Elephant auto-renewed my car insurance without telling me

itm2

Has anyone else had experience of their car insurance being automatically renewed by Elephant.co.uk without so much as a prior letter or email? I've just been the victim of this and have emailed them to demand a refund.
Are insurance companies legally allowed to auto-renew without notifying the customer beforehand?

WantToBeSE

I thought this was the norm?
I know that when i was with elephant, they did specify that they would auto-renew unless i requested that they didn't.

itm2

WantToBeSE wrote: »

I thought this was the norm?
I know that when i was with elephant, they did specify that they would auto-renew unless i requested that they didn't.

You mean without even telling you what the renewal premium would be? Are people really happy to write blank cheques to them every year for their renewals?

notanewuser

Good job by the sounds of it. How long would you have driven around uninsured otherwise?

itm2

notanewuser wrote: »

Good job by the sounds of it. How long would you have driven around uninsured otherwise?

Not exactly. I re-insured with a different (cheaper) company 2 weeks ago. I've just read the proposal, schedule and certificate and none of them mention auto-renewal.
Auto-renewing without even the courtesy of a renewal letter/email smacks of sharp practice to me.

notanewuser

itm2 wrote: »

Not exactly. I re-insured with a different (cheaper) company 2 weeks ago. I've just read the proposal, schedule and certificate and none of them mention auto-renewal.
Auto-renewing without even the courtesy of a renewal letter/email smacks of sharp practice to me.

How do you know they were cheaper if you never revived a renewal notice?

itm2

notanewuser wrote: »

How do you know they were cheaper if you never revived a renewal notice?

Er...because I've just seen the amount that Elephant debited from my bank account without warning.

notanewuser

itm2 wrote: »

Er...because I've just seen the amount that Elephant debited from my bank account without warning.

But 2 weeks ago you didn't know they'd be cheaper, did you? So why change insurers?

itm2

notanewuser wrote: »

But 2 weeks ago you didn't know they'd be cheaper, did you? So why change insurers?

Yes I did - they showed up further down the page on Confused.com

McKneff

You would have given them permission to renew when you took the original policy out.

Yes, you maybe should have had a letter reminding you, but the ultimate responsibility lies with you. I know exactly which month all of my insurances are due.

You have no idea actually how many people come on here and say they didn't receive their reminder letters. They cant all have been lost in the post.

vaio

itm2 wrote: »

Yes I did - they showed up further down the page on Confused.com

and that was a new business quote so renewal was likely twice that