Home Insurance Auto-renewal - issue with cancellation

whatsmynameagain

Hello,
Basically my home insurance provider for last year set up an auto-renewal and sent notification of the renewal with quote to a financial adviser I had seen last year. This wasn't "passed" on to me as I don't have an ongoing relationship with the adviser. They have since maintained that as I hadn't responded in the 14 days from the renewal being sent out (mid Oct) the policy went ahead.

I only found out that the policy had been autorenewed as a new credit agreement was sent to my property some two weeks after the "autorenewal" date (12th Oct).

I have contacted them to cancel and state that I didn't agree to the renewal and that in any of their documentation there is no reference to autorenewal nor continued payments, the same goes fro the credit agreement.

Unfortunately I started my Home insurance policy with another company on the first of november which is a fortnight after the expiration of the previous cover.

For some reason the only way they will "cancel" the unagreed to autorenewal is if i provide them with the insurance policy that i currently have and it's start date.

Do they have grounds for this? I'm worried as there is a fortnight gap between the policies that they would state that i would have to pay the fees for the unauthorised autorenewal that they set up without my awareness... how do they stand??

1) They don't have any terms and conditions that state an autorenewal would occur

2) They sent the renewal information to a person other than the policy holder not giving me the oppurtunity to cancel

Can I ignore the calls to provide the new cover details??

dunstonh

Unfortunately I started my Home insurance policy with another company on the first of november which is a fortnight after the expiration of the previous cover.

What prompted you to buy a new policy without checking the terms of your existing policy first?

Who was the exisitng insurance provider? (all the ones I know of that are available to advisers send the renewal to client. Some will send a copy to the adviser or put it on the renewal list but cant think of one that will send the original to the adviser - exception would be a brokerage service but that is something different to what an intermediary would use).

For some reason the only way they will "cancel" the unagreed to autorenewal is if i provide them with the insurance policy that i currently have and it's start date.

it is to prove you were covered elsewhere and had dual insurance.

Do they have grounds for this?

They have a right to ask for it. Otherwise they wont refund the overlap.

1) They don't have any terms and conditions that state an autorenewal would occur

Most providers have it in their T&C.

Can I ignore the calls to provide the new cover details??

It is rarely sensible to do this as it is a credit agreement and they can lodge it as a default on your credit file which then damages your ability to get credit in future. Best get it resolved.

whatsmynameagain

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. It was my first year of home insurance as I applied and got my mortgage last year in November and so started a new policy I found on the comparison website this month thinking it would overlap by a couple of days and as I hadn't received any documentation from the then "current" policy about a new quote/renewal had a few days left rather then realising it had ended on the 12th October.

I hate auto-renewal for car insurance so always exempt myself from them. At no point on the documentation that I have from the insurers and the credit agreement suppliers does it have any reference to autorenewal or continuing payments etc.

The supplier was Berkly Aleksander

So even though I didn't agree to further cover, nor was there any notification of a new policy, nor in their T&Cs of the policy is there reference to autorenewal...

So if I supply them with the details of the new policy and start date, which was two weeks after the previous cover expired, does that mean they get to charge for those two weeks of a policy i didn't agree to and therefore a cancellation fee?

As i said even though it isn't in their T&Cs about autorenewal, i've checked and rechecked the documents since this came up!

dunstonh wrote: »

What prompted you to buy a new policy without checking the terms of your existing policy first?

Who was the exisitng insurance provider? (all the ones I know of that are available to advisers send the renewal to client. Some will send a copy to the adviser or put it on the renewal list but cant think of one that will send the original to the adviser - exception would be a brokerage service but that is something different to what an intermediary would use).



it is to prove you were covered elsewhere and had dual insurance.


They have a right to ask for it. Otherwise they wont refund the overlap.



Most providers have it in their T&C.



It is rarely sensible to do this as it is a credit agreement and they can lodge it as a default on your credit file which then damages your ability to get credit in future. Best get it resolved.

dunstonh

So if I supply them with the details of the new policy and start date, which was two weeks after the previous cover expired, does that mean they get to charge for those two weeks of a policy i didn't agree to and therefore a cancellation fee?

Probably as you didnt have a cover. It would all depend on whether your arguments are correct or not and if you can persuade them otherwise.

I'm not confident you are right on some of your points though. I have looked at their site the insurers they use all write direct to policyholder at renewal. It is the insurer themselves that auto-renews or not. It would be in the insurer's documentation.

You can but ask and put your point across and see what happens.

whatsmynameagain

Hi,
Thanks again, you are being very helpful.

I have been in communication with them and asked why they hadn't sent it to me and today they shared a copy of the letter that was addressed and sent to the financial adviser... they couldn't supply me with one addressed to myself as they didn't create one in the first place! So it's not even that it was lost in the post or whatnot!

I stated in my communication that I find it utterly bizarre that they would only send the renewal to a third party. I'm not making that up, I just don't get my head around it!:money:

Again, I've checked all documents even the Zurich information and that doesn't mention autorenewal, it's all frustrating.

So this is why I was asking, if they didn't send the information to me, how can I be accountable for the policy...

If I sent them information like the new policy number and a "convenient start date" for the other policy would they be checking that with the other insurer? As much of a bad taste that the idea puts in my mouth.... I really feel that I shouldn't be paying for anything here, it was their mistake principally not communicating with me.

My previous agreement was for 12 months alone. bah.

dunstonh wrote: »

Probably as you didnt have a cover. It would all depend on whether your arguments are correct or not and if you can persuade them otherwise.

I'm not confident you are right on some of your points though. I have looked at their site the insurers they use all write direct to policyholder at renewal. It is the insurer themselves that auto-renews or not. It would be in the insurer's documentation.

You can but ask and put your point across and see what happens.

ihateyes

whatsmynameagain wrote: »

Unfortunately I started my Home insurance policy with another company on the first of november (

i cant help but feel you want auto renewal.

What if your house burned down during you deciding on new cover. obviously you forgot here.

Your car is auto exempt. very tricky indeed, miss that by a day, and big consequences for you and your car. again what if?

whatsmynameagain

Well usually the indicator for renewal appears in the form of a document offering a renewal quote to indicate the impending date much like in car insurance... lazy but has worked for the previous 10 or so years with car insurance!

As this was setup by the Financial adviser I wasn't aware of the specific date (my fault) but without receiving the renewal quote for the home insurance believed it to be at November so thought I was pipping the post by starting it on the 1st November anway!

Won't happen again but that's neither here nor there currently! I'd love autorenewal if it was a competitive price but by going with another provider it was over a third cheaper... not £10 or £20 but over a £120...

ihateyes wrote: »

i cant help but feel you want auto renewal.

What if your house burned down during you deciding on new cover. obviously you forgot here.

Your car is auto exempt. very tricky indeed, miss that by a day, and big consequences for you and your car. again what if?

vaio

seems straightforward, if your old policy documentation doesn't mention auto-renewal then they can't auto renew and should refund you (whether or not you had insurance elsewhere).