Car insurance refund

[forrestgrump]

Hey

Someone may know this. I’ve sold my second car about six months into ownership so I’ve cancelled the insurance, which I paid for in full back in February.

I’ve been told there’s no refund coming my way and also no fee to pay. This is a first for me, I’ve cancelled a lot of policies in the past before renewal and always got something back so just assumed this was a legal requirement from the insurer. Is this not the case?

Cheers

[Your Dad]

What does the insurers terms and conditions state?

[Adrian E]

Usually a sliding scale - wouldn't be uncommon for that sliding scale to equate to nothing after more than half the policy has been used.....

As above, depends on the T&Cs of your policy

[Sebring440]

forrestgrump said:

Someone may know this. I’ve sold my second car about six months into ownership

Honestly, I didn't know that.

Didn't you like it?

[AmitG]

Did you make a claim? I thought that some insurers won't refund any premium money if you made a claim during the life of the policy.

[Sheepshanks]

I've certainly heard of that before - you lose hefty chunks of the premium in the early months and at about 6 months get nothing.

It comes up a lot when people are paying monthly - they think they've got monthly insurance but what they're actually doing is paying a years premium on a monthly basis. So they cancel at 6 months and then have to pay the rest of the premium in one go. Quite a shock for them.

[ging84]

The insurers have convinced the regulators that they are all hard pressed companies competing furiously to insure people at a loss or minimal profit, because it costs £150+ to administer policies, and another £50 or so to process a refund, so if your insurance is less than £300 there pretty much is no such thing as a refund.

[IJWS15]

I was the owner and insurer of a car for about 3 months a few years ago, it was planned as I sold a car my son no longer wanted. Short term policies were expensive so it was insured for a year with Direct Line with the deliberate intention of cancelling when the car was sold (Not that I told the insurer but what has that got to do with the risk they are taking.

They were not the cheapest but I checked terms before taking out the policy and they were the one who offered pro rata refunds as long as there hadn't been a claim. Most didn't.

Have you checked the policy wording?

[Camelot1971]

I've just cancelled a policy 3 months in on a lease car going back slightly early. I got £186 back on a £310 policy.