NCI cancelled my car insurance and are charging £235.66!

tomw29

Hi All,

I recently took out car insurance with NCI, which I set up online. Mistakenly, I inputted the incorrect date of birth for my partner (which would've made her one year younger than she is). After the policy had been live for 2 days NCI called my partner; she failed to pass the security questions, due to the wrong date of birth, and at that point they informed us that they would be cancelling the policy within 14 days and wouldn't be able to provide us with another quote.

Today we received a letter to say that we need to pay them a further £124.39 (on top of the £111.27 deposit we already paid). I asked for a breakdown of the costs they're claiming for:

Time on cover (15 Days): £25.68
Underwriter admin fee: £27.50
Cancellation fee: £75.00
Commission: £77.98
Non-refundable Legal Cover: £29.50

Total = £235.66

I wondered if it's reasonable for NCI to ask us to pay these costs when they decided to cancel our policy? Is there anything I could do about this?

Any help or advice would be appreciated

Retrogamer

I'd be more concerned about having the cancelled policy.

It's something you need to declare in the future and might cause problems getting cover for a reasonable price.

I wonder if they would have agreed to the policy if the correct date of birth was put in initially.

paddyandstumpy

If they've agreed time on risk they've agreed cover up until that point, so you should argue they have accepted the risk.
Why have they cancelled, due to an incorrect d.o.b?
If the risk remains acceptable at a different price they should correct the rate.
If the risk is no longer acceptable they should refund you all your money.

You'll have to declare the cancellation going forward though. That's a far bigger issue than losing a couple of hundred £'s.

Nasqueron

You need to instigate a formal complaint about this with the insurer and if necessary go to the ombudsman. A cancellation has to be declared for a long time and will result in massive quotes and many mainstream insurers not quoting you. A cancellation due to a minor typo is a huge overreaction from the insurer and needs to be nipped in the bud quickly

Rich2808

Why on earth did they contact your partner when you are the policy holder? Surely you provided the security details not them?

This seems a massive over reaction on their part - being one year out on a date of birth for an online application is a simple mistake and shouldn't affect risk materially.

You need to fight this with firm and then the ombudsman as this cancelled policy could affect your ability to get insurance for life. The charges they are proposing are also extortionate when they have cancelled not you.

ThePants999

You absolutely need to get them to reverse this cancellation - it'll be a nightmare for you and it's completely unfair. Unless they would have refused cover had you given them the real DOB, it's totally unreasonable to cancel.

Trentenders

Were you the policyholder? Or was it instead in your partner's name, with yourself included as a named driver?