 Re: Post Office insurance rip off
The charge you have been quoted appears to be correct. Certainly if in the first year of insurance, an insurer will cancel upon receipt of your certificate on "short period charges". In your case, it would appear thet you have entered into the 6th month of insurance and as such, 70% of the annual premium would be due. This is a standard across the motor insurance industry and will certainly be stated in the policy. Such rates have applied in all my time in the industry (20+ years ).
The £40 is simply an administration fee which brokers/agents now apply to any type of adjustment. My personal view here is that this is the rip-off as the broker/agent has already been "paid" by the insurer by way of commission & in the case of cancellation, a means of reducing the clawback comms from insurer.
Unfortunately, it is not just the PO who do this but appears all brokers/agents do so now so it's not a case of staying away from the PO.
When taking out any policy, please check the T&Cs - especially charges made for adjustments and cancellation fees will vary between broker/agents & direct insurers. | 
