The Great 'Car Insurance Cancellation & Administration Fee' Hunt

iNath

Just updated the first post with information that people have left, thanks to everyone and if your company isn't on the list and you could check your policy book for me it'd be very much appreciated, thanks!

whiskey1983

Hi there, just a quick question. I took out a policy (to begin on 1st Dec) with Zurich this morning but managed to skid on some ice this afternoon and had a little bash. I will have to claim on my insurance so obviously the details will need to be changed for my new policy. I took it out through Quidco so should be getting £50 cashback and to avoid losing that I think it'll be better to cancel and re-apply. I have not received any documents yet so will they still charge a cancellation fee? Any thoughts?

Catherine27_2

lisyloo wrote: »

Haven't looked at it myself but I believe this information is compiled in
www.matthewsguide.co.uk

You have to pay £2.99 to subscribe.
There is a £4.99 offer on a legal protection policy ("worth" £20).
They also have some cashback offers.

Note I have no idea of the quality of the site or the policy so do your own research, but several people have thanked me in the past about this so I guess it's been useful for some.

For a complete list of all admin charges etc. www.matthewsguide.co.uk is now absolutely free of charge, I have just been on there.

I have used this website before and you used to have to pay £2.99 to access it. They seem to have dropped the fee for now. You have full access to lots of hidden insurers charges. The Legal Protection is still on there too.

zkw29

Direct Line cancellation charge is now £25

Source: http://www.directline.com/motor/carpolicysummary.pdf

yenot6691

I took out car insurance with Budget insurance over the last few years. My policy expired on the 15th Nov 08 and currently paying £35 per month by direct debt. They wanted to renew my policy and I called and asked why my policy has been increased to £45 per month. I've never claimed or had an accident. They told me some silly story to justify the increase. I went on line and found a policy with Lloyd's TSB for £25 per month which I paid by credit card. I called budget today who advised me they will be charging me £45 cancellation fee, which isn't a problem, however they want to charge me £141 as I've already used up 16 days of my policy and they say they charge 10% of the value of the policy. I was furious and told them to stick it. Is this correct or are they just ripping me off because they are angry I've gone elsewhere. The thing is that I tried one of those price comparison sites and they are actually one of the insurers quoting a cheaper policy. I asked why the can't match it and they told me that they will not take quotes from price comparison sites. Absolutely ridiculous.

squim

Bell:
Administration Fee : upto £14.50
Cancellation Fee: £45.
Also "If you cancel within the 14 day cooling-off period we reserve the right to charge you £22.50 to cover the costs involved in setting up your policy"

Any chance of adding the Halifax to your list?

iNath

squim wrote: »

Any chance of adding the Halifax to your list?

According to their policy document both fees are detailed in the policy schedule so we need someone who is with them to check their documents and reply.

Pete7777

Halifax

Cancel in first period of cover: £45
Cancel in subsequent periods: £20
Changing policy details: £17.50

lazymoezy

Going off topic a little, so, sorry! I wanted to know if Swiftcover charge the same cancellation fee if you were to cancel OUTSIDE the 14 day period?

I say this because I have been insured with them for 2 months and paid around £1650, I have now checked my quote and SWIFTCOVER again are the cheapest but at this time it's around the £1,000 mark! Thats a whole £650 CHEAPER!!

There are a few other companies around that offer, it may be that my license is a year old now with no claims etc etc. By the way, my current insurance is third party fire and theft, the £1000 offer is a fully comp offer which is really good even though the excess is like £550!

I got two worries:
- What would the charge be if I cancelled after 2 months?
- Would it cause any implications if I was to cancel and join them straight away? (at a cheaper rate?)

Many thanks,

Moe

iNath

lazymoezy wrote: »

I got two worries:
- What would the charge be if I cancelled after 2 months?
- Would it cause any implications if I was to cancel and join them straight away? (at a cheaper rate?)

Swift_Cover wrote:

If You do not exercise Your right to cancel within the 14 day period and provided no claims or accidents have occurred, We will refund the unused part of Your paid premium according to Our declared scale below:
Maximum number of days
Policy has been in force Percentage of overall
Premium refunded
15 85%
30 80%
60 70%
90 60%
120 50%
150 40%
180 30%
210 20%
240 15%
270 10%
300 5%
301+ 0%

If You have not paid Us sufficient money for Us to retain premium according to Our declared scale, or if You have not paid the full premium but have had an accident or claim or committed a fraud or made a false declaration, then We reserve the right to recover the money that You owe.

http://www.swiftcover.com/carinsurance/policy/cancellation/
If it's been less than 60 days you might be around £150 better off, if it's been 60-90 days you'll be £10 worse off. Remember you will not have any no claims from those 2 months and will start the year over (i.e. you will not have a full year's no claims until another year's time, did you take that into account when doing the quote?)


Also I do not think there are any other implications.