I took out a fully com insurance policy with Adrian Flux last May for my Delica 4X4. $600

Sold the car a week ago, phoned Adrian Flux today to cancel the policy and arrange a rebate for the remainder of the policy, This should have been between £150-£200.

They stated I would not be receiving any rebate as I'd had the policy for 8 months and it was normal procedure ot to reinmburse any monies during the last 4 months of the annual policy......sounds a bit like theft to me!!!!

Keeping money that they are not providing any service or goods for is surely wrong....If I had more time on my hands I'd be complaining to the FSA or whoever it is that insurance companies are answerable to

I know they are probably liable to charge some kind of small cancellation fee of say £25, but keeping the rest of your premium does sound very fishy!

Hi, as you can see from my post I'm less than impressed with A-Flux. I've encountered similar to this, albeit not with AF, and I attacked it on two fronts: firstly ask them for a breakdown of costs to justify this they're obliged to do so. Secondly include the fact that if you're not happy you'll take the matter to the industry ombusman, believe me it focuses their attention. I know it's a pain having to do all this but it's your money! It took me 6 months to get a premium rebate for my lad but I'm not in the business of letting them swell their coffers further!

From what I'm hearing pretty sure I won't be signing up with AF anytime soon. Good luck.

I took out a fully com insurance policy with Adrian Flux last May for my Delica 4X4. $600

Sold the car a week ago, phoned Adrian Flux today to cancel the policy and arrange a rebate for the remainder of the policy, This should have been between £150-£200.

They stated I would not be receiving any rebate as I'd had the policy for 8 months and it was normal procedure ot to reinmburse any monies during the last 4 months of the annual policy......sounds a bit like theft to me!!!!

Keeping money that they are not providing any service or goods for is surely wrong....If I had more time on my hands I'd be complaining to the FSA or whoever it is that insurance companies are answerable to

Hi, is this a case suitable to take to the Financial Ombudsman?

Best wishes

John

Hi, is this a case suitable to take to the Financial Ombudsman?

Best wishes

John

Thanks John, brilliant info, just had a good read and will be contacting the FSA tomorrow for them to approach Adrian Flux insurance.

They've really gone down the pan recently, haven't they?

The only thing I can say from reading my insurance stuff from A/F is most of the terms etc is with the ultimate insurance company (in my case Equity Red Star) so it might not be Flux directly that are causing this problem.

My insurance provided by AF is underwritten by Equity Redstar too, they were one of only a very limited number of companies who would insire the Delica hence the £600 premium, they intitially wanted £1000

There is nothing in my cancellation section about any kind of heavy premium to pay for cancelling a policy.

I still need to have a good look over mine, even so, if it's in black and white and the FSA find it unfair they will still direct AF to act prperly and refund my remaining time left on the policy minus a fair admin fee if AF wishes one

QUOTE:- (from Adrian Flux bit)

"Upon cancellation of the contract, it shoudl be noted that insurance companies apply short term cancellation charges which are not proportionate to the annual premium and as these form part of the contract offered, we would ask clients to realise that such charges upon cancellation are applied by the underwriters and not ourselves. Please note the premium paid for supplementary covers are not refundable following cancellation"

QUOTE FROM EQUITY BIT

"You many cancel the insurance at any time sending us written notice and returning the certificate of insurance. The charges that will apply are detailed in the general conditions section of the insurance document" (not sure where this is.....)

I took out a fully com insurance policy with Adrian Flux last May for my Delica 4X4. $600

Sold the car a week ago, phoned Adrian Flux today to cancel the policy and arrange a rebate for the remainder of the policy, This should have been between £150-£200.

They stated I would not be receiving any rebate as I'd had the policy for 8 months and it was normal procedure ot to reinmburse any monies during the last 4 months of the annual policy......sounds a bit like theft to me!!!!

Keeping money that they are not providing any service or goods for is surely wrong....If I had more time on my hands I'd be complaining to the FSA or whoever it is that insurance companies are answerable to

I have purposely repeated your opening comments as I believe you're being VERY unfair to Adrian Flux here.

It appears you haven't even bothered to read the terms and conditions of your policy.

You should go through the documents you receive when you take out the policy and if you are unhappy with anything either query it or cancel the policy within the initial "cooling off" period,

Here's the policy wording of one of my Adrian Flux policies (I have two since they're so competitive) - they appear to be very clear to me:

Cancellation by you

You can cancel this insurance after the initial period of cover set out in

‘Cancelling during the initial period of cover – ‘retail customers only’ by

sending back your certificate of motor insurance and schedule to us or

your insurance adviser. If you have not made any claims in the current

period of insurance, and you are not going to make a claim, we will

work out a charge for the time you have been covered using the rates

shown below. We will refund any amount we owe you.

If the policy is a limited mileage policy – please refer to the schedule.

