Home Insurance - Continuous Payment Authority?

TomsMom

I am looking at quotes for renewing my house insurance, current insurer's renewal has come through far higher than the quotes I'm looking at.

I've got one in mind at the moment -M & S [with Axa] - very good price (but still looking at alternatives) but upon looking through the small print it says you're setting up a Continuous Payment Authority with the wording:

"This means we are authorised to automatically renew your policy and apply for renewal payments from your account every year, even if your card has expired, until you instruct us to stop. We will do this unless you have asked us not to renew your policy automatically. ................................ To ask us not to renew your policy automatically in future please call us on ......."

I know we should be wary of CPAs. I haven't got as far as buying the policy yet but also haven't seen a way of opting out of automatic renewals.

Do you have to take out the policy and then at some point following ring them up and tell them not to automatically renew?

Has this become standard with all companies? I've checked Axa direct for a quote and they've come out dearer than M & S.

[Deleted User]

It's not standard with all, but quite common.

To ask them not to, you'll need to call them, as in their wording.

TomsMom

Deleted_User wrote: »

It's not standard with all, but quite common.

To ask them not to, you'll need to call them, as in their wording.

Thank you. I'll make sure I look out for it then

agrinnall

I was quite surprised to find that my Home Insurance with the Co-op did not include a CPA so I didn't need to cancel it after deciding to move to another provider.

EdGasket

Probably best to let them know at renewal time if you don't want to renew; otherwise they just might forget and take your money anyway and 'lose' the recording of your telephone conversation where you told them you didn't want a CPA.

rs65

TomsMom wrote: »

Do you have to take out the policy and then at some point following ring them up and tell them not to automatically renew?

You've quoted the bit that says just that.

takman

When I had M&S for my last car insurance they had the same automatic renewal and CPA. When you ring up you can cancel either one of them or both. They try and get you to keep the CPA so they can take payment automatically for any policy changes to make it "easier" for you. I cancelled both about a week after I took out the policy and the renewal letter confirmed that it would not automatically renew.

eddddy

Personally, I would always opt for automatic renewal, because of the 'safety net' it provides, in the unlikely event that I 'forget' to renew because I'm on holiday etc.

At renewal time, if I'm going through the 'hassle' of trying all the comparison sites, comparing cover levels with different insurers etc, it's only a trivial bit of extra effort to phone my current insurer to cancel the renewal.

So far I've never forgotten to cancel a renewal, when I've taken out a new policy.

(And typically, when I phone to cancel a renewal, insurers will take that opportunity to offer me a better deal, to persuade me to stay.)