Changing car during policy. Then cancelling....

gbt2001

I changed car during my policy.  Then realised how extortionate the price was and cancelled the policy 48 hour later.  I was charged a cancellation fee, which was paid and told that was all.  `I have now recieved a bill 'There is a further outstanding balance of £176.94 for the time the policy was on cover due

to the change of vehicle on the policy on 20/04/2020'.  According to the broker this is for the 2 days cover for the new car. 
is there a cooling off period as such for changes to policies? surely it should be pro-rata at least.
They are also withholding my NCD until this is paid.

alfred1950

Were there any other items on the policy which are quite often non-refundable such as breakdown cover , key care , legal expenses etc?

gbt2001

nope - just the change.

chrisw

No, there is no cooling off period for change of car. You really should have checked the cost of insuring the new car before you bought it.

£176 does sound very steep for 2 days cover. I would ask them for a breakdown of the costs. It is usually pro rata'd more or less, maybe they've missed that you already paid the cancellation fee.

dunstonh

is there a cooling off period as such for changes to policies?

No. as it is not a new policy.

According to the broker this is for the 2 days cover for the new car.

That seems highly unlikely. £176.94/2 = £88.47 per day.  Annulised, that would equate to a premium of £32,291.

Most likely it will be non-refundable addons bought.  These can be breakdown cover, legal expenses, hire car etc.     And/or premiums are not exactly pro-rata.  i.e. if you cancel after 2 months then you could have to pay 4 months worth of premium.   Plus, it sounds like you were paying monthly. So, there could be a credit charge in there to cover the loan for monthly premiums.