The Hamon Law allows you to terminate your insurance contract at any time, without having to justify yourself, if your insurance contract is more than one year old.
Some insurers sometimes provide multiple excuses in order to prevent their insured from leaving for another insurance company.
What should you do if your insurer opposes your termination? Or if he does not reimburse you for the overpayments?
What are the insurers saying?
Insurers often take advantage of the lack of knowledge of their policyholders to avoid termination at any time permitted by the Consumer Law. Here are the arguments most frequently given by insurance companies to refuse termination.
The Hamon law cannot be applied if it does not appear in the general conditions of the contract.
The application of this law is mandatory for all insurers. All contracts of more than one year can benefit from the Hamon law, whether or not it is mentioned in the general conditions.
Your new insurer did not provide a signed mandate certifying that you requested the cancellation.
With the Hamon law, you do not need a mandate to cancel, a simple email to your new insurer is enough. He can thus initiate the termination process for you.
The contract to be terminated is not identifiable. your new insurer did not indicate that it was home or auto insurance.
Your insurer cannot refuse your cancellation request for such a reason. It can identify the nature of your contract in several ways: your name, your e-mail address, a customer number, the registration, the model of the car, etc.
Does your insurer oppose your cancellation request?
1. Ask your insurer for the reasons for the refusal to cancel
If your insurer opposes your cancellation request, send a letter to the insurance customer service department. Ask him why the termination is not admissible according to article L113-15-2 of the insurance code. This letter is usually enough to resolve the situation quickly.
2. Let the new insurer take over
If your insurer maintains its refusal to cancel, ask it to send you the reasons for its refusal in writing. Then send this letter to your new insurer who will take care of finalizing your cancellation. The Hamon law requires your new insurer to take charge of the cancellation procedures in order to prevent you from finding yourself without insurance when changing insurers
Your new insurer will offer you solutions. He will possibly use another reason for termination or postpone the effective date to avoid duplicate insurance.
Contact the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR)
As a last resort, you can contact the “prudential control and resolution authority” (ACPR), which is responsible for controlling the activity of banks and insurers. It may intervene in the event of an unjustified refusal.
Your insurer does not reimburse you for the sums paid in advance?
Termination takes effect one month after receipt of your termination request. Once the termination is effective, the insurer must reimburse you the sums paid in advance for the part of the premium not used within 30 days.
Pay attention to the date on which your termination must be effective. After the effective date of your termination, your insurer must no longer charge your insurance. If so, demand their reimbursement.
If, despite your requests, your insurer does not reimburse you, put it on notice to suspend these direct debits. Your insurer will have to refund you the overpayments already paid.
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