Termination "Penalty" Clause

[Yakumo]

I cancelled my car insurance with NU Direct mid term and ended up with a cancellation charge of £46.50.

Is there any scope for using the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts to claim this charge is "excessive" and "A standard term is unfair if it creates a significant imbalance in the parties’ rights under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer, contrary to the requirement of good faith."

My basis is running along the lines of

1. I didnt know about the charge when I started the insurance on the phone
2. I was not informed of the charge prior to commencement of insurance.
3. I was unable to negotiate the charge prior to the contract.
4. What can it really cost a company to cancel my policy?
5. Can I claim £46.50 from them if they cancel my policy?

I sent their debt collector a letter stating the Act and copied in NU at the same time.

Have I dreamt reading somewhere that the above Act does not apply to insurance contracts?

What do you reckon my chances are of getting them to withdraw the charge?

[Rob S]

Usually when a policy is cancelled mid term they will apply short term rates, but many insurers are now charging admin fees on top of this. You mentioned a DCA, so I presume it has been passed to them. Have you advised the DCA that the account is in dispute? If you haven't I would do so. They will then have to pass the matter back to NU. I would suggest you also write to NU asking for a full breakdown of their charge of £46.50. It seems a bit steep to me for a basic admin function.

[remus]

Yakumo, I tried to argue point 3, when I was in dispute with Elephant, over a cancelled policy, but still having to pay the final 3 months, and had gone to the FOS. Did not make a blind bit of difference, and I got passed to a DCA while I was still in dispute (no full and final letter from Elephant).
DCA said thats OK, you will be refunded once its sorted. This was before my CAG days

[remus]

And there is a £20 administration charge from the DCA I have been told to ignore this, could be interesting

[Rob S]

Just write to the DCA and advise them the account is in dispute. The admin fee they are adding on for themselves is just them trying to get their snout in the trough The DCA will have to pass the account back to NU. They may try and give it loads of bluff and bluster, but stick to your guns.

[Darkangelsdelite]

Originally Posted by Yakumo

1. I didnt know about the charge when I started the insurance on the phone
2. I was not informed of the charge prior to commencement of insurance.
3. I was unable to negotiate the charge prior to the contract.

Due to FSA regulations, the sales adviser would have told you there is a 14 day cooling off period at POS. This would be something along the lines of

"you have 14 days from the day you receive your docs to cancel the policy with no penalty, cancellation after this may result in a cancellation charge which is explained in your policy documentation"

So as far as points 1 and 2 are concerned, the charges are explained in your policy docs and you were given plenty of time to read them and cancel the contract if you weren't happy with them.

Point 3 kinda falls into the first ones, you don't get a chance to "negotiate" the charge, you either agree to the terms laid out or you don't, as you didn't cancel the policy within the given cooling off period, you must have therefore agreed to the terms and so when you canceled the policy mid term, the charges were applied as per your policy documentation.

DA

[remus]

Darkangeldelite,
We have to have insurance, and all companies use,

you have 14 days from the day you receive your docs to cancel the policy with no penalty, cancellation after this may result in a cancellation charge which is explained in your policy documentation"
So as far as points 1 and 2 are concerned, the charges are explained in your policy docs and you were given plenty of time to read them and cancel the contract if you weren't happy with them.

at the end of the day have they not just got us by the short and curlies? as circumstances change, ( not only wanting cheaper insurance) ie:car scrapped. banned from driving etc

[Darkangelsdelite]

yeah, pretty much. If you wana cancel the contract for "personal reasons" i.e you've bought a new car and found a cheaper quote elsewhere, car is scrapped etc, then you're liable for the charge. If WE cancel the policy for Underwriting Reasons, i.e we wont insure your new car because of your age then the charge is overridden. The driving ban is different, usually there'd be a second driver (a wife/partner etc) so all we'd do is amend the policy to remove cover from the banned driver. If there is no second driver, we'd ask if you wanted to name one then do the above. If all else fails and the car is being declared SORN as no-one can drive it, it'd be canceled without the penalty. Basically, the cancellation charge is to try and deter people from canceling the policy mid term and reflects the costs incurred by the company to set up the policy and send out all the docs etc.

DA