Period of time you had the cover, and the proportion of the premium

you will be refunded.

Up to one month 70%

Up to two months 60%

Up to three months 50%

Up to four months 40%

More than four months 0%

We will only make a refund after the initial 14-day period if your annual

premium for each vehicle is more than £100.

If the policy is not a limited mileage policy

Period of time you had the cover, and the proportion of the premium

you will be refunded.

Up to one month 75%

Up to two months 70%

Up to three months 50%

Up to four months 40%

Up to six months 30%

Up to eight months 10%

More than eight months 0%

We will only make a refund for any reason above after the initial 14-day

period if your annual premium for each vehicle is more than £100.

I would add that Adrian Flux seem not to have any charges when you change your policy. Can be useful if you have to ring them several times after a registration number change hasn't gone through when you expected.

Also I missed to declare (a genuine error) the fact my brother had written off a car during the qualifying period which they quite rightly picked up and queried - "no problem" they said when I owned up and offered to take him off...

I have had a look at that DRJ and understand what it says, that doesn't mean it's fair or right.....I'm quite willing to let the FSA look into it and they can decide whats right and proper.

to keep nearly £200 of my money and provide nothing for it is wrong when seen from my point of view, the T&Cs just make fleecing the customer a bit easier for the insurance provider

I suppose this is only my opinion, I may well be wrong but I don't feel like I am.

The way I see it, you signed up to those conditions (or similar depending on what your policy actually states), so you have no avenue of complaint. To be "unfair" it would need to be "exceptional" - I don't believe these are, and if they were others would have challenged in the past. Please let us know what the FSA advise...

You might want to read this topic:

http://www.mx5oc.co.uk/forum/forums/t/32436.aspx?PageIndex=1

You might want to read this topic:

http://www.mx5oc.co....spx?PageIndex=1

Thanks DRJ, made for some difficult but worthwhile reading....unfortunately the thread was locked without the outcome being posted, nevertheless I can see how difficult it will be to get any kind of refund, I know insurance companies don't do goodwill gestures so I'm not even going down that road.

Unfortunately I'm no longer a member of that forum - having been banned! - so can't PM the member concerned...

The way I see it, you signed up to those conditions (or similar depending on what your policy actually states), so you have no avenue of complaint. To be "unfair" it would need to be "exceptional" - I don't believe these are, and if they were others would have challenged in the past. Please let us know what the FSA advise...

Doesn't matter what you sign up for. It's not a valid contract term if the term is unfair; it's unenforceable.

Seems like AF are taking the pee-pee a little bit with this, not seen it from any other insurer!

Get the FSA on them!

Hi, Unfortunately the policy/schedule T&C's are relevant here, no matter how unfair it may appear.

In the case of AF they have made no effort to contact me in response and have therefore breached their own internally applied standards of service. The attitude you encounter at the front end is often indicative of what you can expect to receive when an active customer. AF don't seem particularly interested in my business so hey I just exercise choice. Saying that I've found very few brokers/underwriters who actually deliver anywhere near what you'd reasonably expect of them! Buyer beware as they say.

Under contract law, even if you agree to it, it doesn't matter if it is found to be unfair.

Hi Babs, That's an interesting perspective but I'm probably not sufficiently knowledgeable in law to judge either way. Having managed many civil engineering infrastructure projects the old chesnut we used to get was contractors who couldn't be bothered to read/understand the conditions of contract and hence the nuts and bolts of what they had signed up to. Net result was many happy hours arguing the toss and the grief that ensued.

I suspect we're all guilty to some extent of being price focused and in truth not sufficiently checking/understanding what we're signing up to. The devils in the detail normally around page 169 in font that can be read with the help of some form of enhanced optical aid.

<-- contract law at uni

It only takes one person to go "hang on a minute, this isn't fair", then regulatory bodies get involved (here, the FSA) and get things changed.

You can put whatever you like in a contract, only terms that are deemed fair and reasonable are enforceable.

It seems a lot fairer to have a monthly apportionment for policy remaining (end of month policy is cancelled in - bit like cashing in a tax disc on a SORN car) and then have a cancellation fee of £25-£30 which should cover all elements of admin involved.

<-- contract law at uni

It only takes one person to go "hang on a minute, this isn't fair", then regulatory bodies get involved (here, the FSA) and get things changed.

You can put whatever you like in a contract, only terms that are deemed fair and reasonable are enforceable.

Hi, yes hopefully it works this way and the FSA have the teeth/balls to actually bring about change in the case of auto insurance.

In the practical delivery of contract management 'fair & 'reasonable' were also terms open to much debate and heated disagreement. Anyway we digress I think.

I've got more of an issue with the one level of premium (sky high) applied to all young drivers, regardless of their approach/driving record. They don't help themselves I know but it's one area that does need a serious rethink and perhaps some innovative ideas (This is a whole subject on it's own!).