Cancelling Car Insurance

[Negative Creep]

When I got the Y10 I took out a new classic car policy for a total of £192, paid via monthly direct debit. I phoned up today to cancel it, only to be told I'd have to pay an outstanding balance of £149! So in other words it would be cheaper to leave the policy running with nothing on it. I was told I could cancel without paying but they'd send Debt Collectors to recover the amount. I understand it's normal to get stung by an admin fee but this seems totally unreasonable. Anything I can do?

[Bobthebeard]

Probably not. The world of car insurance is a mystery. Been stung myself on occasion. Bastards.

[bigfella2]

Name and shame, who was it?

[DVee8]

Same here with the MGF Footman James want another £51.00.

I may drop it off in penny's.

[Negative Creep]

Performance Direct - already made them aware on Facebook and Twitter

[Junkman]

This has always been like that with classic policies.

You engage in a contract valid for a year. You will have to pay off the contract no matter what.

I never cancel a classic car insurance policy. I just let it run its course.

Or put the next car on it, which only requires a small admin fee.

[lisbon_road]

Sympathy here, but I think that if we did name and shame, there wouldn't be a lot of options left.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Ooof that's a sting innit for a couple of months loan of a 'free car'

[Negative Creep]

Ooof that's a sting innit for a couple of months loan of a 'free car'

 

 

Yep, looks like I've basically paid £230 to drive a car for a few weeks then leave it parked up for a couple of months. Brilliant.

[gm]

I've just last week sold my civic so phoned up rac insurance to ask them to put my policy on hold until I buy a replacement. I was told that I couldn't do this, I had to either keep the policy running on a car I don't own anymore or cancel it completely - after a bit of discussion, they decided to waive the £65 cancellation fee and as I've paid this months debit already send me a refund of a tenner (they think I'm going to start a new policy with them when I get the new car, that will depend entirely on what price they come up with)

 

the downside is they sent me a proof of no claims letter with 9 years on it when I had 10years when I took out the policy - I'll call them on Monday

[barefoot]

You could try changing the insured vehicle...

 

To something a bit of research will tell you that they won't insure.

A Leyland Leopard or a Ferguson TE20 for example.

Then it will be them cancelling the policy, not you and there will be no fee.

[Vince70]

I've had the similar problem myself with classic car insurance on my Audi Cabriolet as I cancelled my insurance a month later after taking it but at least I walked away with about £4 rather than a debt..

Ive got a policy now with Lancaster for the Z3 and it won't be cancelled again.. I would rather run it as an everyday car and once I've got to the agreed limited mileage sell it then at least that way you've got some use out of the policy..

[castros_bro]

I have  someone I know has couple of cars which exist on paper, Morris Minor sold in bits but still got V5, so they can park insurance on them with no risk of them being in an accident. 

[Uncle Jimmy]

http://autoshite.com/topic/20554-insurance-bum-rape/

 

Had similar issues with Lancaster Insurance recently. A good moan on here plus an email to 'Which' mag may have achieved something because I was refunded most of the cash in the end. Result- Mr Happy.

[philibusmo]

Shit, sorry that this has ended up as such a massive ball ache for you mate. I didn't really take into account how much of a complete shower of twats insurance companies can be.

 

For future, I have always had a fairly decent result with Admiral as their multi car policy let me swap and change quite often with minimal faffing and admin fees. Other than that, I also found Tesco OK on the admin fee side of things but I always check admin charges out before buying insurance.

 

I also wasn't expecting the registered keeper to be such a limiting factor. It could be worth asking Phil_lihp which company he used as I haven't heard of him having any bother, but then he might not have cancelled the policy when he got rid of the Y10 as I seem to remember that he got a Ford Escort at about the same time.

[UltraWomble]

I got similarly dry bummed from Lancaster. The amount wasnt to horrific, but still ended up paying the full years policy amount for something that I only drove for a few weeks.

[sierraman]

Wife's with Zenith, I think they have some draconian policy of demanding the entire premium if you cancel mid term.

[barefoot]

You could try changing the insured vehicle...

Did the exact reverse of this when I first bought the Porsche 20 odd years ago and realised that I'd massively overpaid for insurance - £660 - in 1994!

Change of vehicle within a couple of weeks, for a worthless, £200 Cortina estate.

Huge refund took a while coming but nonetheless was welcome when it did.

Alternative 944 insurance cost about £300.

