I recently sold my car and contacted Linea Direct to cancel my insurance policy. It seems that car insurance policies can be cancelled at any time but refunds for any outstanding period remaining on the policy is not given. As I had only renewed my policy 6 weeks ago, it now seems that the 6 weeks insurance cover has cost me 326 Euros!

Has anyone else had similar problems with Linea Direct or other insurance companies in Spain?

Yes I had something similar. Much of the premium is taxes which are not refundable under any circumstances. You could try and stand your ground and see if they will make a goodwill offer, but don’t count on it. This is a major difference to the UK.
Any brokers out there will inside info/better advice?

Hi, we are with linea directa and were unaware of this ‘scam’ (must be in the small print somewhere)...but we pay them quarterly via the bank account, so I guess this is the way to go if you are thinking of selling your car, yet have to renew the insurance.

Since my last posting Linea Direct have agreed to refund the remainder of my policy but only because I have a second car insured with them. However, I must pay the full premium when I renew my policy on my other car and only then will they give me a refund.  This means of course that I have no option but to renew my insurance with Linea Direct for a further year in order to get my refund.

After reading the small print, I also discovered that you need to give two months notice to cancel the renewal of a policy. If you don’t they can (and probably will) charge you for a further years cover whether you want it or not.

I think you will find this pretty standard on most policies - I also think it is more of a cultural thing than a scam as most Spanish tend to stay with the same company and are happy for the policy to roll over and it saves a lot of paperwork.

Maybe with the crisis they will start ‘shopping’ around more.

We have just had a similar experience to Davve…
We have been (happily) wtih LD for 3 yrs on 2 cars (1 full comp,other 3rd party F&T)....

We sold our newer car and when I tele a few weeks ago to ask their advice about this, they said, OK, if you really are not buying another car and don’t want to transfer any credit to this car.. then OK… we give you a refund (they double checked I had a Spanish Bank account), as I had paid the premium on this car in full by UK credit card… They said any refund would be made into this account.

On telephoning today to cancel the policy (as car was transferred to new owner/deal done,) they said Ok - sign this form (which they sent by email and I duly scanned and sent back)... they then called me to discuss my Question about ‘how much will you be paying into my bank account’ for the 8 months insurance not used (around Eu230 - so not a small sum!)...

Then came the bombshell…
‘Under Law 10.13 FF? Article 76’ - which I signed to agree to ??? when I took out the policy - they are not obliged to return one cent.
They will give me a credit (but again would not give a figure!!!)... against any new policy (as our other car is not due its renewal on ins until March next year I thought we would prefer the cash back now).... and we do not intend to take out any other insurance.

When I demanded to speak to Customer Services and wanted a copy of the lay they are quoting, they refused on both points. They merely told me to contact the insurances ombudsman with my complaint.  (Even though it does say in the policy book to make a complaint to them first…)... ps - We have never been given any policy documents with this information, nor is it on their website.

I also asked where in the policy was this law that I had apparently agreed to. Again they refused to provide any information.

I am P****D off to say the least.

I will keep trying (I called back to at least see if I could get more sense out of a different operator - as sometimes you just get an idiot).. but they are ‘busy and will call me back tomorrow’....

Regarding the 2 months notice to cancel - I have been aware of this for some time.  I think worst case scenario we will take the ‘credit in hand’ for next years premium on our older car… then 2 months before that is due to expire - write and cancel totally…
And never do business again.

Such a shame as we have always been Ok with price/and back up in the event of claims..

Seems they employ dirty tactics after all…

I noticed this feedback from another disgruntled would be customer.. and say I have to agree with him (but have always accepted that I had to ‘barter’ each year to get the premium renewal I wanted and not pay inflated prices…)

xxx.justinparks.com/car-insurance-spain-linea-directa-taking-the-piss/

Shame on you Linea Directa!!!

We had a problem with Linea Directa house insurance. A couple of years ago, we had so much rain our roof could not cope and we had many leaks which caused quite a lot of damage. According to Linea Diecta we did not have enough rain!!!!! I guess they stood in our village with a rain gauge that day!!!!!!!!! But no they measured the rainfall over 100km away. We now insure with our local bank at half the price and 100% better cover.

I have since been to the consumer office…
They inform me that it is the law (set by the government) that all (car) insurance policies are for 12 months. And we have signed to this effect by agreeing to the contract.
It is not an obligation (unlike the UK) for the insurance co to return any of the unused premium if we cancel.
But I was told (by OIC) that as a goodwill gesture they will often hold the money for a future policy. (As above.)
They did tell me to try and get the refund amount in writing if I could…

I spoke to LD again… This is then where they totally contradicted themselves (i.e earlier they had told me under no circumstances would they refund the full amount unused (based on pro -rata)....
We discussed that our second car is insured in my partners name, so therefore (their rules!!!) they cannot refund to another person.. so in fact, in April next year they will refund my unused premium in full - to my bank account.  But not before then??!!!

This is totally crazy!

BTW - the only reason we stay with LD is their medical cover if you should be injured in an RTA.  They have a great service and cover your med costs no matter what/who was at fault (inc the other driver etc.) We know it is a good policy to have as we were nearly killed in an RTA (caused by Brit Boy racer who rolled his car and fled the scene after running several cars off the road)... and ‘if’ we had been with LD we would not have paid a cent in med costs - unlike LIBERTY SEGUROS whom we were with at the time - told me to pay for any medical bills as they would be refunded (even though their policy states there is a 3,000Eu immediate fund for med expenses - but they never activated this)... and we GOT NOTHING BACK from them!!!!  (I took this complaint to the Insurances Ombudsman, but they sided with Liberty and said they had followed the letter of the policy.  B****t!)

PS - LD have refused to put in writing the credit I am due to get, but I have written all conversations down and emailed a copy to LD and my lawyer…

Update… Despite Cazzy’s warnings ^  we have decided to use part of the ‘credit’ we are due towards a house policy.  But amazingly (or not)... LD have been dragging their heels to give us a yes or no on coverage (the house is in my partners daughters name, but partner has full Power of Attourney for things like this!!!)...

And wait for it…
If we pay the sum for the house premium now - we will get that Eu230 we are owed credited back to our bank account - NOW rather than in April next year.

They are crazy!!!!

NB - we have been told by an independent agent (who gets an introducers fee for people she passes on to LD), that their own rep said, ‘We cannot offer the same cover the Brits are used to in their own country.  We just could not afford it!!!’ ...