Tangodeltasierra3

I paid my insurance in full £550 with Flux in May, sold the car last week and they couldn't insure my Evo so i rang today to cancel the policy and ask for refund of balance. They reckon i'm due £18.50 despite being less than 6 months into policy. Thats the last time i pay up front now - if id have gone instalments i wouldn't have lost a penny - so if anyone on here works for Flux yer companys wank

dave_y

iTrader: (4)

had similar thing. Was just over a month into my £650 policy and enquired about cancelling, said i Would get back £340.

its such a joke. Definitely paying monthly next time too!

gingeRS

be carefull of this too. i went monthly with greenlight last year, and the monthly scheme was a loan agreement taken out on my behalf, so even if i cancelled the policy i would still be liable for the full costs

i have just cancelled my £600 policy with greenlight only 3-4 months in, and i'm not expecting much back

collierm

Yep I had this when I cancelled, wasn't happy as it wasn't explained to me when I took the policy out. I ended up paying a monthly premium for 7 months after I sold the car. Insurance companies, brokers, man on the street, they are all devious robbing twats All IMHO

Dan@Rapid-Ford

iTrader: (5)

IIRC if you try to insure a car that they cannot cover they have to cancel the policy and pay you back pro rata.

which means they divide the policy amount by 12 and refund you the money for the full months left

Graceland

When I cancelled my motorbike policy after 6 months with NIG via the broker HIC, I got just under half of my money refunded as I had paid in full - so they arn't all bad

Chris Honeywell

Thats how i understand it too
they refused to give you cover on your new car you were happy to stay with them...

I am with the broker performance direct for my Transit and my Ferrari

when i sold the Porsche my existing company would not insure the Ferrari
so they found another one that would and i just paid the extra..

As i had 4 months left on the Porsche I got my £160 back for that and then paid them the extra £318 for another full 12 month policy..

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Just go monthly direct debit, then if you have to cancel and they won't refund a fair ammount, cancel the DD and fuck em

S1rst

Yes but you'll still be left with an outstanding balance when you cancel. And they'll haunt you for the rest of the money before trying to stick you on the black list.

As said above, direct debit is more often than not an official credit agreement and 99% of the time, the small print says you have to pay the total amount back, or at least a reduced monthly payment.

Its usually the brokers that use this method, although most companies do it, even if you go direct to them.

SillyFezzaMk1

iTrader: (1)

tell them you have brought a shitty std car with alloys/exhaust and they will refund you more than 18 quid....then ring up & cancel

Dan

Gooey

Just cancelled with Adrian Flux paying monthly and had to pay 126 quid to cancel as they wouuldn't suspend it for longer than 2 weeks whilst Im having a new engine fitted

Tony @ Greenlight

Hi Tango,

Just to outline as to how policy cancellation works from an industry perspective.

Greenlight, Flux & Herts (Same Group), Performance Direct, DNA etc etc are all specialist vehicle Insurance brokers, we all act on behalf of the client (ie you) to arrange annual Insurance cover for you and find the best company we can with the right cover for your circumstances at the time.

If your circumstances change and place you outside of the acceptance criteria of the Insurer that you are with, whilst they are not obliged to offer a pro-rata refund (a refund based upon the days left to run) rather than the short period method (usually within their policy booklet) most actually do.

When an insurer refuses cover for one of our customers, our stance is always to ensure we maximise what we can get from the underwriter by lobbying for a pro-rata cancellation.

We usually then offer you the options for placing the vehicle with another Underwriter and offsetting the money due back vs the new policy, or simply a straight refund when the money is received from the Insurer.

From what you describe it may be worth checking with Flux that they have actually obtained a cancellation upon this basis as with the level of refund described (£18.50?? vs £550 paid) it sounds like a short period calculation (ie. as per cancellation scale in the insurer policy booklet).

Did they ask you for a copy of the replacement covernote which shows that you have actually purchased the car they couldnt cover (ie the EVO) so they can present this to your Insurer to obtain the best refund they can for you? If not, contact them as this could make a big difference to your refund.

In addition to Insurer documentation, if they are going to retain commission or charge processing fees for cancellation - All Insurers and Brokers are required to confirm these charges to you at the beginning of your policy & you have 14 days under the Distance Marketing Directive (cooling off) to decide not to proceed.

Once the 14 day period has gone you would then be subject to the terms of the contract, so with your own circumstances in mind it would probably be worth gathering all your paperwork (ie Insurer policy booklet, Broker's terms of trading) getting a cup of coffee, then sitting down for 10 mins to make sure that you have been advised of both the Insurer/broker terms that are being applied when calculating your refund.

It may prove easier to call Flux and ask them to provide details as to how they calculated your cancellation refund, at which point you could discuss your providing evidence of EVO purchase & the possibility of a pro-rata cancellation.

