One Call car insurance

AnneMccarthy

My car insurance renewal was due on 24th July with One Call.  I found a cheaper quote with that and tried to contact One Call to cancel.  The only way to do this was by Live Chat but every time i went on it there was over 40 people waiting.  I therefore cancelled the Direct debit and mistakenly thought this would suffice.  They are now saying that I have to pay a cancellation fee of £224.  Is there anything that I can do about this?  Thanks

Ayr_Rage

Cancelling any registered payment method does not automatically cancel any contract or policy.

You'll have to pay something to cancel, how is that £224 broken down ?

You may get away with paying less but as it is nearly a full month since the renewal date you may have to pay the full whack or risk recovery action.

AnneMccarthy

Thank you.  They have now said that if I provide proof I am insured elsewhere, they will back date it.  Not sure what that means but I am doing it.  Two lessons learnt here - always cancel with the company as well as the direct debit and most importantly for me, never ever use One Call Insurance again!

Ayr_Rage

@AnneMccarthy sorry, but you cannot blame OneCall for your predicament, it is entirely of your own making and the outcome would most likely have been the same with any company where auto renewal was in place and the customer cancelled the payment method.

If you read the general DD Ts and Cs, you MUST cancel with the company as well as with your bank.

CSI_Yorkshire

AnneMccarthy said:

Two lessons learnt here - always cancel with the company as well as the direct debit and most importantly for me, never ever use One Call Insurance again!

A better lesson for you - don't cancel a direct debit, cancel the service with the company you are buying it from.

That will be true everywhere, not just insurance.

400ixl

OneCall do not have the best of reputations but they do appear to allow you to stop auto renewal in their customer portal OR through their live chat.

From their FAQ's

All annual policies will automatically renew unless you make us aware otherwise.

If you wish to stop your policy from automatically renewing, please opt out of auto renewal by logging into your account on the customer portal under the accounts section or contacting the renewals department via Live Chat.

AnneMccarthy

Ayr Rage and CSI Yorkshire - I agree the best way to cancel is with the company but when you cannot call, email or do it via the website it is difficult to do so.  When I logged on to the Live Chat, I was over 40th in the queue on numerous occasions.  This was just not practical to do so.  Thanks for the advice though.

CSI_Yorkshire

AnneMccarthy said:

Ayr Rage and CSI Yorkshire - I agree the best way to cancel is with the company but when you cannot call, email or do it via the website it is difficult to do so.  When I logged on to the Live Chat, I was over 40th in the queue on numerous occasions.  This was just not practical to do so.  Thanks for the advice though.

No - the only way to cancel is with the company.

Cancelling the payment method does not cancel the contract.

whoknowsIdont

Its really really simple ...do not use one call insurance you will not be able to contact them.
Phone lines don't work chat bot thing doesn't work.
You cannot cancel on line 

The_stingemeister

whoknowsIdont said:

Its really really simple ...do not use one call insurance you will not be able to contact them.
Phone lines don't work chat bot thing doesn't work.
You cannot cancel on line 

Yes they've auto renewed me, had a lot on and thought my new insurer was going to do it for me. Can't contact them. They really are low life. Should be blacklisted on here. Just imagine if you had a genuine claim to make, hardly think they'd pay up. Credit card is still pending at moment. Maybe a letter to the toe rags?

400ixl

The_stingemeister said:

Yes they've auto renewed me, had a lot on and thought my new insurer was going to do it for me. 

That is not something that happens with any insurer, so you can't blame them for you not cancelling the renewal if you were going elsewhere.

Doesn't change they are to be avoided but they are not to blame for you not doing something.