Insurance return Premium

What is it?

I've today cancelled an insurance policy as I no longer have the car (little pug).
Anyway, today the premium for the next month has left my account so I was assuming that I would get this back as a refund.....

I'm wrong, and apparently i'm entitled to... £0 refund (8 months left on the policy and I pay for it monthly).

They say that even though today the premium left my account they have infact saved me a further £77 for the cancellation as a gesture of good will, yet still charged me £50 for cancelling.

I simply don't get it.

He said he would send me a breakdown of the final bill which would explain everything, this is what I've got.

Outstanding Balance £ 492.90
Insurance Return Premium £ -547.18
Commission Clawback £ 4.28
Cancellation Fee £ 50.00
Balance Due £0

So my Question is wtf is 'Insurance Premium Return' as it all looks like bull to me and they are simply stealing my next months premium.

This is one of the little traps of the insurance industry.

While you might think you're paying for your policy month-by-month that isn't what's happening. Actually the insurance company (or, more likely, their credit brokers) are lending you the full premium at the start of the policy and you're paying them back over 12 months.

So when you cancel your policy the insurance company's T&Cs determine how much of a refund you're due, but you still have to keep repaying the loan until you've paid back what's due.

As most insurance companies don't operate a pro-rata refund rate it's quite common for cancellations to leave you due no refund at all, even if there's still quite a lot of the policy left to run.

given that you are still to pay for it, hang on to it, get the ncb and if you get another car you can transfer the policy

not sure it it is above board if you no longer have the car though....