Today we launch a new campaign to Stop Sneaky Fees and Charges as our latest research reveals that admin and cancellation fees are on the rise among car insurers.
Is it me, or does £35 seem a bit steep to make a simple administrative change to your insurance policy, such as changing your name or number plate?
Our new research has shown that while premiums have been failing, nearly half of the 28 car insurance providers we looked at have increased administration or cancellation fees since our previous survey.
Costs of cancelling your car insurance
We found that six companies – Churchill, LV, More Than, Nationwide, Privilege and Saga – have increased fees to make changes to a policy by at least half, such as getting married, changing job or moving home.
The most expensive fee we found for an adjustment to your policy was from Hastings Direct, which charges £35 for some changes.
Fees for cancelling your policy tend to be even more. Endsleigh had the highest cancellation fee of the providers we surveyed – a costly £75 to leave your contract early. This was triple the amount that they charged when we investigated this three years ago.
We agree with the two-thirds of you that think companies can use separate fees or charges to trick us into thinking the total cost is cheaper than it really is.
Tricked by the true cost?
That’s why today we’re launching a new campaign to Stop Sneaky Fees and Charges – not just in the insurance industry, but across all types of financial products like credit cards, overdrafts and mortgages too.
We’ve got three simple asks for companies: don’t hide the full cost from customers; stop making it hard to compare prices; and stop stinging customers with rip off additional charges
We think additional charges like insurance admin fees should be just that, a fee to recover the admin costs of making a change to a policy. We don’t see why they should charge you any more than what it costs them
We’re also calling for the Government and regulator to conduct a thorough review of fees and charges to put a stop to sneaky and unfair charges. If you agree, sign our petition.
Have you been stung by fees when making simple changes to your insurance policies?
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