If you insure a car and pay for the year in one lump sum...

[Acheron]

but cancel the policy after a couple of months, do you get your money back? (or rather the balance left over of the remaining months).

[4mo]

Yes, but usually minus a hefty admin fee.

[toast boy]

You get a pro-rata refund but they will take off a chunk for admin/spite

[edo]

You will get a refund, the insurers will use the below calculation to work it out.

[cuprabob]

I love Quadratic equations, that formula is engrained on my brain :-)

[Mattt]

toast boy said:

You get a pro-rata refund but they will take off a chunk for admin/spite

Not always.

Check with the insurer.

[Mastodon2]

4mo said:

Yes, but usually minus a hefty admin fee.

I got refunded from my old insurer without admin fees due to moving up to a "high performance car" which they would not quote on. I did try and get a quote from them, but when they could not offer one I asked to cancel my current policy, and they waived the fee. Bonus!

[MGJohn]

Short period Motor Insurance is more expensive. If you take out a Policy for a year and cancel it at some stage before the year end, it becomes a short period policy. That's how it used to work maybe still does.

If the refund on cancellation was pro-rata for the remaining unused Insurance cover, all those wanting only the higher risk short period insurance would take out a Policy for a year and cancel it after the short period they require.
..

[ambuletz]

They will refund you the remaining days/months worth of insurance - the admin fee.

[MGJohn]

Mastodon2 said:

4mo said:

Yes, but usually minus a hefty admin fee.

I got refunded from my old insurer without admin fees due to moving up to a "high performance car" which they would not quote on. I did try and get a quote from them, but when they could not offer one I asked to cancel my current policy, and they waived the fee. Bonus!

You did not cancel the Policy. They did by not offering to cover the change of car. Not the same thing as the policyholder ( you ) cancelling. What they did is normal business practice.
.

[AdeTuono]

cuprabob said:

I love Quadratic equations, that formula is engrained on my brain :-)

What's your idea of a good night out? Just interested.....

[cuprabob]

AdeTuono said:

What's your idea of a good night out? Just interested.....

You don't want to know :-)

[Mastodon2]

MGJohn said:

You did not cancel the Policy. They did by not offering to cover the change of car. Not the same thing as the policyholder ( you ) cancelling. What they did is normal business practice.
.

As I did not own the new car at the time and was still using the vehicle they insured me for, I asked for a quote. They could not offer me insurance on the car, so I asked to cancel and told them I'd go ahead and buy the car and get insurance elsewhere. Had they refused to cover the change of car and then I had in turn not bought the new car, my old insurance would still have been valid for the rest of the policy term. It's not like they said "He wants a new car and wants to jump ship, let's cancel his insurance just incase".