Hi everyone!

I'm new on this forum, as a member, but was reading for couple of months.

I'm in the process of buying car, to accomplish that I need to have insurance.
Unfortunately I did mistake when buying insurance during the middle of night from company X (full comp), I selected Switzerland as nationality (default field), while I am not. Of course when I select my nationality, price increases.

Unfortunately documents were sent to Road Traffic Office... I didn't pay for the policy, just completed all of the fields, plus clicked "buy". The website stated everything went good, proof of insurance has been sent, plus I had summary and mentioned proof available for download.
I sent already email to company X stating I would like to cancel policy due to the mistake.

I would like to proceed and buy insurance from company Y and have the car registered. My greatest concern is to not end up with two insurance policies for the same car.

Do the company X has any right to change nationality, calculate premium again and force me to pay?

As far as I know, if I go to registration office (Road Traffic) and they have in the system two policies for the car available, I just tell them which I prefer and the one left unselected is gone. Am I right here?

Thank you in advance for your replies!

Yes.

No.

Tom

You made a mistake when filling in the form for company X. You have in my opinion contracted an insurance with that company, though with a false declaration. I suspect if you try and pull out now, they will throw the big guns at you, so you need to explain the situation to them and they will probably just recalculate the premium. It's extremely unlikely that will do any more than that if you correct the situation quickly. If you do nothing, like not paying premiums, you'll make the situation worse, as you'll end up on a black list shared amongst the insurers.

I think the application becomes void after 30 days of not registering a car.

And for once, aSITUS does not provide a link. There are different reasons to worry about someone - with aSITUS it would be a missing link. So, are you okay?

Still, your answer seems correct.
OP check <<Kann ich von meinem Versicherungsantrag noch zurücktreten?>> on this link.

You are only in the process of purchasing the car?. What is the insurance start date? If it is in the past then, at best, the insurance company would pro-rata from that date until cancellation date and then likely charge an admin cancellation fee for their inconvenience.

You need to check the insurance terms and conditions and then speak with the insurance company as to the contract with them.

Yes, so I paid 20% of the car price already, dealer will handle registration once insurance is available. The insurance start date is 08.06.2020, so tomorrow.

Thank you all for the replies. I sent email to company already explaining the situation and asking for possibility of cancellation, I expect reply tomorrow.

Then the insurance will start at 12.01 on Monday morning which means that it will already have become an active insurance. It might be better to have company X amend your nationality details, accept your error so there is nothing to delay your purchase of the car and cancel that policy in a year. (but check the cancel terms). It is unlikely the insurers will cancel the policy without cost and will that then wipe out the savings from buying cheaper from company Y.
Don't wait for an email reply, pick up the phone and speak with someone

Emphasis mine. Don't bet your good on an email, and also don't expect replies to be speedy. Send a registered letter if you want to be sure to cover your butt.

I called insurance company, they told me this is not a big deal for them.

Long story short, agent will contact me, change my nationality, plus recalculate everything tomorrow.

If no contact from their side, I will do as suggested - registered letter.

The differnce between X and Y (where Y is no noname) is ~900 chf/year for exactly the same coverage. Anyway, seems this is the price which I have to pay for the mistake. Policy is till the end of 2021, so still better than for 3+ years.

Thank you for your help, good to be part of such active community!

While you're looking closely at the terms, double-check any language about renewal. If there's an auto-renewal clause you can still send a letter now saying you don't want to auto-renew at the end of 2021.

No need to worry. The premium increases, so the agent has the utmost interest to handle this quickly
Still far too much for an "educational fee".

The way I understand you, you haven't signed or paid anything yet (Ok, perhaps signed the application, but not a contract). That probably means you have applied for insurance, to which the insurance company has agreed, but there's no binding contract yet. Thus nothing to be canceled yet either.

If this is correct, registering your car with the insurance's confirmation would conclude that contract and bind you. Conversely, if you don't use that possibility your application will lapse after 14 days. Not concluding this contract would free you to apply for, and sign, a contract with Y (without paying X as well), even while the application with X is still open. Perhaps have that confirmed by X first thing. And of course stay put until you know with certainty where you stand.

That aside, the insurance contract can be canceled (within 30 days I believe, by the new owner) if you sell the car forward. AFAIK there's no limit to that, you could sell the car to your neighbor/wife/sibling/parents/gf/friend (doesn't matter where they live) and ask them to cancel the insurance right away; unused premium would be returned to you. You the holder (after the transaction no longer the same person as the owner) are then free to get insurance from Y or whichever insurance, and register the car using that contract. Whether your car has already been registered doesn't affect this possibility, though a new MFK may be necessary if you delay the sale long enough.

Except the policy is active which means that the car is insured as of the start date that OP ask for so, of course, there is something cancel.


Are you really suggesting to OP that she "sell the car" to cancel the insurance. Care to think that one through again as it is the most nonsensical suggestion I have seen on EF!

Been there done that. Nothing unusual.

BTDT, works just fine.

Tom

No, the insurance starts the moment the car is registered.

If he tells the dealer to not register it yet, the insureance will NOT start!

Tom

Fine. Just lazy
Oh, how convenient. The cool off period is actually just 14 days.

Nope.

It is insured from the moment it is registered, not a second before.

Tom

Doesn't look like this is relevant in these cases though. The "trigger" is the registration, so nothing's binding until that has happened, and that can be done using insurance from any company that accepted the application.

Or am I missing something?

If you have a partner just put it in his/her name and cancel the insurance.