Home Insurance Lapsed - Renewal Declined - ESure

Andy_B1

My home insurance policy with Esure lapsed in November as i did not phone up to renew it. Mistakenly i assumed that it would be automatically renewed as have all other insurance policies i have ever had.

I only discovered this after the recent theft of 2 bicycles. On contacting Esure they refused to quote to renew the insurance as it had lapsed for more than 3 months.

This now leaves me in the situation of having to tick the box "have you ever been declined insurance" for the rest of my life meaning the vast majority of companies on comparison websites also refuse to quote.

I have had continuous home insurance for 20 years and have only ever made 1 claim previously.

Is there anything i can do?

katejo

Andy_B1 wrote: »

My home insurance policy with Esure lapsed in November as i did not phone up to renew it. Mistakenly i assumed that it would be automatically renewed as have all other insurance policies i have ever had.

I only discovered this after the recent theft of 2 bicycles. On contacting Esure they refused to quote to renew the insurance as it had lapsed for more than 3 months.

This now leaves me in the situation of having to tick the box "have you ever been declined insurance" for the rest of my life meaning the vast majority of companies on comparison websites also refuse to quote.

I have had continuous home insurance for 20 years and have only ever made 1 claim previously.

Is there anything i can do?

Perhaps appeal on the grounds that you had been with them for so long (almost claim free) and that your failure to renew was a genuine human error not deliberate evasion. I have never insured with them so can't predict whether it would work.

rs65

Andy_B1 wrote: »

This now leaves me in the situation of having to tick the box "have you ever been declined insurance" for the rest of my life meaning the vast majority of companies on comparison websites also refuse to quote.

Pick an insurer and explain the circumstances. Not all will regard that as 'insurance declined'.

Remember, you also have a loss to declare.

shop-to-drop

If they refused to quote will that be recorded as refused insurance?

Parking_Trouble

It seems strange that your insurer has refused to quote purely because it was 3 months since the previous policy ended. Why would they not give you a quote unless there is something about your circumstances they don't like?

Perhaps there are other reasons relating to their risk appetite? The theft of the bicycles or a change of risk to the area you live in.

If there is any evidence that suggested they failed to auto-renew you may have a case for complaint to the FOS.
Might also be worth complaining if they have solely refused to renew because of the 3 months gap.