Cancelling insurance by email,technicality......

[rumpelstiltskin]

Insured a road legal quad,due to unforseen circumstances i decided to cancel the policy quickly(engine blew up!)Anyway i couldnt get them on the phone so decided to email them,my exact wording in the email was,"I was wondering what would happen if i cancelled the policy just now?"
I asked it this way to find out how much of the policy money i had paid in full i would lose etc.I sent the email within the 14 day window they allow to cancel the policy early.They never got back to me for 2 days.They are now saying my email didnt exactly spell out "I want to cancel my policy"so they arent going to refund me any money?
Question is is this worth arguing over as i did technically email them within their requested 14 day period wondering how i cancel my policy?Thanks!

[GreigM]

They are correct - you didn't email to cancel with the 14 days....you emailed a query about cancelling, not an instruction.

[A911DOM]

My understanding is that you have a 14 day cooling off period within which you can cancel without charge (unless specified by them).

I took out some insurance on an old Merc a few months ago... I drove the car, didnt need to drive it any further once I got to the destination so emailed and cancelled the insurance.

Other than a 20 quid admin fee I got all my money back without a hint of argument.

I would suggest if you show them proof of the email being sent (and to the correct details!!!) that you have a decent chance of getting most or all of your cash back.

Good luck.

[ZOLLAR]

GreigM said:

They are correct - you didn't email to cancel with the 14 days....you emailed a query about cancelling, not an instruction.

+1

[Sleepy nic]

But surely if it's taken them 2 days to reply and this has taken it over the 14 days that would mean that its their fault. Fair play the email didn't say cancel it now, but is it not the insurers fault for not responding?

Sorry for lack of useful information

[ZOLLAR]

Sleepy nic said:

But surely if it's taken them 2 days to reply and this has taken it over the 14 days that would mean that its their fault. Fair play the email didn't say cancel it now, but is it not the insurers fault for not responding?

Sorry for lack of useful information

Why didn't he send the email earlier?, its the policyholders responsibility to make sure the instruction to cancel is sent and received within the cooling off period.

[Monkeylegend]

Sending an e-mail that says "I wonder what will happen if I cancel my policy now" says absolutely bugger all as far as the insurance company are concerned.How are they meant to know you wanted to cancel immediately?

If you had said something like "I wish to cancel my policy with immediate effect" they probably would have cancelled it with immediate effect and refunded your money.

It's hardly rocket science.