automatic renewal

jonnyd281

mikey72 wrote: »

In the UK it is accepted until proven otherwise.

It would be an interesting case, especially if it was found that renewals should have been offered at the same price as new business. If it was retrospective, from your viewpoint the insurers would be ok, from my viewpoint I suspect their profits and bonuses would take a hit.

Until I got rid of my car and motorcycle, I used autorenewal for both, and my premiums only every went up in line with inflation, and I was maxed out for no claims on both. I have autorenewal on my home insurance it is only rising with inflation.

Personally I can't see what the problem is, my home insurance is on autorenewal and I get the renewal notice about 1 month before renewal, it states the price, it states when the new policy starts and that it will autorenew if I take no action.

mikey72

I've never had a renewal I couldn't beat by shopping around, and most of the time my existing insurer comes back cheaper on gocompare than the renewal.
Usually I can get my insurances down 5 to 10% year on year.
Then I have had £180 cashback by going through topcashback, quidco etc. this year.

lisyloo

That's your opinion, but no comments on whether it's legal or not.

No it's not all opinion. The fact that renewals are not always higher is a fact and I personally have proof in the form of my own renewals.
As three or four of us say this then I think you should accept that your wording was wrong in this case.

Continuous card authorities are legal in this country as are renewal of services.
If you don't want one, don't sign up to them.
I don't like them at all (and for very good reasons) so I don't sign up to them.

I've never had a renewal I couldn't beat by shopping around

Your personal experiences are not a good basis for saying how it always works.
Several of us (not just me) get decent renewal prices (sometimes lower).

cajef

mikey72 wrote: »

Usually I can get my insurances down 5 to 10% year on year.

Working on that premise according to you after ten to twenty years your insurance will be costing you nothing, I wish we could all do that.

Several of us (not just me) get decent renewal prices (sometimes lower).

I had two consecutive years where my renewal was lower, though this year it had gone up 10%, shopping around I still could not match the renewal quote.

mikey72

lisyloo wrote: »

No it's not all opinion. The fact that renewals are not always higher is a fact and I personally have proof in the form of my own renewals.
As three or four of us say this then I think you should accept that your wording was wrong in this case.

Continuous card authorities are legal in this country as are renewal of services.
If you don't want one, don't sign up to them.
I don't like them at all (and for very good reasons) so I don't sign up to them.

Your personal experiences are not a good basis for saying how it always works.
Several of us (not just me) get decent renewal prices (sometimes lower).

Continuous card authority is not relevant to auto renewal, otherwise the renewal would be cancelled by cancelling the means of payment. The insurer will renew anyway, without receiving any payment.
Renewal of services can be challenged as no creditable offer or agreement is made at the start, it's merely stated as continuous indefinitely with no specified amount for the service.

It's not up to you, me, or the insurer who will happily say, "well. it's in the t&c's so it must be true" to rule on it.
It would be an interesting court case to judge the contact fair or not.
Maybe that's why insurers back down and refund autorenewals, and normally wave the cancellation fee when challenged.

dunstonh

Working on that premise according to you after ten to twenty years your insurance will be costing you nothing, I wish we could all do that.

It can work if your 30s or early 40s and look back. Mainly as those early years you are still building up NCD and you get cheaper as you get older (before you start to get more expensive again). I pay less now than 20 years ago.

jonnyd281

mikey72 wrote: »

Continuous card authority is not relevant to auto renewal, otherwise the renewal would be cancelled by cancelling the means of payment. The insurer will renew anyway, without receiving any payment.

Except cancelling the card with a continuous payment authority on it won't cancel the payment, you still have to contact the company concerned to cancel it.

cajef

dunstonh wrote: »

It can work if your 30s or early 40s and look back. Mainly as those early years you are still building up NCD and you get cheaper as you get older (before you start to get more expensive again). I pay less now than 20 years ago.

I know, I built up my NCD to maximum more years ago than I care to remember.;)

mikey72

cajef wrote: »

Working on that premise according to you after ten to twenty years your insurance will be costing you nothing, I wish we could all do that.



I had two consecutive years where my renewal was lower, though this year it had gone up 10%, shopping around I still could not match the renewal quote.

I can live in hope.
This year it cost me £100 overall less than last year.
(Before cashback)
So about £1700 for the 5 cars, the AA, and the house this year.
(It would have been a lot less, nearly a third of that was my 18 year old daughters car, hers actually broke the trend, after shopping around it went up £27 this year, her renewal was £250 more than last year)

cajef

TBH I think auto renew has been done to death on these forums though it does keep resurrecting, there are those who are for it and those against, most that post complaining are those that have not bothered to read the original terms and conditions of their policy, do not read the renewal notice or just ignore it, some have not notified any change of address and therefore claim to have never received it.

Whether auto renew is a good thing or not is really a matter of opinion, as long as the insurance companies can use it they are obviously going to keep doing so, as has been said many times it is up to the customer to shop around and make sure they get what they want, it is no good complaining after the event.