Churchill Automatic Renewal Con

pete_

:mad: Churchill have just charged me £26.25 to cancel my car insurance policy 2 days after the policy renewal date which had been automatically renewed.

I am genuinely in the process of moving house and neglected to read their renewal advice which arrived some days beforehand.

Fair enough, I should have read the renewal notice more carefully however I don't remember ever agreeing to a continuous renewal in the first place.

Has anyone else been caught out like this? Seems like an "a la bank charges" rip off to me.

I intend to complain for what its worth.

mattymoo

Pete_ I can see your new but you'll have to forgive us - this subject crops up on a regular basis. Here are a few search results for you to have a look at.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.html?searchid=65857031

Out of interest, would you still be complaining if the policy had not renewed and the police had pulled you over today for driving without insurance? 6-8 points, fine and confiscation of vehicle at the roadside.

You say you neglected to read the renewal notice so presumably you could have forgotten to arrange alternative cover?

dacouch

Pete did you arrange alternative cover to run from the same date as the renewal of the Churchill policy?

pete_

dacouch wrote: »

Pete did you arrange alternative cover to run from the same date as the renewal of the Churchill policy?

Dacouch, yes and its interesting that you have mentioned that!

The guy at Churchill said that it is not possible to have two policies covering the same vehicle at the same time.

Surely then one of the two policies covering the vehicle was not in fact valid?

If that was the case how could they charge to cancel a policy which was not in fact providing cover?

Mattymoo - I agree, I COULD have forgotten to arrange cover - but I didn't.

dacouch

Send them a photocopy of the replacement Insurance and ask them to "Lapse" the policy from the renewal date as you arranged alternative cover as shown by the photocopy. Ask them to waive the cancellation fee as it is not correct. Do not mention cancel as this is not what you want them to do (Cancelling is stopping the policy mid way through the policy)

Hopefully if you write a polite but firm letter to this effect they will say "Oh yeees"

pete_

Thanks for that advice.

However without that prior knowledge I was forced to cancel the policy in order to reverse the debit card payment for the full premium (less their £26 cancellation fee).

Although in my defence I did try to get over to the Churchill manager I spoke to that I had already taken out cover so surely he should have suggested "lapsing" the policy and waiving the fee.

Will still write and complain anyway.

MarkyMarkD

There is no reason that they are required to not charge you anything simply because you were dual insured.

Dual insurance does not render one policy void.

Most insurance policies incorporate dual insurance terms, specifying that if you are dual insured they will pay their share of any claim. That does not match up with the idea that one policy is void and the other is valid. If it were so, how would it be determined which was valid? Surely the one you agreed to take out first would be valid - i.e. the one which auto-renewed. But that's academic because both policies are in fact valid.

You are not entitled to a refund of the admin charge. Read your conditions properly next time.

olly300

pete_ before you write and complain I strongly suggest you do a search and go through the threads on auto renewal of insurance.

I've written on a few of them and there are clauses that may be in your policy that are highlighted in the threads that may enable you to get the admin charge refunded.

It's a case of reading documentation properly and not assuming things like what you posted about dual insurance.

Also if you do write a complaint you will get a better response if you:
1. Send it by recorded delivery to the complaints address
2. Give it the title "Formal Complaint"
3. Concisely explain with reference to the clauses in the policy booklet why you shouldn't have to pay the admin charge.

pete_

Im sure like most of us you read your Terms & Cons thoroughly every time - huh?

Legally I may be wrong but morally there must be a case.

DCFC79

When you take out said insurance you are told to read said t&c's and most likely its mentioned in there about the auto renewal. I havent read my t&c's but im pretty sure ive been told about the auto renewal when ive taken out said insurance or maybe i call up in good time to cancel insurance. Its not really a con though is it, you just didnt read the t&c's,

dunstonh

Im sure like most of us you read your Terms & Cons thoroughly every time - huh?

Legally I may be wrong but morally there must be a case.

The renewal letter is often little more than a page, maybe page and a half. There is usually a section on what to do next. Its not a case of not reading through the T&C thoroughly but not reading a few lines in a renewal letter.