home insurance renewal cooling off period

[chlojomojo]

Hi there,

 

This is my very first post on this forum!!! I usually spend hours on the internet trying to find info on issues I have and stumbled across this site today. Wish I found it yonks ago as it seems to have everything I need to know under one roof!

 

Anyway sorry I digress. We received our renewal for home insurance a couple of weeks ago. They quoted us double what we where paying last year so obviously I wasn't willing to pay it. I did a lot of searching and have found lots of quotes for the original price I was paying (and some for less). Asked other half to ring them to find out when the renewal date was (as we misplaced the letter in the meantime)......asked him again and again and he promised he would sort it so left it with him. I have found the letter today and the renewal was 24/10/08.

 

Now, I understand I will have to pay some money as technically they have been covering us but what can they charge us? I have also read that I may be charged an admin fee. I have tried to look on said insurers website but can't find the info I need. Could they charge us a high admin fee? The FSA website states that we shouldnt receive a penalty in the cooling off period and surely a high admin charge is a penalty?

 

Can anyone give me advice please? (Yes I know the main bit of advice anyone can give me is never let other half deal with anything like this again. lol!) I want to be fully prepared before I ring them as I know they are gonna try charge me loads.

 

Cheers AMx

[LemonTwist]

Different companies have different terms and conditions with regard to cancellations. Which insurer and/or broker are you currently with? I will then try and check for you.

[patdavies]

Was this one of those dammed auto-renewals (ie if you don't tell us by XX date that you want to cancel, we will assume that you wish to continue)?:?

[chlojomojo]

Hi there,

 

Thanks for your replies.

 

Its direct line. We actually received our policy in the post yesterday and it came with a booklet. Its really hard to understand. It states that if you pay with montly instalments you have the right to cancel within 21 days and the will give you a full refund. Great! Then in another part they state that if you cancel you have to pay one months fee as a cancellation charge. Not sure if that applies to me or not.

 

Yes it was a auto renewal - and it was double the price even though we have never made a claim......can you believe it!!

 

xxxAM

[LemonTwist]

I just had a look at the policy booklet online and I pretty certain you'll be OK. It says you can cancel within 21 days of receiving the documents and you'll get a full refund as long as you haven't made any claims since the policy renewed. It doesn't even sound as though they will charge you for the days of cover that you used. As you pay by monthly instalments, you would have to cancel the consumer credit agreement as well - it doesn't say there will be any charges for doing this.

 

However, it does sound like Direct Line have broken one of the rules - insurance companies are required by FSA rules to send out the renewal documents at least 21 days before the renewal date, so if you only received your policy documents yesterday, but the renewal date was actually the 24th of October, then they are very late. So they shouldn't try to charge you as you only just received your documents.

[chlojomojo]

Thanks so much for your reply. I really appreciate it.

 

Yeah I did think that too but it sounded a bit too good to be true esp when others charge you for the cover and an admin charge. Will get on to them....thanks again.

[vusys1]

I just had a look at the policy booklet online and I pretty certain you'll be OK. It says you can cancel within 21 days of receiving the documents and you'll get a full refund as long as you haven't made any claims since the policy renewed. It doesn't even sound as though they will charge you for the days of cover that you used. As you pay by monthly instalments, you would have to cancel the consumer credit agreement as well - it doesn't say there will be any charges for doing this.

 

However, it does sound like Direct Line have broken one of the rules - insurance companies are required by FSA rules to send out the renewal documents at least 21 days before the renewal date, so if you only received your policy documents yesterday, but the renewal date was actually the 24th of October, then they are very late. So they shouldn't try to charge you as you only just received your documents.

 

They only have to send a renewal invite within 21 days,the actual docs etc will only arrive after the renewal date. But as prev as they have allowed 21 days no worries.some companies are 14 days from the start or renewal date or from when you receive your docs

[patdavies]

They only have to send a renewal invite within 21 days,

 

 

No, at least 21 days, not within 21 days