Car Insurance Cancellation - Double Tap

Buchstansangur

My wife just had to cancel her car insurance after only 81 days on cover (with no claims). The insurer (Ageas) would not take our son, who is a learner driver on a provisional licence, as an additional driver. The broker (One Click) quoted an alternative insurer but they were not at all competitive.

The refund will be a paltry £15 or so from an original premium of £115.31. Both One Click and Ageas charged cancellation fees - £25 and £26.88 respectively - although One Click did reduce their fee from the £49.99 they could have charged. In addition, the ToC (Time on Cover) was calculated by Ageas, based on a non-discounted premium of £150.79, at £33.46. One Click also charged, or rather clawed back, their "New Business Fee" of £15.00 that had been part of the original discount. So, £33.46+£15.00+£26.88+£25.00 = £100.34 cost of cancellation.

This is the first time for a long time that we have had to cancel car insurance and I was not aware of this nefarious practice of "double tap" cancellation fees. Neither was I aware that ToC would be calculated based on a non-discounted premium or that other "fees" would be clawed back. Sure enough, it's there in the small-print but they don't exactly make it clear how little you will get on cancellation. I don't know if this is standard practice with the proliferation of online "brokers" but I've certainly learned the hard way to read the Ts & Cs before committing. Needless to say, neither One Click nor Ageas will be getting any more of our business any time soon!

DullGreyGuy

I'm more surprised you got an original premium of £115! 

After IPT thats basically £100 and I guess you bought via an aggregator which means the broker for £35. The broker probably took £3.50 and the remaining £31.50 is what the insurer actually got to insurer you for unlimited liability for bodily injury for 12 months. 

Most underwriters I know wouldn't get out of bed for £31.50 a year let alone consider giving £15 back

dunstonh

Needless to say, neither One Click nor Ageas will be getting any more of our business any time soon!

There is no wrongdoing and plenty of others have higher charges.   Seems strange to blame them for your shortcomings.

Flugelhorn

presume you have left now - you don;t have to put the learner driver on the insurance policy, you can get them separate insurance eg Marmalade to cover them while driving your wife's car

Kim_13

Not unusual. Cancelling insurance soon after taking it out is calculated such that very little is due in the way of a refund, which is why short term cover exists. Though from an original £115 and for 81 days, that’s very unlikely to have been the better option here. The only way to come out of it well seems to be for the refund due to be less than zero after the cancellation fee - then they agree to cancel it with nothing payable and no refund due.

My father cancelled a policy back when the Post Office refused to insure me in the same situation. I’m not sure who their underwriter was but they had a policy of not insuring anyone under the age of 21. The policy had been circa 3 months from renewal but had the cost of cancelling it been as astronomical proportionately as it is in your case, I imagine I’d have been given the choice between covering the cost of the cancellation myself or waiting until the renewal fell due and making do with professional lessons only until then.