Breakdown of Hastings Direct Car Insurance seems excessive

thetonyshort

Hello

I have just cancelled my car insurance with Hastings Direct having been with exactly for four weeks. The cancellation quote seems quite excessive, £80.05 and when I got the operator to break down these costs there are two elements of this charge which I'd like to understand if it's the norm or whether I can challenge these?

The breakdown of the cancellation is:

- £45.00 cancellation fee
- £20.00 - new policy business arrangement fee
- £15.05 - time on cover - pre-rota fee

Are the last two something to be expected? When I was given the option to make the cancellation payment immediately or receive a final invoice I opted for the later, hoping that this may buy me time to understand the fees better.

Thanks in advance.

Tony

agrinnall

Well certainly the last one is absolutely to be expected - did you think they would give you cover for 4 weeks for nothing?

thetonyshort

Thanks for your response. So what exactly is the last one? What's your thoughts on the second one; new policy business arrangement fee.

Sorry for any obtuse questions.

Many Thanks

Tony

rudekid48

You will have agreed to these charges when you took the policy out - they will all be detailed in the terms & conditions that you accepted at the time.

The pro-rata time on cover charge is the amount that the insurer underwriting your policy has charged for the 4 weeks cover.

Hastings are a broker (although they do have their own 'in-house' insurer - Advantage) so they are charging you £20 for setting the policy up in the first place and then £45 for cancelling early.

Presumably you bought this via a comparison site so Hastings will have been charged somewhere between £60 - £90 by the comparison site.

If any of these charges are not detailed in the T&C's from when you bought the policy then they are not entitled to charge you.

dunstonh

So what exactly is the last one?

That is the premium cost for time the policy was in force.

What's your thoughts on the second one; new policy business arrangement fee.

Increasingly common as the commissions on policies is declining and slowly moving to a more explicitly charged basis. Especially where comparison sites are involved.

Hastings website clearly lays out its charges. These include:

Arranging your new policy (car only) £20
Cancellation car / van (after 14 days) £45
https://www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/our-fees.shtml
So, both are published and seem reasonable. Cancellation fee is at the upper end (but still below the £50 figure that the FOS said was acceptable in a past publication)