Cancelling insurance, how much do you usually lose?

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Soldato
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Need to cancel my existing insurance as they won't even quote on new car :( (i can insure it very resonably from another company)

Rang them up 3 times already and i always get a dreaded "i'll ring you back" and they never do, call centre must be ex ntl :p

Had policy for about 7 months so i am expecting about £10 back if i am lucky :( Just wondering what other people had got back once cancelled?
 
Depends on the cancellation policy. It may be pro rata (but I doubt it after 7 months, pro rata is usually for the first month or so) or it will be a certain percentage dependant upon the age of the policy. When FJ quoted a stupid figure for the Cerb, I told them I wanted to cancel and they offered 25% refund (I was about 5 months into the policy) minus their £15 admin fee. That all worked out to about £60 back.

Luckily I had other cars insured with them, so I said "Oh, stuff it, I'll cancel all my business with you in that case" and they then decided to offer me a pro rata refund (still minus their £15 fee, of course) which meant that I got back about 55% of my cost, which is fair enough.
 
volospian said:
Is that an industry thing, or just your recommendation from experience?
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It's an unwritten industry thing.

Let's face it, it's not good practice to steal from the innocent party when a contract has to be broken because of the insurers inflexibility.

If I buy a Ferrari and my insurer won't cover it - I want pro rata as they're refusal to accept my change in circumstances is the only reason why I'm being forced to break the contract. Why should they take more than pro rata off me when they have backed me into a corner?

You can't force them to do it but when you ask - 95% will agree.

That said, if they quote you £10,000 for your Ferrari and you walk away - you won't get pro rata. They have to completely "no quote" for you to have grounds to press for pro rata.
 
i will make a note in the letter of cancellation. It also took me a week to get a yjem to say we can't insure :(
 
merlin said:
It's an unwritten industry thing.

Let's face it, it's not good practice to steal from the innocent party when a contract has to be broken because of the insurers inflexibility.

If I buy a Ferrari and my insurer won't cover it - I want pro rata as they're refusal to accept my change in circumstances is the only reason why I'm being forced to break the contract. Why should they take more than pro rata off me when they have backed me into a corner?

You can't force them to do it but when you ask - 95% will agree.

That said, if they quote you £10,000 for your Ferrari and you walk away - you won't get pro rata. They have to completely "no quote" for you to have grounds to press for pro rata.
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Yeah, that makes sense, explains why FJ offered to insure me at a ridiculous rate too.
 
We Pro Rata a cancellation if we deem a risk unacceptable. IE, if you're 16 and change from a moped to a Hayabusa.

We will short rate your cancellation if you cancel for your own reasons, ie, takign business else where.

Short rate is basically the year split into 4 (for us, different for other insurers) so if your policy is 0 - 3 months old, you get (this is an example, not exact) 70% back, 4 - 6 months = 40%, 7 - 9 = 25%, 10 - 12 = 0%.
 
You should have details of your cancellation terms in your policy documentation. You have agreed to abide by these terms already so anything you can turn to your advantage is a win.
 
there is terms in the document, but these are "usual terms" and the lady on the phone said i was with different underwriters* than usual and she would have to check with them. Hence the numerous calls and promises of call backs

*i think she said underwriters
 
i had to pay £60 when i cancelled mine with Churchill's.
they guarantee to beat any renewal quote lol, but couldn't get anywhere near the one i had found on confused.com so there TV advert is a lie
 
ShakenNstirred said:
i had to pay £60 when i cancelled mine with Churchill's.
they guarantee to beat any renewal quote lol, but couldn't get anywhere near the one i had found on confused.com so there TV advert is a lie
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Because Confused.com is an aggregator, and they only quote you the basic premium. Generally it's a stripped down product with very basic cover. For example: no breakdown recovery or Gap insurance, uninsured personal loss. things like that.

I can promise you that if you take every clause and bonus of your Churchill policy and apply it to your new quote from whatever company Confused quoted you, they will be about the same.

Harsh, but unfortunately, true. You were better off staying with Churchill.
 
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