Post Office Car insurance cancellation rip-off

[robert_harper_2000]

Hello,

Brothers car insurance with the PO tried to cancel it today as he has bought cover elsewhere. It started March 24th 2006 - March 23rd 2007, to cancel it costs £35 admin fee with cancellation rate of £90.67 comes to £125.67 my £4.77 refund works out I owe them £30??

Is this right?

[benjee]

Probably yes, the policy is over 8 months old so although its pro rata refund. Its the same with most insurers.

Why did he take a new policy when he was already covered?

[robert_harper_2000]

He just told me he needed cover ~( he got a new car ) I arranged it next day he mentions he has old cover.

Is the £35 admin abit unlawful? It shouldn't cost me to cancel cover? should it

[robert_harper_2000]

Started reading through the T&Cs and not much covering cancellation. Nothing about admin fees or short term rates etc?

Gonna call them and moan! lol

Cancelling this insurance

You may cancel your policy with immediate effect by notifying us by phone or by post. Our contact details can be found on the reverse of your certificate. Premiums c\an only be refunded if no incident has occurred which has led to a claim or may yet lead to a claim against this policy. If you return the certificate of Motor insurance within the first 14 days of receipt of your policy documentation we will refund that part of the premium which relates to the period remaining after we receive the certificate. After that time the following rules apply:
If you cancel within 12 months of the policy start date we will calculate the premium for the period of cover based on our short period rates in force at the time. In the second and subsequent years the premium will be calculated in proportion to the period of cover. When we receive your certificate(s) of motor insurance we will refund any remaining surplus premium you have paid.

[lilal]

oops should have transfered his cover to the new vehicle, may as well let the policy run to build the ncb,may work out that the discount makes up the difference on the refund.there is nothing to say that he cannot still insure the car even if he no longer owns it

[patdavies]

Originally Posted by lilal

there is nothing to say that he cannot still insure the car even if he no longer owns it

He is not insuring the car; he is insuring himself to drive it.

It is a subtle difference, but in UK we insure the driver, not the car. The car is merely a factor of risk.

[lilal]

mmmm can,t see your point there, as i wouldn,t take out a policy and pay for insurance if i wasn,t gonna drive ,what i mean is that by changing his policy with the p,o say to third party only he may then get money back on the policy thus not having to pay a cancellation fee

[Pagan98]

You say he's got insurance elsewhere. Is he still in the cooling off period for this new insurance? If so, why not cancel that and retain the PO insurance?

[robert_harper_2000]

He prolly is still in his cooling off period but he wants to add his girlfriend to the policy and it is a different car ( I now understand you insure the driver not the car but for different cars it is different prices.

PO was more expensive.... he got qoutes of about £800 the new policy was £400 so quite a difference. Perhaps I could try changing the policy to third party...

Oh also he has been told he needs proof of no claims and something about you can't have a policy in place whilst you tell the other insurance you have had so many years of ncb as it is still in place..??? ~Is this making any sense - if not I'm not suprised! it took me a while to get my head around it!

Thanks

[RedDeath]

Unfortunately the cancellation fee is lawful, as there is work involved in cancelling an insurance policy (this is after all a legal document). The motor insurance bureau needs to be contacted (police have access to this to check that cars are insured) and for FSA compliance this needs to be done within 14 days, so unfortunately the cancellation fee is justified.

Don't know if you have a cooling off period with the other policy. The cooling off period is limited up until the new policy starts, after that the cooling off period is void, and a cancellation charge can be imposed.

For future reference you could have contacted the original insurer and asked to change the car over, they would have been able to do that for you.

[lilal]

yes ,you can only use ncb on 1 policy,if you can change to third party only you need to tell them that you wish not to use your ncb and can they send you confirmation of proof of it.unless you weren,t with the p,o before this policy started you,ll need to contact the previous insurer