£50 insurance cancellation charge?

[Richyboy]

Is this normal? Sold my bike and had to cancel the insurance which accrued a cancellation charge of £50. The broker is Bennetts.

[Donbot]

I think so. It will give you a refund breakdown in the documents along with cancellation fees.

[Trevor555]

That's a rip off.

Please let me know the outcome.

[Mandat]

Trevor555 said:

That's a rip off.

Please let me know the outcome.

Where's the rip off?

A cancellation charge may be unpalatable, but it will be a contractually agreed charge that the OP agreed would be payable in the event that he chooses to cancel the contract, which he is in this case.

[Richyboy]

Okay thanks.

I never cancelled before so I thought it was strange, usually just transfer the policy to a different bike.

[psychoR1]

I agree that its a rip off and Bennetts are particularly guity of this...

I recently moved house and had to change the insurance of my car and bike (R1).

New are was lower risk but;

- Car policy with Tesco gave me a refund of £28,
- Bennetts acknowledged that I was now in a lower risk area but the premium reduction was canelled out by their admin fee and the change ended up costing me £35,

Their admin fees are excessive and they wont be getting my business again due to this....

[moto_traxport]

I’m aware it’s THE LAW to cancel insurance when you sell a vehicle but it’s frequently better just to let the policy run it’s full course and get another years NCB.

Yes the buyer might not insure the vehicle and then run down a load of nuns and orphans and then it might backfire but it generally doesn’t happen.

I also frequently insure (but don’t use) a bike late to coincide with a house move or a few months at the new address (if I know it) before I get there to avoid the address change admin charge as they are now toys and not transport to me. Bit harder if you commute on it.

psychoR1 said:

- Car policy £28 refund
- Bike policy £35 extra

Their admin fees are excessive and they wont be getting my business again due to this....

Thought I was tight!!

That would register as ‘ho-hum, never mind!’ when looked on in respect of all the other figures far in excess of £7 that are present when moving house.

[Trevor555]

So if you sell your bike a month before the insurance expires and have to cancel the policy you'd be charged £50?

[Dog Star]

Personally I’d not be cancelling the policy, let it run and collect the NCB.

All this talk about someone claiming if the person who bought it knocks over a bus shelter full of disabled ethnic lesbians is crap. For a kick off you wouldn’t be riding it. For another the insurance will state that it’s owned by you and registered in your name - neither of which conditions will be met. Not going to happen.

[T5R+]

Another here, who has let the last few weeks run to natural termination rather than incur a charge - for 2 minutes of key strokes at the insurers desk.

[sooty61]

Trevor555 said:

So if you sell your bike a month before the insurance expires and have to cancel the policy you'd be charged £50?

I was 6 months into a policy and changed my bike for the same model but 2 years newer and they refused to insure it (company named after a seaside fishing town). They then wanted to charge me £35 admin fee as I was “cancelling the policy”. After a lot of complaining they waived the admin fee and just kept 6 months premium.

[moto_traxport]

T5R+ said:

Another here, who has let the last few weeks run to natural termination rather than incur a charge - for 2 minutes of key strokes at the insurers desk.

Agreed but ..... weeks? Months and months for errrr some!

Insurance is calculated over 12 months and often if you cancel from 6 months its a 100% cancellation charge. This can be a surprise if you pay in instalments.

Always best to start all conversations with insurance companies & brokers along the lines of “I’m thinking of” and ask for the cash / NCB implications rather than use the past tense where its a fait accompli.

[Wacky Racer]

You can't have a vehicle on the road that has two different people insuring it.

If you sell it you have to cancel the insurance.

[Dog Star]

Wacky Racer said:

You can't have a vehicle on the road that has two different people insuring it.

If you sell it you have to cancel the insurance.

I’ll take my chances, ta.

[KAgantua]

i always just complain, never been charged the fee

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Wacky Racer said:

You can't have a vehicle on the road that has two different people insuring it.

Yes you can. So long as the intention behind it isn't fraudulent, to claim on both policies for the same incident. There is no law against having multiple policies on the same vehicle, taken out by different people, and in fact it is often done for legitimate reasons.

[Wacky Racer]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Wacky Racer said:

You can't have a vehicle on the road that has two different people insuring it.

Yes you can. So long as the intention behind it isn't fraudulent, to claim on both policies for the same incident. There is no law against having multiple policies on the same vehicle, taken out by different people, and in fact it is often done for legitimate reasons.

Well that's not my insurance company (Royal Sun Alliance) said on my motorhome when I wanted just to run the policy out after I sold it eight months into the twelve.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but that's my understanding.

[chunder27]

You have to expect crap like this in an industry that is utterly unregulated.

they will charge you admin fees for anything, change of address for a house next door, adding drivers, removing drivers is usually OK but likely incurs a charge too.

Simply put, they offer most of us cheap insurance (really) and any kind of time you need to make any change whatsoever, you will be charged.

It's like estate agent charging 200 quid for a handling fee and a credit check at Experien that costs a few pence and takes 1 minute.

They are not regulated properly so can charge whatever they like. If I were you I would lose Bennets, (they suck anyway) and just re insure the bike elsewhere, take the hit rather than giving them 50 quid free money for doing sod all.

[scorcher]

Bemoto don’t charge for mid term adjustments. The insurance industry needs a bloody good shake up though. Seems that the balance of the scales is firmly in their favour. Happy to penalise you at every opportunity even if you’re not at fault.