Admiral Cancellation Fee

Strudul

Hi

I'm wanting to cancel my Admiral car insurance policy.

The situation:
- I wanted to make a modificaiton to my car
- I asked Admiral how this would affect my premiums and the price quoted to do so was quite high (>£100 depending on choice of modifications).
- I got a new quote (including the modifications) and it was >£200 LESS than what I am currently paying. This was from the same company (Admiral) on the same policy (LittleBox). (I think the reason for this is because I have now had my license for >2 years.)
- As you can see, the price difference between declaring the modifications and a new policy is >£300.
- So, my plan was to cancel my old policy, and take out a new one (still a LittleBox policay with the same car).
- They've told it will cost £50 + an extra £100 to cancel due to it being a LittleBox (black box) policy.
- This sounds incredibly excessive (though still cheaper to do than continuing with my current policy).
- It seems even more excessive when you consider that I will be keeping the black box unit installed. I don't see any justification for the extra £100 charge.


From doing some research, the Financial Ombudsman Service states that charges must reflect the true administrative cost. In this situation, I don't think a £100 charge would meet that criteria.

Should I challenge the fee with Admiral?
If they refuse, should I take it further elsewhere?
How would I go about doing this?

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers

dunstonh

From doing some research, the Financial Ombudsman Service states that charges must reflect the true administrative cost. In this situation, I don't think a £100 charge would meet that criteria.

I disagree. We know from the FOS publications that they have ruled against a consumer complaining about a £50 fee (excluding outstanding premium and addons) and that was some years ago. Your admin charge is £50.

On top of that you are required to pay the outstanding premium relative to the next cancellation point (i.e. if you are in month 7 then you may have to pay until the end of month 8 or 9).

Is this £100 an exact amount or are you rounding? Does it include the pro-rata premium due and/or any non-refundable add-on charges?

- It seems even more excessive when you consider that I will be keeping the black box unit installed. I don't see any justification for the extra £100 charge.

You are not factoring in the cost of the black box.

Strudul

Thanks for the quick response.

dunstonh wrote: »

I disagree. We know from the FOS publications that they have ruled against a consumer complaining about a £50 fee (excluding outstanding premium and addons) and that was some years ago. Your admin charge is £50.

I have no dispute with the £50 cancellation fee.

dunstonh wrote: »

On top of that you are required to pay the outstanding premium relative to the next cancellation point (i.e. if you are in month 7 then you may have to pay until the end of month 8 or 9).

I have no issues with this either. I am in no rush to cancel. I'm happy to wait until the next cancellation point, but I don't think they mentioned any charge for this anyway - just a refund for the outstanding premium.

dunstonh wrote: »

Is this £100 an exact amount or are you rounding? Does it include the pro-rata premium due and/or any non-refundable add-on charges?

The £100 is an exact amount.
My understanding is that this charge is purely for the purpose of deactivating the black box. Though presumably it is also to cover wasted costs related to it.
It has nothing to do with pro-rata premiums / add-on charges.

dunstonh wrote: »

You are not factoring in the cost of the black box.

The blackbox is free and included when you take out the policy.
There is no charge to deactivate it if you choose not to renew with Admiral.

I could understand the charge if I was only going to cancel my policy as they have to recover the wasted time / cost of installing a blackbox in my car. However, I will be taking out the same black box policy with the same provider instantly. As such, there is no reason for them to deactivate the box, nor pay for a new one to be installed as it is already in the car and active.

Does this provide some more clarity?

Cheers

Strudul

Quick update.

I took out the new policy (to start 1/12/16) then went to cancel my existing one (for 30/11/16).

They said they wouldn't charge any cancellation or admin fee as I was had taken out a new policy and there was no gap between cancelling the old one and the new one beginning.

Queried it a few times to make sure. Looks like everything seems to have worked out perfectly. Saved £300. :j