I've just canceled my car insurance yesterday because I was unhappy with them and I asked for them to return the money that I already paid because the insurance had not expired yet. Have you ever done this? Do they return the money when you cancel before time?
what I know of insurance, especially motor insurance, is that the fees are pro-rated, what that means is that, you get back money that you "have not used", so, for example, you buy motor insurance for a $1,000; and that is for a year, and say you cancel the insurance one month after taking out the insurance, from what I know, I can bet my bottom dollar that you will not get back the exact $1,000 that you spent on the policy because of that little word "pro-rated". So, I'm guessing you'd get a little over or under $900. And so, the more time passed, the less you would get if you decide to cancel, and I think after a while, you wouldn't be able to cancel.
That used to be like that in my country ExpertAdvice, but recently they approved a law that says that we can only ask for a refund if we sell our car, if we don't we simply can't cancel the insurance or we can, we just can't get our money back, what seems totally unfair to me.
I remember doing this once, I think around the year 2004. I just called the customer service of my insurance for my old Ford, told them to cancel it and I believe they refunded the whole amount. I think if you explicit request it, and depending on your location/dealer, they just might grant your request.
Unless you are with a company that is simply not reputable, you should get your money back. Maybe not all of what you would hope or like, but definitely a rebate. I'm surprised that they let you cancel without trying to get you to stay or at least asking you why you were leaving so soon. Did you cancel online or through an agent?
My goodness! please do tell me which country you live in, so that I can make certain that I do not come there and buy a car lol! what madness is that! it's like... robbery, and insurance in your country is mandatory right? Smh, so, I buy a car [my property], you impose a law that says that I have to make insurance payments [I do], which is similar to income tax; you get a job, you pay to the government. And so when I sell that car or cancel, I can't get back what I was forced to pay? Is the Insurance in your country very low? this entire thing sounds to me like registration of motor vehicles, so that the money you used to register your vehicle, you can't get that back. Smh, messy! We need a change!
I hate Progressive. I completely paid for a six month policy. Instead of decreasing the amount for the next six months, they increased it by 11%+ or more. I discovered a local insurer who cost 20% less that he second set of Progressive quotes. This local company is affiliated with the huge AAA insurance company.
So true, I am in Portugal, but laws seem to be made to protect the big companies and not citizens. I mean, if I want to cancel my insurance I can't get a refund? Why not, it's insane. It could be worse though, but indeed it's something that is benefiting someone that not citizens.
My experience with insurance is that you can only cancel for the first month if you find the cover is not right if you bought it online or over the phone as a cooling off period. You can't cancel at any other time and have to wait for the term to end. I tried to cancel my home insurance as I was leaving the country and I had to buy out the policy, which wasn't much difference between letting the policy lapse. Most companies do a yearly fee and you can pay monthly to make it more affordable, so the whole fee is payable and is not generally a pay per month policy.
Yep, that's exactly what happens in my country as well Theo, but is it fair? I really don't think it is and we as consumers should protest about it. Sure, we pay it in advance for one year, but for a number of reasons we should be allowed to cancel it, why not?
I've never fully gone through with cancelation. I've tried a number of times, when I thought I could beat current rates, and every time I call, my insurance asks why, I tell them I found a better rate, and they lower my rates. (It seems to sort of work like cable companies in that way.) So far I'm still okay with my current insurance. However, when my husband got in a small accident last year his rates were immediately jacked up even though his driving record is otherwise perfect. I swear. Why buy insurance if you can never use it?! So we actually want to find a company with accident forgiveness. Unfortunately, most are still higher premiums than our raised rate with our original company.
As far as I know, you can cancel your auto insurance at any time. However, you may not get any money back; depending on whether you have paid ahead, or are paying for coverage you already had. I have had Liberty Mutual for the last several years, but the last two years they have raised my raies each time we renewed for the next year. I have not had any accidents or tickets, and I am an excellent driver, so there was no reason for them to raise my rates. Last time, I ended up cancelling my renter's insurance to be able to pay the higher premium for the car. This time, I went looking for cheaper insurance, and when found a better company, then I cancelled the old policy. I thought I would have at least part of a month cming back, but they said that I paid for cooverage that I had already used; so I actually ended p owing them more money. However, it was worth it to get out from under the high premiums they were now charging me for hesame coverage.
Sure, we can cancel it at anytime and receive no money back, but it's that fair? Finally I got the check from the insurance company yesterday, does this make any sense too? Why do they send me a check, can't they simply transfer it to my bank account?
Here where I currently live, once the insurance company has received such request for cancellation, they will compute part of your insurance that you have already used and refund the part that has not been used. I think this should always be the case and I think (correct me if I am wrong), dependent on the guidelines set by the country's regulating body... usually the central bank.
That's the right and fair thing to do owesem, I mean, what is the point in being stuck with an insurance that we no longer desire? Maybe we found one that is cheaper or that serves our interests better, who cares, we simply do not have to stay with an insurance that no longer serves us.
Staying with a company that you no longer want to have does not make any sense at all; and that is why I also cancelled my insurance; even though it had been a fine company until they started raising the rates. Whether you get money back depends on how far ahead you paid the insurance. If you have paid for six months or a year, and only used a couple of those months; then they should pro-rate what you have used and refund the rest. The reason that they did not do that with my insurance was because I was paying by the month, and they charged you for the month after you had used the insurance for that month. So, even though I had paid for a month, it turned out to be the previous month that they had charged me for; so I owed for the part of the new month that I had not yet been billed for.
In the US you have to be very careful when you cancel car insurance, You will probably get a pro rated refund but... make sure you have no lapse in days between the insurances or you may be setting yourself up for fines. In NY especially you probably do not want to have even a day UN-insured. These companies all report to the state bureau and they will catch you and fine you so much for each day you lapsed. You might not get the fine immediately but they will when you renew your registration. Once they get you for a lapse you can bet the way they calculate your liability can change. Although not a moving violation it does not bode well towards being a responsible driver
Yeah, I know what you mean bird, luckily I had a friend who advised me well, so in my case I asked the refund from the day I had the accident in because the car no longer was on the road after that day. It all went well, they gave me the refund with no issues.
I have never cancelled my auto insurance. I pay a nominal premium charge ($17) per year for the third party automobile insurance. I guess, this is non-refundable charge. I pay $370 per year for my life insurance, and my policy states that I can cancel my policy any time.
