Car Insurance extra charges

funkyorange

I recently purchased and paid for in full insurance that's yet to start.

They called and queried lots of my answers to the questions, including about any past convictions and job role. I checked my driving licence on file and used the info on there, not knowing there was a speeding ticket over 4 years ago which is not on my file, but I should have disclosed. I thought wrongly what's on my driving licence file is fact, but it obviously was not.

They have amended my premium and its come up as much more than originally quoted, they want to charge me the extra plus a administration fee which is much more that other quotes I found originally.

I apologised and asked if I could cancel it as I made a genuine mistake. They want to charge a £80 'administration' charge! I thought there was a 14 day cooling off period by law and small administration charge but £80 is a bit excessive IMO. 

I feel like this practice is a bit unfair and I get a bad feeling about this insurer as if they are doing this to every customer then they are able to extract much more money. I had to explain exactly what I did in my role a number of times as I work in specialist IT - the job roles don't exactly match. However I accept I made a mistake and am prepared to pay a small 'administration' fee such as £30 for the trouble I caused, but £80 is just excessive IMO!

Sandtree

The law says they have to give you a right to cancel, there is nothing that says that it must be cost free.

As you admit, you made a false declaration and therefore they have adjusted the premium to reflect the true risk you represent. If you don't want an insurer (or broker in this case I imagine) to adjust premiums then make accurate declarations in the first place. You'll find the cost of being caught out is typically higher than the cost of true declaration in the first instance but its somewhat understandable given you've proven yourself to be untrustworthy at worst or lax with the truth at best.

Cancellation fees can be made up of multiple components, if it is a broker and you wanted to pay by instalments there are potentially fees coming from the broker, insurer and credit provider. Fees are done on an average rather than personal basis and the total cost for selling a single policy can easily exceed £100

Thankfully they haven't voided your policy and so either pay the premium increase or pay the cancellation charge but learn the lesson on making sure you complete your declarations accurately.