The Great 'Car Insurance Cancellation & Administration Fee' Hunt

sunuk57

friend of mine just been charged the WHOLE of the remaining policy cost as she cancelled after 3 months. Took ALL the money from her bank without warning !

dunstonh

sunuk57 wrote: »

friend of mine just been charged the WHOLE of the remaining policy cost as she cancelled after 3 months. Took ALL the money from her bank without warning !

Did she have a claim on the policy? If so, you become liable for the whole premium for the year.

MELONLOLLY

Hiya I have never posted on here before and im posting about the post office car insurance company who have today charged me £225 to cancel my policy, this was £30 cancellation the rest was a premium shortfall i think she said? there was no claims on the policy but because we cancelled policy before the year was up we have to pay 100% of the policy even tho this meant we paid the full value of the policy despite no claims and lost our years no claims! i dont really understand how they can do this especially as after going through all the paperwork they sent me there is no mention of this charge or anything warning there would be anything except the cancellation charge which i would expect to pay. after complaining that I wasn't happy and insisting that these charges were not transparent or even mentioned in my policy documents i was referred to an online document with these charges explained fully and told these were the documents i recieved, they were not the same documents i have in my possession! after digging a bit more i was then informed that the onbudsman had been involved and had made them change their documents and indeed the cancellation so that now people taking policys as of june 2012 now only need to pay a £55 cancellation charge, but i took my policy in may 2012 and i am having to pay the whole amount of £225 i do not wish to "blackmail" the post office into waivering the payment i genuinely do not feel this payment is at all fair!! could somebody please give me details on how i can contact the FSA if thats who i need to contact or the ombudsman, I am not at all used to complaining and have no idea where to take my complaint as the post office wouldnt tell me their complaints proceedure! can i also add that although the post office insured me it is through AVIVA that i have my insurance and this payment is for the post office AVIVA is not recieving a penny despite the fact i suspect they atually provided my car insurance so in affect im giving an insurance broker the amount of £225?! any advice or point of view would be appreciated ive tried to explain it as well as i can sorry if its not very clear.

Quentin

You need to first use the post office complaints procedure. This will be set out in the policy documents.

Then if you aren't happy with their reply you will be able to escalate this to the FOS (not fsa).

trashbat_2

This weekend we're getting rid of an old car that we only bought about 6 weeks ago; it's just failed its MOT and would cost more than the £400 we paid for it to put right, plus the road tax runs out on Sunday. We are considering trading it in for a brand new car, but if we don't do that then we will just scrap it, as it's costing a fortune to insure when we don't even have the use of it due to the failed MOT (£900 a year, because my wife's the main driver and she's only just passed her test!).

Our insurance company (NFU) said that if we decide to trade it in then they will simply transfer the policy to her new car, which will see her annual premium go up to £1300(!) because the car she wants is in a different insurance group, and if we scrap it then they will cancel the policy free of charge and give us a pro-rata refund.

Now, if we used LV to insure her new car then it would only be £450, so ideally I'd like to have the best of both worlds - cancel the 6-week-old NFU policy on the old car, get a pro-rata refund and then switch to LV to insure the new car. Am I within my rights to do this? I realise I could just tell them we've scrapped it when we haven't, but that would be dishonest

Retro_Bunny

In case anyone is reading this really old thread like me, Direct Line are now £47.70 to cancel:

If the policy has started and you cancel within 14 days of it starting or within 14 days of receiving your documents (whichever occurs later), we will return any premium paid less a charge for the number of days for which cover has been given and an administration fee of £47.70 (inclusive of Insurance Premium Tax where applicable). If you have made a claim or if one has been made against you during the current period of insurance, you will not receive a refund. Please return all your documents after cancelling the policy.

Lord_Baltimore

This is an interesting thread, thank you for 'resurrecting' it. Two things strike me as significant:

1. There has been disatisfaction with admin fees for years and nothing has changed. It really is time to put this nice little earner to bed once and for all. Complaint en masse to the Financial Ombudsman could start the ball rolling; and

2. There are contributors to this forum who have so steadfastly and vehemently supported insurance companies on this and other issues that it makes you wonder just how independent their opinion really is . Cat's out of the bag.

Retro_Bunny

Aviva is £38 cancellation now
Tesco remains at £30

elizabethnealaca

First Direct say:

"...And if you're not happy for any reason up to three months later, you can cancel your policy, no questions asked, without a cancellation charge. It's that easy."

kbh4031

£30 admin charge for unpaid DD - 1st Central
Disgusting that they should be able to charge these outrageous amounts!!