Caught by auto-renewal - Accidentally insured twice.

happywarmgun

I was very aware when the new rules about auto renewal came in a few years ago and always made a point of asking to not be on auto-renewal. Being an MSE type I change insurers each year and do so through quidco for the cashback and pay annually in one go.

With horror this year I received two notices that my renewal was due from different insurance companies - suggesting we'd been insured for the year twice.

On inspection, one of them is from last year's insurer which had auto-renewed me. I know people will have little sympathy (how could I not notice several hundred quid going out of my credit card?). In mitigation I was away last Feb when it renewed, I may have clocked the insurance on the credit card, but looking at the records my new insurer had me paying by debit card - so I didn't clock two insurances on the same statement.

My issue is that I can't see how I can prove that I would have said to insurer one not to renew. It will have been 24 months since I spoke to them (i.e. 24 months since I took out the first policy, including 12 months whilst the ghost policy has been running). Also I had gone 'paperless' with insurer one so all correspondence was email. They may well have emailed me to say that they had renewed me, but I may not have read it, I can find no record using mail search. I don't see how I can 'prove' this one way or other.

Save using my story as a warning to everyone to check their auto-renewal status with their insurers, can anyone give me any guidance if there is any precedent of insurance companies being in any way sympathetic or backing down in cases like this? I feel I've been fleeced by 450 quid here.

DCFC79

You can ask the insurer, they might ask for some proof of you already being insured.

happywarmgun

DCFC79 wrote: »

You can ask the insurer, they might ask for some proof of you already being insured.

Well, I'm going to give it go. (It's Aviva). I'm just a bit worried that no matter how I phrase the story all the call-center person on the end of the line is going to *choose* to hear is a version of "Hi. I paid for a policy with you last year, a year on I didn't make any claims, and now I would like my money back".

But perhaps I'm unkind to and down on big corps. Let's see how I go.

wongataa

You should have paid more attention to the correspondence from your insurance companies at renewal time.

InsideInsurance

The norm is to send evidence of the other policy to show you had dual insurance. It doesnt give you an automatic right to a refund but most insurers are sympathetic to the situation.

No idea what new rules you are talking about though, autorenewal has been around for decades

firefox1956

Probably better to be insured twice rather than not at all !!!!

good_advice

Good morning.
What a sad story! £450 for nothing.
A costly lesson to be more carefull checking what goes out of your bank.
We all make mistakes, it is just part of our bummpy road.

[Deleted User]

happywarmgun wrote: »

I was very aware when the new rules about auto renewal came in a few years ago and always made a point of asking to not be on auto-renewal. Being an MSE type I change insurers each year and do so through quidco for the cashback and pay annually in one go.

With horror this year I received two notices that my renewal was due from different insurance companies - suggesting we'd been insured for the year twice.

On inspection, one of them is from last year's insurer which had auto-renewed me. I know people will have little sympathy (how could I not notice several hundred quid going out of my credit card?). In mitigation I was away last Feb when it renewed, I may have clocked the insurance on the credit card, but looking at the records my new insurer had me paying by debit card - so I didn't clock two insurances on the same statement.

My issue is that I can't see how I can prove that I would have said to insurer one not to renew. It will have been 24 months since I spoke to them (i.e. 24 months since I took out the first policy, including 12 months whilst the ghost policy has been running). Also I had gone 'paperless' with insurer one so all correspondence was email. They may well have emailed me to say that they had renewed me, but I may not have read it, I can find no record using mail search. I don't see how I can 'prove' this one way or other.

Save using my story as a warning to everyone to check their auto-renewal status with their insurers, can anyone give me any guidance if there is any precedent of insurance companies being in any way sympathetic or backing down in cases like this? I feel I've been fleeced by 450 quid here.

Hi happywarmgun

I'd be happy to look into this for you. If you can email me the following details to social@aviva.co.uk

Full name
Date of birth
Post code
Policy / reference number
MSE Username (So I can link your email to this post)

I'll investigate and do all I can to help get this sorted for you

Kind Regards

Dave
Aviva Social Media team

happywarmgun

For those interested - kudos to the avivia chap above - a full refund has been processed.

Lesson to me: Check, and double check auto-renewals.....

gargoylejones

So glad you got your money back!
Sorry for dragging a post up from the grave, but I have just discovered that I have been caught by the auto renew trap!
Its for my husbands care insurance, I do the online stuff so got the quote, then he has to cancel the previous one as it would be in his name. My insurance was with swift cover, the insurance has been running for about 4 years, but two years ago we went with aviva, then this year up to july we went with general accident. As the policy is in his name, I cannot do the cancelling.
I am so cheesed off that I had not spotted it, Swiftcover say that we are not entitled to anything so looks like we have lost about £500.
Been so busy setting up my own business and looking after my twin girls the past couple of years its been overlooked :-(
I am getting them to check through their phone logs to see if we phoned to cancel. Even if they found something, they said I prob wouldn't be entitled to a penny.
Is there any glimmer of hope or any suggestions to possibly get any of the money back?

GingerBob_3

wongataa wrote: »

You should have paid more attention to the correspondence from your insurance companies at renewal time.

Well spotted. Have you got any other useful advice?