If for any reason you decide to cancel your current car insurance and replace it with another one, it is necessary to know what is the legal deadline for cancellation of the policy and the necessary steps to execute the cancellation correctly. This is the only way to ensure that insurance companies handle the cancellation correctly. In this article, we tell you everything in detail.
If for any reason you decide to cancel your current car insurance and replace it with another one, it is necessary to know what is the legal deadline for cancellation of the policy and the necessary steps to execute the cancellation correctly. This is the only way to ensure that insurance companies handle the cancellation correctly. In this article we tell you everything in detail.
It should be borne in mind that the “Ley de Contrato de Seguro” stipulates that insurance policies will be automatically renewed on expiry, provided that the cancellation of the contract has not been requested in due time and form, in any case, the duration of the contract must be specified in the contract.
Therefore, in order to cancel a car insurance policy, we must use this information as a basis and not wait until the last moment to notify the Insurance Company of our decision to cancel the policy.
Deadline for cancelling my car insurance
If you decide not to renew your policy with your current insurance company, you must notify the company (directly or through your broker) no later than one month before the end of the contract. To find out the exact date, you should refer to the contract for the initial period of cover.
Since 2016, it has been established that the policyholder’s deadline for cancelling an insurance contract is one month.
This is reflected in article 22 of the Law on Insurance Contracts: “2. The parties may oppose the extension of the contract by written notice to the other party, given at least one month before the end of the current insurance period when the party opposing the extension is the policyholder, and two months when it is the insurer”.
As we can see, the cancellation period for the policy holder has changed, but the Insurance Companies must still notify the policy holders 2 months before the cancellation or any other change that may arise in the insurance contract, in this way the insured can decide whether to accept the new conditions or to cancel the contract.
In addition to the deadlines, another important point when cancelling a policy is how to communicate our decision to the Insurance Company. The correct procedure is to do so in writing, with a letter of cancellation signed by the policyholder and a copy of a valid identity document on which the signature can be verified. The procedure can be carried out directly at the office where the policy was taken out, by sending a fax or registered letter to the Insurance Company, by Email if the Insurance Company offers this possibility.
It is important to choose a method that can reliably record the cancellation request message and the details of the insured, the insurance reference number and the date of notification.
If for some reason the insurance cancellation period expires, or you wish to cancel before the expiry date, the consequences and requirements will vary from one Company to another. In this case, it is recommended to consult the customer service department on a personal basis, but in no case is it recommended to return the receipt, as nowadays Insurance Companies can detect if a customer is in arrears and this can lead to other Companies refusing to insure you. To avoid unnecessary problems, it is recommended that you follow the legal procedures for notifying the Insurance Company of the cancellation.
