Be Aware of the Small Print!

Renewed my bike insurance in June this year with Swinton. I have 10 years NCD and ride an old CBR600, so my premium was just £92. All well and good.

This month I decided to buy a 2nd bike so rang Swinton to check on the procedure. I was told I'd have to cancel my current policy and take out a multi-bike instead. This means I would lose around half of my £92 premium. OK, a bit steep I thought, but needs must. Swinton then quoted me £400 for the multi-bike option!

I shopped around and found a multi-bike deal for £150 less, so rang Swinton to cancel the policy. Because I was not taking out another policy with them I was told I would now lose all the £92 premium paid, PLUS I'd have to pay them a FURTHER £7.

The rub of it turns out to be a £50 cancellation fee lurking there in the small print. If anyone cancels a policy mid-term, regardless of the reason, there is an automatic £50 charge applied. In my case this meant a negative figure resulted.

I think to lose all the money paid for less than 2 months cover into a 12 month policy is unreasonable. So do be aware of this when considering Swinton.