Car insurance cancellation fees Robbery!

alistairbeswick

legalisedrobbery wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Sold my car, tried to cancel the policy today. They said they were going to charge me a hefty £35 cancellation fee and then charge me an extra £21 on top to make up for the policy ending early:laugh: :laugh: . My policy costs £8.50 per month! My question is:

Is this fair trading?
Can they legally do this to me?
It wouild be cheaper for me to run the remainder of the policy on a car I don't own - is this OK?

They say, rather arrogantly, that its written in the fine print of my policy and that I cannot do anything about it!

Also would just stopping the DD from me bank account be OK?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks, Pete.

I just had to cancel my insurance with kwikfit - I am being made redundant, and had to sell my car. They are trying to charge me around £240 for cancelling the policy, which is I feel, very unfair as

1. I have never made a claim
2. I have never missed a payment
3. I no longer own the product they are insuring, hence it is not appropriate to my needs
4. I no longer have the means to pay it!

What do you guys think, they are obviously threatening a collection agency also if I don't pay in 28 days?

Thanks in advance

Quentin

Ask them to itemise the charges, and any you dispute take up with them - (though your points 1 - 4 are irrelevant!)

Any extras you took out will probably be non refundable should you cancel (legal cover/breakdown etc), and they may be able to clawback any discounts you were given (as you haven't completed the 12 months).

Your policy will set out what happens when you cancel mid term.

Carolineofscots

You think thats bad!
My father had only used 3 months of his motorbike insurance for which he paid appx £240. They gave him back only £35!!

They took a cancellation fee of £30 plus 60 percent! of his premium, £30 for legal cover and £40 for personal accident cover which we dont even think we took out in the first place.

I made a complaint to their customer services but was told that "if they gave me money back, it wouldnt be fair to all the other customers.."
So gracious of them to want to rip us all off equally isnt it.

dunstonh

Carolineofscots wrote: »

You think thats bad!
My father had only used 3 months of his motorbike insurance for which he paid appx £240. They gave him back only £35!!

They took a cancellation fee of £30 plus 60 percent! of his premium, £30 for legal cover and £40 for personal accident cover which we dont even think we took out in the first place.

I made a complaint to their customer services but was told that "if they gave me money back, it wouldnt be fair to all the other customers.."
So gracious of them to want to rip us all off equally isnt it.

They publish those terms. So, why did your father buy it if he knowing that was what they charged?

paulfoel

Steve1981 wrote: »

Under the FSA guidelines Insurers are obliged to give you cancellation fees for motor insurance when you take the pol, as said you get 14 days if you dont agree with the terms and conditions to cancel (provided no claims are made) outside of that the cancellation fee will stand

Hmmm. Swinton are telling me its £50 to cancel in the first two days !!!!

Are you sure this still applies?

Tribal-Wolf

I think in these days of computerised data keeping and form filling it's ridiculous that a fee is charged for amending a policy. I called my car insurance company and told them I had got married so my partners name had changed and they were now my spouse, two seconds later and I was told that it was sorted and it would be £30. The fact the policy was quoted at£15 less for being married when I got a quote 3 weeks ago (I needed insurance 6 days before we were married and did the right thing in not saying we were already married) made no difference. They then sent me out all the paperwork, on a paperless policy, which had the original details and had not been amended at all.
There should be in these days of consumer protection a law of some kind that stops these rip off insurance companies making stupid amounts of money from easy targets, especially when they look for any small detail to get out of paying a claim. It smacks of exploitation.

scheming_gypsy

Paperless policy... who are you insured with?
One of mine is insured with Swiftcover, so it's paperless (unless you download and print). You can update a lot of info through their portal and anything through there is free, but if you need to speak to somebody they'll charge.

Tribal-Wolf

It's Budget, they only let you change passwords and email address. The DVLA didn't charge her for a name change and a lot more work was involved. I used to work for an insurance company and have seen the ridiculous costs they charge.

dunstonh

I think in these days of computerised data keeping and form filling it's ridiculous that a fee is charged for amending a policy.

Who is going to pay for the computers and storage if you are not? Who is going to pay for the staff making the amendment if you are not?

There should be in these days of consumer protection a law of some kind that stops these rip off insurance companies making stupid amounts of money from easy targets, especially when they look for any small detail to get out of paying a claim. It smacks of exploitation.

There should be in these days of consumer protection a law that stops costs you generate being passed to others. Well, there is no law but that is what has happened here. You generated a task that costs money and you are paying. Rather than all the other policyholders who dont know you and dont want to pay for the work you created by getting married.

I used to work for an insurance company and have seen the ridiculous costs they charge.

In which case you would know that the Govt and FSA prefer explicit charging.

jaje01

Hi all

Well I'm new to the scandal that is car insurance cancellation fees. I moved house and my current insurer told them that it would cost me an additional 250 quid on my premium. Or they would 'rebroker' for me and knock a hundred quid off. I decided to look around for a new policy and One call came out pretty cheap. I took out the policy online on Friday, and then regretted it almost immediately. They had some very negative feedback online. I tried to call within the hour to cancel but their offices were closed. I then emailed straight away, got no reply. The next morning I rang and was told that my policy was set up that very morning and that I would now need to cancel my 'active' policy. The cancellations team would be in the office on Monday. Having called them this morning, I discover I will be charged £52 for the privilege of cancelling. I will, of course, complain, but its pretty depressing.

I just looked on the FSA website and they certainly talk about some having to pay for period you were insured during that 14 day period, but what really irks me about this is that I wasn't even insured at the time I tried to cancel. Grrrrrrrrrrrr