yearly contract you sign for insurance.

motorguy

angrycrow wrote: »

I would advise not to follow this advice. They is currently a new scam cropping up where in certain areas that when a car ends up in the scrap yard but still has insurance on it, it mysteriously ends up being involved in an accident (that never really happened) with another car. The other car tends to have 4 or 5 people in it who are all injured. Your insurers have to pay out if they can not prove the accident is staged and they then come to you for the cost of the claim for not cancelling the policy. It is really not worth the risk. Also remember when scraping it to notify the dvla that you have passed it to a scrap dealer and get a certificate of destruction to avoid the above scenario.

+1

I've seen many cars go to a scrapyard and then be sold on and put back on the road.

As you say, bad idea.

agrinnall

motorguy wrote: »

You were stating - and are stating again - that insurance can be cancelled on a monthly pro-rata basis. This is NOT the case.

There is no monthly cancellation option and the O/P wont get 10/12ths or 9/12ths of their policy.

You are not "entitled" to a return on the remaining months and this is clearly set out in the policy booklet of the yearly contract you sign for insurance.

This is what my policy says about cancellation:

If you cancel this policy after the 14 day period we, on receipt of your Certificate of Motor Insurance, will refund a percentage of the premium calculated on a daily pro rata basis equivalent to the period of cover left unused, providing no claims have been made.

So actually it's better than I had thought as if the OP has a similar clause they will get more than 9/12ths of the premium back (less charges of course).

Edit: And the FOS appear to agree that this position is the one that insurers should take:

In cases referred to us, if a customer has cancelled a policy and received a significantly smaller refund of premiums than could be expected as a pro rata settlement, we will ask the firm to explain how its approach complies with the requirements under the regulations.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/54/insurance.htm

Iceweasel

A daily pro-rata basis????

So, according to post #19 if I cancel a policy after say 21 days then I will get back 344/365ths of the premium?

If that was the case there would be no sense in having such a thing in existence as short term insurance.

I reckon that what would happen is that they would calculate the premium for a 21 day policy, subtract that from the annual premium I had paid and then refund me the difference, minus a £25 or £50 'service' charge.

I've been in the situation (a few years ago admittedly and things may well have changed) where I had sold my car privately much quicker than I had thought, and the new car had not even built and wouldn't be delivered for approx 10 weeks.

My insurance company were quite happy to freeze/suspend/put on hold my policy until I notified them of the date the new car would be on the road.

My advice would therefore be to tell your insurance company the truth and ask for it to be put on hold.

zappahey

agrinnall wrote: »

Edit: And the FOS appear to agree that this position is the one that insurers should take:

In cases referred to us, if a customer has cancelled a policy and received a significantly smaller refund of premiums than could be expected as a pro rata settlement, we will ask the firm to explain how its approach complies with the requirements under the regulations.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/54/insurance.htm

You might want to read that properly, it's not quite as black and white as you suggest.