Talking more generally, Both Insurers and Brokers use premium finance companies in the event that the specific Insurer doesnt have their own DDM option and instalments are required.

Premium funders of this nature are often merchant banks or household names (ie banks/building societies). They are not tied to your Insurer and operate separately from your Insurer.

Whether you pay by finance or in full you will receive the same refund from your Insurer. The difference with paying by finance is that any refund received will be deducted from the balance outstanding under your finance agreement - thus sometimes you can be left with a small surplus to clear.

On a serious note, if anyone is having problems with this type of thing i'd be happy to help where I can - i've been a member of this forum for nearly 5 years now, have got to know quite a number of you and will always try and lend a hand or point you in the right direction.

Kind regards

Tony

Dan

You beat me to it Tony!

Be careful of this aswell Tango, you won't necessarily gain from paying instalments, generally it's not a 'walk away' direct debit case, they are finance companies that take the payments

Should you pay monthly with a finance company and cancel the policy, then any return premium is usually refunded to the finance company, if there's a shortfall then guess who's responsible for the balance?

Tangodeltasierra3

Thanks everyone, but if i pay monthly say 10 x £50 and cancel after 4 month i only paid £200 and i wont pay anything else will i as i wont need cover - as it happens i bought another T5 as a runabout now so i told em id keep the policy as in essence i'd already paid for the year anyway

Gooey

Didnt happen with me as above, I cancelled my policy and was paying monthly and they wanted 126 quid to cancel

Dan

edd

they are cunts dont give a fuck...i cancelled after 5 days on a 120£ policy paid for in cash and they said heres 40 quid back...i fucking told them to sort that out before i sort there fucking windows out cunts..

mark s

Not saying i dont beleve you mate, but as part of FSA regs
you have seven days to cancel! without charge, unless
some where in the very very very small print they tell you
otherwise, i'd cheak if i was you! you could get some money
back

MK5RST

Yeah, when you pay in installments with most companys its a third party loan company who gives you credit so in effect if your policy is say £700 you have just taken out a £700 loan and regardless of weather or not you cancel your policy they will still chase you for the cash!

Rs Baz

you should of rang the insurance first before you bought the evo to check and see if thay can insure you..

also read everything thay send to you on paper work, if it dont state anything about you not getting a refund of the rest of the policy i would take the matter further

Tony @ Greenlight

Hi Edd,

Was that under one of Flux's kit car policies?

Kit/Classic policies are usually less generous than everyday cancellation
scales (regardless of insurer concerned).

As the guys on here have already said, you have a 14 day period usually at a reduced cancellation scale - for cooling off & policy acceptance.

It's still worth checking the documents they sent when arranging the policy.

Kind regards

Tony

Tangodeltasierra3

if u stop the direct debits what they gunna do ? sue u ? fuk it, im fighting back, if they were reasonable in the 1st place things like this wouldn't happen, they rob customers blind over little things and call it admin charges, its like a sweet shop selling u a 20p mix up but charging you 27p for putting it in a bag for you.

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

It's true of anything where you agree to pay monthly for something that had a fixed price. You're in term for the full balance. You will have to pay the remaining balance before you're square otherwise they will take the usual debt recovery procedure.

It makes me laugh when people think they can just stop the DD and thats it. Someone I know has just now been pursued by one of these companies that buys old debts for a £47 T-Mobile debt from 2004 that he had totally forgotten about, so I'm sure an Insurer will be keen to pass the debt onto recovery agents if necessary.

Tangodeltasierra3

Why should i have ? there supposed to be a specialist car insurer arnt they ? im 30 odd yr old , 8 yrs NCD, with a relatively tame 400bhp car worth £10000 max, hardly super car material is it

Si B

iTrader: (59)

Why wouldn't they insure a 400 bhp Evo?

I'm with them, and they seemed fine, I've a similar car / owner details to you....

Does suck though.....

Si

Tangodeltasierra3

The whole industrys crap i think, i tried getting a quote on an Evo with Tett Hamilton who insured my 6 last year - this dumb lass answers phone and says is it modified ? so i starts off listing things out, Autronics Ecu - she says a what ? i thought fuck this, ive a list of mods a mile long, i sed to her look love im not being funny but find a bloke and get him to ring me back if yer want my business

Si B

iTrader: (59)

I love running off mod lists! Some companies like HIC etc are ok with them, but others struggle when you get to dump valves... then with the Cossie when I got to the bit about 467bhp the phone lines often went very quiet!

Flux quoted me at £700 today, which is a smidge more than the Cossie, but on a far newer/pricier car. Same sort of price as my M3 Cabriolet too so I'm happy.

The admin and cancellation charges really do take the piss though