Car insurance auto renewed - no confirmation

Wiltshirelad

Hi all,
So basically, I was insured with admiral for a year, but at the end of the policy I bought a new car and changed to elephant insurance. The issue was that I failed to realise that my policy automaticly renewed, and it wasn't until my bank statement came through today (35 days after the policy started) that I realised that I had been debited by £700.

Now, I will admit this is my fault, I should of read the small print. However, what I do feel is a bit off, is that I never received any confirmation of renewing with admiral. No welcoming letter/ email thanking me for renewing and no email of my documents, which is what would of rang the alarm bells.

Is this right? In admirals document titled 'Your Agreement with the EUI limited' it states that "If you cancel your Admiral Motor Insurance policy within 14 days from the receipt of your welcome letter or email, EUI Limited will make an intermediary charge of £25.00" But if I did not receive an email/ letter how would I know when the 14 days start?

I understand that there is little I can do in this situation, but I just feel cheated by the insurance company.

Thanks, Dave.

forgotmyname

The 14 days starts when the policy renewed. I presume the renewal notice was sent several weeks before the renewal and said that you need to contact them otherwise it will autorenew?

Esmerelda2004

very similar thing happened to me today they increased my premium even though I have not claimed and have 1 more years no claims .. surely it should go down .. not UP !

Received no documents, no email, text nothing ..I just happened to see it on my credit card statement.

Im 2 days past the cooling off period and explained all this to them and Micheal in customer service just kept reading from a script .. if i want to "shop around "I have to pay the cancellation fee and 16 days cover ... nearly £100 (my insurance last year was £386) on a 10 year old golf!! what a rip off
I figure £386 / 352 (days in the year) = £1.95 per day insurance

how can they charge me £100 for 16 days cover !! ..and "cancellation fee" big wigs ripping people off .. they shouldnt be allowed to pull these tricks ..

auto renew at a higher price with no notification to you

(why they dont send automated texts,emails, documents ?? they send them in the "post " which NEVER ARRIVE !!)

Charge a huge cancellation fee !

dunstonh

Now, I will admit this is my fault, I should of read the small print.

It isnt small print. it is in the main letter telling you what you should do next.

However, what I do feel is a bit off, is that I never received any confirmation of renewing with admiral.

You got the initial email/letter giving price and what happens next etc.

nearly £100 (my insurance last year was £386) on a 10 year old golf!! what a rip off

So, do you think that a claim on your policy would be materially less if you run a pedestrian over compared to someone with a new golf worth a lot more?

pinkteapot

I do sympathise. We're with Admiral and for the last two years we haven't received our renewal price/schedule etc, which we always used to get a few weeks before the renewal date.

I phoned a week before renewal each time and they said they'd sent it out, but we hadn't received it. I might believe it had gone astray once, but not two years in a row. They re-sent and we got it.

Even with a policy on auto-renewal, I still expect an email or letter prior to renewal, confirming the price for the coming year and details they hold. Other insurers do this. It's bad that you have to chase to get it.

Good luck cancelling the policy and my only advice for the future is to phone and phone again when you cancel. Phone to cancel, then phone a week later to check the policy is in fact cancelled.

Admiral do also whack up your premium at renewal, but it's easy to negotiate down. Last year, our policy was about £350. This year, when we finally got our renewal quote it was about £500. Got a few quotes online, phoned Admiral, and with no argument at all, without them having any proof I'd actually got other quotes, they dropped their price back to what we'd paid the prior year. They make money out of the people who just auto-renew and don't bother haggling the price.

rudekid48

Seeing as Elephant is an Admiral brand, there shouldn't be any issue sorting it out.

FutureGirl

When I was with Admiral, everything was done online, so I never received anything in the post - not even renewal information, this was also posted online on to my online account.