Tesco Car Insurance Cancellation

ca9mbu · 26th April 2006, 14:59

About 1 month ago I crashed my car, claimed on the insurance and all was right with the world. Then a couple of weeks ago personal circumstances changed and my wife and I were no longer able to afford the car hire purchase payments. The car went back and as we have no car we tried to cancel the insurance cover. Tesco say that we still have to make the monthly payments until the renewal date (next January) because we've had a claim in this insurance period. I've checked the Ts & Cs and sure enough Condition 5(b) says:

Quote:

This Policy may be Cancelled or suspended by You at any time by returning the current Certificate of Motor Insurance to Us with seven days notice in writing.

Any premium adjustment will be calculated from the date we receive the Certificate from You.

Provided no claim or loss has arisen in the current Period of Cover We will:

(i) In the event of cancellation, return the premium after applying Our Cancellation Rates shown in the Schedule for the period the Policy has been in force.

So, it's clearly stated that they'd expect the payments to be kept up (as if we'd paid in one lump sum we'd not be entitled to a refund), but is this a fair Condition on a policy? It certainly seems unfair - we're having to pay for insurance on a car we no longer own!

Thanks for any advice you can provide,

Matt.

craigwalton · 26th April 2006, 16:53

I am afraid there isn't anything you can do with this one...

By paying monthly you are in effect taking a credit agreement with them,as they request payment up front. As you have claimed, and have been paid, then they are entitled to ask for the full years payment.

sorry

ca9mbu · 26th April 2006, 17:01

Thanks Craig. Just for the sake of argument, let's say I actually paid them in one lump sum in January 2005. I want to cancel my policy and they say as I've made a claim in that year I'm not entitled to a refund of the 6 months of insurance cover I don't need. Yes, it's clearly stated in the Terms & Conditions that they won't give a refund, but it's still unfair, surely?

craigwalton · 27th April 2006, 11:41

Yes!

The Insurance company will reply they have agreed to insure your item from 1/1 - 31/12. The fact that something has happenned to the item mid term is unfortunate, however, they have made a contract with you to cover the item for the fixed term.

ca9mbu · 27th April 2006, 11:49

So why do they differentiate between a car that's been involved in an accident and one that hasn't? If I hadn't had an accident they'd give me my money back as I no longer have the car. Why does having an accident result in me not receiving a refund?

craigwalton · 27th April 2006, 11:56

They have made a payment on the policy, so they feel they are entitled to the years premium.

Insurance is basically a gamble. The underwriters dont want you to make a claim, as the claim will be higher than the premium. As you have claimed, they have lost the gamble. They want their losses to be as low as possible - hence no refund...

27th April 2006, 14:12

If you have claimed on the insurance, this has cost the company money they had to pay out to get it fixed.

They have to recoup this cost so therefore put this clause in, so that they can guarantee you pay the full year up.

Hope this helps!

Lou x

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