Insurance cancellation "fees"

kkelly77

I canceled my current insurance policy today with approx 6 months left on the policy.

I was told with all their "fees" and "charges" I would be getting a refund of €9!!

Is this typical or just a scam? I thought there was something in the media years ago about insurance companies getting a slap on the wrist for penalising people who want to cancel their policies early?

</rant>

djimi

Read the small print of your policy and see how much the fees and charges are (it should be listed).

Cancelling the policy half way through does not necessarily mean that you will get 50% of the premium refunded.

P_1

Standard sneaky small print trap I'm afraid. Not much you can do about it bar reading through the fine print next time to make sure you don't get bitten twice I'm afraid.

kkelly77

I know. It's just a PITA that they can get away with it. Fair enough to incur a small "administration charge" but half the value of the policy gone.....ridiculous!!!

GarIT

They don't have to give you anything really, you agreed to pay for the year, and you got a cheaper price on the basis that you did. A phone company for example would still want payment for the year even if you cancel after 6 months.

challengemaster

kkelly77 wrote: »

I know. It's just a PITA that they can get away with it. Fair enough to incur a small "administration charge" but half the value of the policy gone.....ridiculous!!!

djimi wrote: »

Cancelling the policy half way through does not necessarily mean that you will get 50% of the premium refunded.

I don't think that sunk in the first time. You were never getting half the policy cost back.

djimi

kkelly77 wrote: »

I know. It's just a PITA that they can get away with it. Fair enough to incur a small "administration charge" but half the value of the policy gone.....ridiculous!!!

That charges have nothing to do with that. Even without the charges, it is not necessarily the case that you will get 1/12th of the total premium returned for each month remaining on the policy. Read through the documents they gave you; it will most likely be fully outlined how much you would get back upon cancellation. Usually it will say something along the lines of after 10 months there is no refund for example.

pred racer

I've been shafted by insurance companies before for canceling my policy, but never that badly:eek:

CiniO

Most insurers have very high cancellation charges (sometimes after 6 months you won't get any refund), but most apply only to first year of the policy.
Meaning, that if you have a policy for the whole year, and then renew, and decide to cancel after 6 months then, you should get half of premium back.

flazio

I'm not condoning this action I'm just asking a question.
What would be the likely outcome if you were on a monthly direct debit and you cancelled the DD with the bank? Legal action?

djimi

flazio wrote: »

I'm not condoning this action I'm just asking a question.
What would be the likely outcome if you were on a monthly direct debit and you cancelled the DD with the bank? Legal action?

Theyd cancel your policy. You would then have to declare a cancelled policy to any future insurer that you wish to talk to, and good luck dealing with them with that on your record.

Henry Ford III

djimi wrote: »

Theyd cancel your policy. You would then have to declare a cancelled policy to any future insurer that you wish to talk to, and good luck dealing with them with that on your record.

I'm not sure that's a requirement, or even a negative.

Disclosure of any accidents, claims, or convictions is standard.

They don't ask have you had any dd issues.

p.s. There's nothing wrong with cancelling a dd if cover is no longer needed. You are supposed to return the cert. and disc but that doesn't always happen either.

djimi

Henry Ford III wrote: »

I'm not sure that's a requirement, or even a negative.

Disclosure of any accidents, claims, or convictions is standard.

They don't ask have you had any dd issues.

p.s. There's nothing wrong with cancelling a dd if cover is no longer needed. You are supposed to return the cert. and disc but that doesn't always happen either.

This is from the Axa list of assumptions:

had a motor policy cancelled by an Insurer (including cancellation due to non-payment of an insurance premium)

Any insurer that Ive dealt with have had the same or similar.

If you cancel the DD without cancelling the policy then the insurer will cancel the policy for you and you then start to have issues with this assumption.

darragh o meara

A cancelation on your record is worse than a conviction for drink driving or so I've been told. Mine was canceled a few weeks back for non disclosure and I could only find one company in the country who would insure me and they would only look at me if I took a voluntary 3k excess....Pricks.

However the whole thing is gone to the ombudsman which I'm hopefully of a reversal of the cancelation.

oldyouth

djimi wrote: »

Theyd cancel your policy. You would then have to declare a cancelled policy to any future insurer that you wish to talk to, and good luck dealing with them with that on your record.

I'm glad someone has addressed this point. Time and time again in this forum, advice is given along the lines of 'cancel the DD and feck the insurer'. Under these circumstances, the insurer has no option but to use the cancellation clause under the policy in order to come off cover. This is a matter which MUST be disclosed to any subsequent insurer. You may not think it is as important as disclosing a conviction or accident, but that is not for you to decide. Just wait if there is an accident and they find out.