Car insurance company's stitch up

Faith177

Just_landed wrote: »

Janice Long just been talking about this same situation with Alex Lester on the radio 2, saying the same as what I say about this subject, I will not say what she said to the insurance company, but it wasn't polite. Martin was talking about this kind of thing a couple of weeks ago. This story will gain momentum when people realise what is happening. It's a con !

:mad: :mad:

Auto renewing has been happening for at least the last 10 years that I know of.

People complain when their policies don't auto renew an they end up with an IN10 they complain when they do auto renew. Insurance companies can't win.

By writing to you they are giving you a choice take their quote or go elsewhere it is really quite easy when you think about it.

dunstonh

Just_landed wrote: »

Janice Long just been talking about this same situation with Alex Lester on the radio 2, saying the same as what I say about this subject, I will not say what she said to the insurance company, but it wasn't polite. Martin was talking about this kind of thing a couple of weeks ago. This story will gain momentum when people realise what is happening. It's a con !

:mad: :mad:

Its not a con. You get your letter. You are told what to do. The only people that seem to suffer are those too lazy to read their letters. We have seen people on this site who would have benefited from auto-renewal as they found out, too late, that they were uninsured. Most people do renew with the same company. So, there is a cost saving. A cost saving that is reflected in the premium. I will tolerate auto-renewal knowing that, whilst I prefer not to have it, I am getting a benefit from it. I am also not lazy or stupid and read letters sent to me. Especially important ones like a car insurance renewal.

A con is when something happens you were not told about. Being told in writing how much they will charge, when and what to do if you dont want to be charged is not a con.

stugib

dunstonh wrote: »

The only people that seem to suffer are those too lazy to read their letters. We have seen people on this site who would have benefited from auto-renewal as they found out, too late, that they were uninsured.

Whilst I'd agree with that, I'd also say part of the problem is that customers have the wrong model in their heads about how the process works, hence they don't read their letter because their expectation is they have paid for a year so it's irrelevant what the company is sending them.

Companies could be much more transparent by making this clearer at inception. Can still be an opt-out system, but IME the auto-renewal is explained in the policy documents, not presented as a defaulted option on purchase online or on the phone. Not surprising as it is in insurance companies interests to get renewals too!

lovinituk

stugib wrote: »

Whilst I'd agree with that, I'd also say part of the problem is that customers have the wrong model in their heads about how the process works, hence they don't read their letter because their expectation is they have paid for a year so it's irrelevant what the company is sending them.

And I'd wager that those would be the customers complaining when they got caught for no insurance because it didn't automatically renew and they 'forgot'!

stugib

lovinituk wrote: »

And I'd wager that those would be the customers complaining when they got caught for no insurance because it didn't automatically renew and they 'forgot'!

You're right, but if the consequences have been explained clearly up-front and they've understood them and still opted out then they have to take responsibility.

I'd still favour an opt-out system because of the impact on others affected by uninsured drivers (even unintentional ones).

lovinituk

stugib wrote: »

You're right, but if the consequences have been explained clearly up-front and they've understood them and still opted out then they have to take responsibility.

I'd still favour an opt-out system because of the impact on others affected by uninsured drivers (even unintentional ones).

If they ignore the letters from the insurer about an auto renewal, then why would they suddenly start reading letters about manual renewal? I'd rather have those that can't organise their paperwork 'accidentally insured' rather than 'accidentally un-insured'!

stugib

lovinituk wrote: »

If they ignore the letters from the insurer about an auto renewal, then why would they suddenly start reading letters about manual renewal? I'd rather have those that can't organise their paperwork 'accidentally insured' rather than 'accidentally un-insured'!

My theory is that cause of many not reading them is that their mental model is they're buying an annual policy and that's the end of it. Confusion is caused by the industry not correcting this misconception because it's commercially advantageous not to.

The overwhelming number of complaints about this that we see on here are from those that have arranged insurance elsewhere (though granted no one would come on to post how grateful they were they'd auto-renewed).

Guess it depends where you sit on the spectrum of individual responsibility versus 'we know what's best'.

vaio

I suspect most people don't have a problem with auto-renew.

What they have a problem with is the 25 or 50% "loyal customer tax" per year that insurers add to renewals.

That seems sneaky and we expect insurers not to be sneaky.

There was a recent thread about some old dear who let her house insurance auto renew for (from memory) 10 years, this years premium was £1200+. One of her children spotted it and hit the comparison sites and took out equivalent cover for about £120.

I would hope (and my mother's generation would expect) that my insurer is going to look after my interests and offer me the best deal they can as a loyal customer, in today's reality it appears that insurers are treating loyal customers as idiots and penalising loyalty

lovinituk

vaio wrote: »

I would hope (and my mother's generation would expect) that my insurer is going to look after my interests and offer me the best deal they can as a loyal customer, in today's reality it appears that insurers are treating loyal customers as idiots and penalising loyalty

I change car and house insurers every year because they have never reflected any respect in my loyalty in their renewal prices! I thought this was widely know (and expected?).

vaio

yep, I "hope" but my parents generation (80+) grew up in a time when insurers did value their customers and could be trusted to look after the customers' interests. Just like the old dear with the house insurance thought