Cancelling my insurance policy

This has also happened to me. I had to cancel my car insurance due to broken down car, which I had to sell for a pitence.. and was charged a cancellation fee for the insurance and breakdown cover. However I did question it and tell them I would contact the ombudsman and they reduced the monthly payment by £10. My friends have also experienced this problem, all with different insurers.
Always call the Financial ombudsman, chances are your payments will be reduced and every complaint is logged and goes towards changing the rules in our favour. Those greedy insurance companies have had it too good for too long. Stand up for your rights folks.
Also this happened to my neighbour with his scooter. He did refuse to pay and cancelled his direct debits. They did nothing and have never contacted him for the money.

Well, it seems that Swinton comes up as a regular on the preceding comments. I too have been asked to pay an extra £33 (£50 less the refund) to cancel my policy nearly 10 months in. I rang to ask them to quote for a new car and they were way above the best on-line quote with Sheila's Wheels. I explained my car was being scrapped under the government scheme and again they insisted that I had no choice but to cancel "because sometimes they end up back on the road" - not that I believe this. I still cannot comprehend how they can justify the admin charge. I know it's there in the small print but the banks finally got their comeuppance on unfair fees! Time to rebel???? Is there anyone out there who has simply refused to pay? What did they do? It will cost them more to take this to a small claims court. Will let you know!

Hi,my daughter was insuring with swinton rotherham but was called to manchester(work related)
the policy was in our home in rotherham ready for her to sign,swinton rang and I took it on myself to say she would accept the insurance,my daughter rang later that day to say she will be in manchester until christmass,i told her I had insured her car through swinton rotherham and she told me to cancel it becouse she would not be driving the car untill after christmass,i rang to cancel the same day as I took the insurance out and thy charged my daughter 50 pound,
we have over the years dealt with swinton several times one year we had three cars insured with them needless to say my daughter will not be ringing them in december,trying to contact head office is a no go,no email,no phone number ect,so keep well clear guys this rotherham franchise is just a money grabbing lott keep clear,if you do have to insure using swinton use one of the other offices as ime sure they would have just put the policy on hold.ps can anyone let us know how we can claim back the isurance protection premium swinton charged illegally,we have four policys from around that time,thanks guys.

Swinton are a very compliant company, you dont have to wait for your policy and terms of business as all details are given to you at the time of sale and then backed up by paper copies confiming all charges, If you dont listen at the time of sale to the terms of business and cancellation rights and also dont read the paper copy of their terms of business, its your own fault

I took out insurance with swinton in January 2009. for my vauxhall corsa which I've now found out will not pass the MOT. I have now sold the corsa and also cancelled the policy after finding a cheaper quote online for my new car, a Ford Fiesta. Am I legally obliged to pay £64.25 on top of the £50 cancellation fee?

If you cancel your policy before the start date will you still have to pay any charges?

Swinton Insurance are worse - I have recently bought a new car but found Swinton uncompetitive so told them to cancel my insurance. I was fully paid up and was gob-smacked when they said it would cost £50 to cancel. I said I'd leave it running but theyr said I wouldn't be able to claim my no-claims discount on my new insurance. The words "tucked up like a kipper" sprang to mind. I live and learn and Swinton are off my Christmas card list!

I am 17 and have my own insurance. my car has blowen the motor and I can't get it fixed can I cancel the insurance because at this time I can't get another car.

and how are you supposed to know about tha fee before you receive the damn policy in the post?

I am currently 7 months through my policy and have bought a newer car I have rang my insurance to change the policy over,but because I want to now go fully comp instead of the 3rd party (previously)I have to take out a new policy.O.k. fare enough now I too thought of taking my old car of the road and save a bit of money and posibly sell it, I thought of doing this when on the phone taking out the new policy,I had paid everything up front when first taking out my policy,& thought with 5 months left I was going to get a refund, but oh no...they are going to charge £35 for cancelation and as the policy was only £108 for the year it apparently left me owing them £13 So I told them to forget it I wont be canceling He then told me that is not possible now that I have told him Im selling the car and it is illegal to continue with the policy after the sale of the car. And got my back up because he was getting shirty with me because he reckons I told him I sold the car and confusing me with insurance jargon I tried to tell him that until the car is sold im not cancelling and he rckons that if the car is involved in an accident that the conversation that we have just had could affect the claim Now where do I stand???

You should have read the policy properly before taking it out, you still have to pay an admin fee for any changesto the policy as well as the whole year's premium if you cancel. They always ask you to return the insurance certificate and I've a funny feeling that would be in your policy booklet too.

to beware - I'm pretty sure it's illegal to apply costs to an 0800 number. OFCOM should be able to help you here. If they transfer you to a number that costs to call (even 0845 local rate) the cost should be borne by the transferring party, not the caller. Even if you are unable to recoup any cash from this please do report them to stop it happening to other innocent folks!!

Good luck