I stupidly cancelled my policy!?

daveob

I got car cover from Adrian Flux last december (covering myself, my mum and my dad), paid for the annual cover in full but told them i was likely to only need cover for 3 months - how much will it cost to cancel this policy?

To which they replied there is just a £25 admin fee to pay.

Now it turns out i needed my insurance for 10 months, rang them up the other week and told them i would like to cancel my policy. (to change to a much cheaper policy for just my mum and dad).

Sure they said, its easy, just write a letter stating what date you want it cancelled and send in your certificate of insurance.

So I did, only to be told once it had all been processesed that the terms of this particular policy state that after 8 months 0% of your policy premium is refundable - oh and a cancelled policy is completely not reinstatable - sorry about that!

So I may as well have kept the insurance.

I know the terms were right there in my contract papers, but i didn't check as i had asked that specific question! They haddn't informed me of the true cost of cancellation either while taking my policy out, nor cancelling it. Despite all relevant policy information being conveniently located right there on their computer screen when I was complaining about it all!

It also turns out that if i'd cancelled the policy after 3 months as planned, i'd have only got 6months worth back! Completely unsuitable for what i needed!

Is there anything i can do about this. Can I claim i was mis-sold or anything lke that? Take it to the FSO?

An thoughts (besides "you should have read your contract") would be greatly appreciated!

Dave.

dunstonh

They haddn't informed me of the true cost of cancellation either while taking my policy out, nor cancelling it.

They don't have to.

There are certain key things that need to be disclosed in conversation and that isn't one of them.

Is there anything i can do about this. Can I claim i was mis-sold or anything lke that?

Did you ask them if you needed exactly 3 months cover or that the cover may only be needed for 3 months? The latter gets them off the hook. The former means their product was not suitable. Although removing your name and leaving it in your parents would have made it suitable.

The choice to cancel and take out another one in your parents name was yours not theirs. So, you cannot hold them responsible for that.

Take it to the FSO?

I don't think the polish car manufacturer will be much use for you. Nor will the FOS as you cannot complain to them without exhausting the internal complaints procedure of the company first.

Looking at it, you may have been mis-sold but your wording on your post suggests you weren't as you weren't. A few changes to words in a sentence can give a totally different meaning. "may need it for only three months" is not a mis-sale. "Will only need it for 3 months" would be.

As it happened, you needed it for 10 months and instead of removing your name, you cancelled it. Did you ask them for advice or did you tell them what to do? Again, you can only complain about advice if you sought advice. If you told them what to do, they are acting on your instructions.

daveob

As far as the exact wording i obviously cannot be 100% sure. However, as I was getting insurance in order to travel to a job, contracted for 3 months with no expectation at the time of that contract being extended, and having no other need for a car, i'm positive that i had said that the policy would only be needed for 3 months.

As for as my decision to cancel, rather than simply removing myself from the policy, this was based on my initial advice also. I was unable to simply add myself to the existing policy as a named driver due to the extortionate rate. So was advised transfering the car ownership to myself and starting a new policy was the best way forward. Therefore, simply removing myself from the new policy was not an option as neither of the remaining named drivers were the owner of the car.

darich

daveob wrote: »

I know the terms were right there in my contract papers, but i didn't check as i had asked that specific question!

No you didn't.
You asked what the charge would be if you cancelled after 3 months. You actually cancelled after 10months so it's not unreasonable to assume the answer may be different.

There doesn't seem to be much sense in cancelling a 12month policy after 10months because you could get a cheaper quote. Unless there was some restriction on that quote and it being unavailable when the policy expired there would be no benefit from cancelling early - especially if you're removing your self from the cover - even less cover by cancelling.

Not re-asking the question despite it being 10months into the policy was a mistake (i'm sure you realise that now) but I don't see how you've been mis-sold anything when you got the insurance cover you wanted for an agreed price that you paid 10months ago.
I'd also imagine that any complaint to the FSA will be rejected since their terms and conditions are clearly stated in the documents/policy.

Badger_Lady

daveob wrote: »

So I may as well have kept the insurance.

Really? Are you still driving the car? If you have no further need for the insurance, it's not worth the paper it's written on and there's no difference whether you "kept" it or not.

Pretty tough lesson for you, but I don't think this is unusual - I've had to cancel a lot of motor insurance policies mid-term and only once got back the amount I would expect (purely because they wouldn't cover my new car).

easynotec3

Reading quickly i don't think you were mis-advised.

You asked how much would it cost to cancel the policy. You did not ask if a refund would be due. Adrian Flux correctly informed you that they would charge a £25 fee. This would usually have been deducted from any return premium from the insurer (adrian flux are only brokers).

Out of interest did they charge you the £25 fee or did they waive it as there was no return due?

dzug

daveob wrote: »

i'm positive that i had said that the policy would only be needed for 3 months.

Even if that's the case, it's entirely possible that the cheapest way of achieving it was to get an annual policy and cancel. Short term policies can be difficult to get (not all companies do them) and expensive.

I really don't think you've got a valid compalint.