Insurance won't cover new car - Where do I stand?

[kambites]

Kozy said:

WHY? What fking purpose does this restriction impose?!

It stops those who pay up-front from subsidising those who don't, which has got to be a good thing to my mind. Why on earth should it cost the same to insure by instalments than to pay upfront? It clearly costs the insurance company more to accept instalments because they lose the interest on the premium.

Does sound like an odd thing to enforce via legislation though. I'd have thought market forces would have done it.

[Kozy]

ThunderSpook said:

So let me get this right, if you cancelled that policy and went with another policy still through your broker then they wanted a broker cancellation fee?? I think I'd have cancelled and walked out on principle. Just phone the insurance companies direct, they still have to offer you the same policies.

No, no cancellation fees if I stayed with them, only if I left to take a more competitive quote elsewhere.

kambites said:

It stops those who pay up-front from subsidising those who don't, which has got to be a good thing to my mind. Why on earth should it cost the same to insure by instalments than to pay upfront? It clearly costs the insurance company more to accept instalments because they lose the interest on the premium.

I don't know how it works, it's the broker doing the interest free instalments so far as I can see, no-one 'loses' any money other than the credit providers.

[johnpeat]

Let's clear this up a bit - they're not refusing to cover the new car, they're just refusing to transfer the existing policy (thus forcing you into taking a less competitive new quote??)

Not much you can do about that really - it's upto their discretion what they will and won't transfer.

The fees they can levy for cancellation are legally restricted tho and are no way going to come to £500. I can't remember the specifics but it's less than £100 IIRC?

[Kozy]

johnpeat said:

Let's clear this up a bit - they're not refusing to cover the new car, they're just refusing to transfer the existing policy (thus forcing you into taking a less competitive new quote??)

Or cancel altogether and go elsewhere, yes. Sorted now as they've price matched the competitive (still expensive) quote so I can stay with the broker and they'll waiver the cancellation fees.

johnpeat said:

The fees they can levy for cancellation are legally restricted tho and are no way going to come to £500. I can't remember the specifics but it's less than £100 IIRC?

Yes he got back to me with the total charges and it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Basically whenever I have to phone insurance I expect to have my bank account cleaned out so was fully expecting them to keep the majority of the refund. Even £100 is still 20% of it though.

Hopefully that is this years piss boiler sorted.