And I had a years worth of fun* from a Cortina 1.6L I would otherwise not have bought.

[cros]

Post Office tried the cancellation fee on me, seems I was lucky that they backed down after lots of squawking on my part. Upon their refusal to end my combine harvester policy early I intend to stuff the rusty ill-steering heap head on into a Veyron, perhaps then the greedy cunts will reconsider their approach to customer service.

[Tetleysmooth]

I think it's the same with all pay monthly policies.

A finance company pays the premium, then you owe the finance company the full amount.

They want it back, either in monthly instalment, or all in one go.

Don't be late with a payment either, there's an admin fee for that too. Thieving bastards.

[Volksy]

I have sucessfully managed to get out of canx fees by changing the vehicle, which nine times out of ten (if the vehicle is radically different to the old one) the insurer will want you to start a new policy with handily cancelling the previous one with no charge, and then cancelling the new one within the 14 day cooling off period. 

[HH-R]

I get stung with this every time I change cars. Call them up with new details, they whack on some extortionate extra premium that is similar in extortion to the cancellation fee, but if you get a new quote on the website for the year with the new car, it's magically very similar to the initial price paid for the old car.

[HH-R]

Also, TOP TIP, which I learnt too late is buy through compare the brian toy/meerkat through your preferred cashback site, sell shite toy on ebay, pay for insurance with a cashback credit card then balance transfer it to another one. Divide payment by 12 (or sometimes 11 if your bill doesn't come through til the next month) and pay by DD, use proceeds from cashback/sold toy to pay for balance transfer fee. Viola, pay monthly without the interest they whack on and a few cans of Tennent's Super/Special Brew.

[jakebullet]

Makes me wonder if you can play the ombudsman route with cancelling. Does the insurance company really have costs of £50 for a minimum wage droid to click the cancel button on their computer? Could you get more than £50 of aggro for them by putting  a complaint in?

 

Only thing I could find was this:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/54/insurance.htm

[retrogeezer]

RH Insurance refunded me TO THE DAY when I cancelled the Bluebird insurances a couple of years ago....I always pay it in full though on CC then pay the CC off which usually gives 6 weeks or so of free borrowing. 

[doobietoo]

Or go one further and transfer the balance onto a 12 month interest free card and pay it monthly with no interest...

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Also, TOP TIP, which I learnt too late is buy through compare the brian toy/meerkat through your preferred cashback site, sell shite toy on ebay, pay for insurance with a cashback credit card then balance transfer it to another one. Divide payment by 12 (or sometimes 11 if your bill doesn't come through til the next month) and pay by DD, use proceeds from cashback/sold toy to pay for balance transfer fee. Viola, pay monthly without the interest they whack on and a few cans of Tennent's Super/Special Brew.

 

You are Martin Lewis, and I claim my £5 via Quidco.

[Negative Creep]

Shit, sorry that this has ended up as such a massive ball ache for you mate. I didn't really take into account how much of a complete shower of twats insurance companies can be.

 

For future, I have always had a fairly decent result with Admiral as their multi car policy let me swap and change quite often with minimal faffing and admin fees. Other than that, I also found Tesco OK on the admin fee side of things but I always check admin charges out before buying insurance.

 

I also wasn't expecting the registered keeper to be such a limiting factor. It could be worth asking Phil_lihp which company he used as I haven't heard of him having any bother, but then he might not have cancelled the policy when he got rid of the Y10 as I seem to remember that he got a Ford Escort at about the same time.

 

 

Have to admit I never would have taken it if I'd realised what a pain the insurance would be. Still, completely my fault for not checking until I'd had the car dropped off to me

[barefoot]

Makes me wonder if you can play the ombudsman route with cancelling. Does the insurance company really have costs of £50 for a minimum wage droid to click the cancel button on their computer? Could you get more than £50 of aggro for....

Yes.

 

I was only arguing about a £25 cancellation charge, had a grump and went via the ombudsman. Achieved nothing, still had to pay the twenty five, but the amount of postage and man hours involved made me feel that I'd got my moneys worth out of the twats. Tbh, I expected nothing more.

[cros]

RH Insurance refunded me TO THE DAY when I cancelled the Bluebird insurances a couple of years ago....I always pay it in full though on CC then pay the CC off which usually gives 6 weeks or so of free borrowing.

 

You probably got preferential treatment for a car that held the World land speed record.