Automatic car insurance renewal - Elephant

gwowders

My car insurance with Elephant seems to have been automatically renewed without them sending me any confirmation that it was about to happen.

Admittedly I hadn't checked when the policy was due to expire and renew - I usually rely on the insurers reminder notes to prompt me to start shopping for cheap deals again...

Annoyingly I am now outside of my cool off period... is there anything that I can do?

It wouldn't be so bad if the new price wasn't over £120 more expensive than last years!!!

Does it make a difference that its a finance deal (I pay by DD) ???

Thanks in advance!

Ben

Ebe_Scrooge

I'm surprised you didn't receive a reminder - have you checked your email ( and possibly spam folder ), if you didn't receive anything through the old-fashioned letter-box ?


The majority of insurers these days will auto-renew unless you call them to cancel - it will have been in the small print when you first took out the policy. It does at least prevent you "accidentally" finding yourself uninsured and facing a large fine. But you're right - the premium invariably rockets for second and subsequent years, loyalty counts for nothing. Always shop around every year.


If you're outside of the cooling-off period then all you can do is cancel the policy and take out a new one elsewhere. But you're likely to be hit with cancellation and admin charges which may wipe out any savings you can make

Rainbowgirl84

gwowders wrote: »

My car insurance with Elephant seems to have been automatically renewed without them sending me any confirmation that it was about to happen.

Admittedly I hadn't checked when the policy was due to expire and renew - I usually rely on the insurers reminder notes to prompt me to start shopping for cheap deals again...

Annoyingly I am now outside of my cool off period... is there anything that I can do?

It wouldn't be so bad if the new price wasn't over £120 more expensive than last years!!!

Does it make a difference that its a finance deal (I pay by DD) ???

Thanks in advance!

Ben

So you would have been driving uninsured if it hadn't auto renewed?

gwowders

Nope - had they told me that they were about to auto-renew I would have shopped around.

Auto-renewal is great, but surely I have to be told that my premium is about to increase?!

Rainbowgirl84

gwowders wrote: »

Nope - had they told me that they were about to auto-renew I would have shopped around.

Auto-renewal is great, but surely I have to be told that my premium is about to increase?!

Post goes missing in the Royal Mail system on a daily basis. Just because you didn't recieve a letter doesn't mean it wasn't sent. I fail to see how you would be insured if it hadn't autorenewed as you had failed to remember it was due for renewal.

gwowders

Again, auto-renewal is fine but surely I have to be told that my premium is about to increase?

To not be told that the thing you were paying X for last year will now cost you X+25% is surely a little off?

Anyway, looks like there isn't a great deal that can be done about it so it is what it is...

Ebe_Scrooge

gwowders wrote: »

Again, auto-renewal is fine but surely I have to be told that my premium is about to increase?

To not be told that the thing you were paying X for last year will now cost you X+25% is surely a little off?

.

You will have been told - maybe you threw out the envelope that came through the letter box, thinking it was junk mail ( an easy mistake to make ! ). Maybe they emailed you and it hit your junk folder. Maybe the postman lost the letter.

To avoid this in the future, make a note in your diary for a couple of weeks before it expires next year, then you'll have plenty of time to shop around.

As others have said - if you're relying on a reminder from them, and they didn't auto-renew, then you potentially would have been driving uninsured. And that would have cost you a heck of a lot more than £120.