AA Auto Car Insurance Renewal!

KD38

Hi all,

I am currently in dispute with AA, they auto renewed my car insurance with a 100% increase in premium, and I did not receive the letter a month later (who knows why, it could be that it got sent to my neighbours address who was currently on holiday and then they sent it back when they got back, but what ever the reason).

I declared my car SORN from the 1st December, when the auto renew started. A month later, when I found out my car insurance had been auto renewed I rang them up instantly to explain to them the situation, how I did not receive the letters in time, so therefore I was unable to negotiate or reject their 100% increase in my premium, also how I had no intention of driving the car, hence why I had declared it SORN.

They told me I had to pay £600 for the insurance, when I had no knowledge about or even agreed to this auto renewal, due to circumstances that I had no control over.

One of their advisors said, that I could send the proof of SORN and they will either take a look at it, or it could waiver the payments. I am sure the advisor said sending of the proof of SORN would be enough, but they are saying that the advisor said they could take a look at it. Either way, they said they would listen to the call and get back to me.

AA then told me they would contact me about the situation, which they did not, I had to ring them back, and then after speaking to a new advisor, she had told me they had listened to the call, and then paused briefly, put me on hold, and then came back to tell me the complaints department would contact me.

2 weeks later, no one had contacted me; so again, I decided to chase them up, spoke to another advisor, and they told me, they would not offer me a refund, even though I had no knowledge of the auto renewal, had, due to receiving the letter late, so I could not negotiate or reject it, also the fact that I had no intention of using the car and provided the proof of SORN to show that I had no insurable interest. They said, it was my responsibility for me to know when my car insurance had run out. But after repeating my situation, they are still refusing to give me a refund.

Can anyone give me some advice, it would be appreciated!

jwruk

It's probable that you agreed for the policy to auto-renew when you took out the initial policy last year, the AA would have specified this in their Ts&Cs.

The AA would then send you a reminder letter out of courtesy prior to the renewal date, but as post goes missing there is a possibility that you didn't receive it.

You're unlikely to get a complete refund, but if you can cancel the insurance policy you may be entitled to a partial refund.

Instead of phoning, try writing a letter. Send it recorded delivery so you have proof that it was delivered. Be concise with the facts (nothing about 'a letter might have gone to a neighbour blah blah'), highlight that your vehicle has been declared SORN and provide proof of this. Ask to cancel the policy, and request confirmation within Xdays.

dogshome

Not just the AA, pretty much every insurer is at the 'Rolling Renewal' lark.
The permission to do this is buried away in the small print of the the insurance documents you received, but within this there is an option to opt out, usually by phoning a specified number - But for the cost of a 2nd class stamp I still opt out in writing

The_AA_Company_Representative

Hello there. Can I invite you to call our Customer Care team on 0845 608 2818, Option 1, so we can address your concerns in detail.

dieselglider

Direct Line also do auto-renewal by default, with seemingly no option to opt out. I have found a work around however, by paying with a different named credit card. It's actually my credit card account, but use the spare unused card which is in my wife's name.

mikey72

dieselglider wrote: »

Direct Line also do auto-renewal by default, with seemingly no option to opt out. I have found a work around however, by paying with a different named credit card. It's actually my credit card account, but use the spare unused card which is in my wife's name.

Doesn't normally work.

Either they renew, and debit the other persons card, then they may refund, but sell the debt to debt collectors, or

they renew, and sell the debt to debt collectors.

Most people are of the belief, "it's in the t&c's, so it must be legal, it's my own fault for not spotting it, and it's my fault I never received the renewal letter", and pay up regardless.

dieselglider

mikey72 wrote: »

Doesn't normally work.

Has done for the last couple of times with our Direct Line policies.

mikey72

Direct Line don't have a coherent policy on auto renew

14. Automatic renewal

We may automatically renew your policy on the renewal date. If we plan to automatically renew, we will let you know we are planning to do this before your cover ends together with sending you details of the renewal premium. If you do not want to renew this policy, you should let us know before the renewal date.

They can't even decide if they will or won't, let alone the t&c's for when they do.

KD38

Thank you all for the replies! Much appreciated!

Forgive me for being ignorant, for I am very new to this stuff, but what would the difference be with me writing a letter or ringing them?

Also, I have no idea why I received the letter late, but the thing is, I had no way of stopping the auto-renewal or even negotiating, because I only found out a month later, regardless of the reason why, I just wanted them to try and understand from my point of view, but that seemed to fail.

I sent them the email of the proof of my SORN, but they said, even though it was SORN, if it was to be damaged they still would have allowed me to claim. But it still doesn't change the fact that I had no idea of the renewal, due to receiving the letter late (for what ever reason it was), so I couldn't negotiate or even reject it because the letter basically said if I did not reply to that letter, they would just automatically renew my contract anyway.

AARepresentative, I have already spoken to AA advisors already and a number of times they said they would contact me, but it ended up in me having to chase them, but they sound firm that I am not going to get my refund, so I ended up seeking help from the Financial Ombudsman Service.

dieselglider

One tip for the future, I use Gmail calender to notify me one month in advance of when any of my insurance policies are due. I do this for two reasons, to give me a chance to shop around for cheaper quotes, and to prevent them from lapsing. In your case, it could have given you a head start regarding potential renewal.

wealdroam

KD38 wrote: »

Forgive me for being ignorant, for I am very new to this stuff, but what would the difference be with me writing a letter or ringing them?

Did you ask this in response to the suggestion...

jwruk wrote: »

Instead of phoning, try writing a letter. Send it recorded delivery so you have proof that it was delivered.

On of the points of writing a letter is that you have proof of exactly what you have asked of them.
The point of recorded delivery is that hopefully you will have proof that they have received it.
It is too easy for it to be denied that a phone call ever took place, and equally easy to deny exactly what was said and by who.