Automatic renewal of car insurance - not chuffed

jewel*queen

My husband was with Elephant for car insurance last year but after a whopping increase he decided to change and he took out a policy with LV which is working out (with cashback) at nearly half what Elephant wanted. I've just got the credit card bill in this month and the premium from Elephant has been charged. My husband didn't see the small print saying that if he did nothing that the policy would automatically be renewed. We obviously want the money back but have been unable to get Elephant on the phone as they work 9-6 Mon - Fri which is pathetic. Has anyone been in a similar situation and what advice/rights does he have? We also have not had anything from them yet to confirm the renewal even though the policy started on 1st Sept and this is now 16th Sept.

DVardysShadow

No insurance cert from Elephant?

Takoda

Mine tried that so I always delete their standing order before the renewal date is due then they neeed to get the details again and can't just automatically renew it.

brazilianwax

Nice try, but:

* The insurance certificate was with the renewal notice.

* The print advising that you have to call them if you don't want to renew isn't small or buried :rolleyes:

* They're open from 8am till 10pm during the week and are certainly open on weekends

Customer services 0871 882 2233
Opening hours
Mon - Fri 8am - 10pm
Sat 9am - 5pm
Sun 10am - 4pm

Renewals 0844 848 0050
Opening hours Mon - Fri 8am - 10pm
Sat 9am - 5pm
Sun 10am - 4pm

jewel*queen

Thanks for the info. Just going on what hubby told me. I'll let him know.

ranger1066

jewel*queen wrote: »

My husband was with Elephant for car insurance last year but after a whopping increase he decided to change and he took out a policy with LV which is working out (with cashback) at nearly half what Elephant wanted. I've just got the credit card bill in this month and the premium from Elephant has been charged. My husband didn't see the small print saying that if he did nothing that the policy would automatically be renewed. We obviously want the money back but have been unable to get Elephant on the phone as they work 9-6 Mon - Fri which is pathetic. Has anyone been in a similar situation and what advice/rights does he have? We also have not had anything from them yet to confirm the renewal even though the policy started on 1st Sept and this is now 16th Sept.

Elephant should cancel the insurance from the date the other policy started, as you cant have 2 insurance policies on one car they will void it from renewal or date of commencement of the new policy if different. You will probably need to send them a copy of the new certificate to show the start date or provide them with the new insurance details so they can verbaly confirm this.

Amistoso_2

Should have read the T&C's properly then, I can't think of a single insurance company who don't do this. You may now have to pay a cancelation fee!!

brazilianwax

jewel*queen wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Just going on what hubby told me. I'll let him know.

Worth noting that you'll have to send the insurance certificate from Elephant back to Elephant in order to get a refund, so I hope he kept it.



I'm also wondering why you came online to complain about this on here without taking 30 seconds to check Elephant's website

Mark_Hewitt

Amistoso wrote: »

Should have read the T&C's properly then, I can't think of a single insurance company who don't do this. You may now have to pay a cancelation fee!!

Really? I can't think of a single company that DOES do this (apart from Elephant).

It really goes against the normal way of things as in if you don't explicitly renew, then the policy lapses.

stugib

Mark_Hewitt wrote: »

Really? I can't think of a single company that DOES do this (apart from Elephant).

It really goes against the normal way of things as in if you don't explicitly renew, then the policy lapses.

Take a look on the insurance forum - sure a quick search would turn up at least 20 companies mentioned there who do auto-renewal. It is pretty standard on motor insurance. Direct Line do it because mine auto-renewed at the start of this month.

Joelleski

Admiral (are they also Elephant?) also auto-renew, however hubby got caught out a couple of years ago by AA who didn't auto-renew ...