Is Auto Renewal Of Car Insurance Legal?

sayhereford

I moved house in August and forgot to renew my car insurance. In Septeber I took out a Tesco policy. I have now received a bill from Admiral (previous insurer) stating they had automatically renewed their policy and when I told them I didn't now want it they charged me £45 to cancell it and had to pay a total of £68. Is this like the bank charges fraud? Can someone advise......

dunstonh

Is this like the bank charges fraud?

What bank charge fraud? There is no evidence yet to say that bank charges were unlawful.

Either way, this is nothing like penalty charges for going overdrawn as it isnt a charge. It is the cost of a retail product that you bought and then an admin charge to cancel it.

Auto renewal is legal at this time and is in the contract you agreed when you took the policy out. Indeed, the auto-renewal stopped you from breaking the law when you forgot to deal with the renewal.

The charge for cancellation is valid as you are asking them to do admin work on your policy and its only fair that you pay that and not everyone else.

DaisyFlower

Lucky for you that the did auto-renew otherwise you would have been driving around with no insurance for a month.

sayhereford

Strong replies indeed.......from the company itself perhaps? The car hasn't been used for over two months so would not have been driving illegally and if the bank charge situation isn't illegal how come Martin says it is? Just because someone tells you in writing something is going to happen does not make it legal!

free4440273

^I'm no expert, but even if they do auto-renewal on your behalf, isn't one allowed a thirty day money back guarantee. For example, with my Halifax home/contents insurance I am always allowed a thirty day money back guarantee if I change my mind and wish to renew with someone else

lisyloo

Hi Sayhereford

Strong replies indeed.......from the company itself perhaps?

Just because people have a different opinion doesn't mean there is a conspiracy against you :-)

I will try to be helpful.
Admin fees for cancellation are not illegal.
Some bank charges are illegal because they are penalties.
This is not a penalty - it's an admin fee.
Admiral will have told you about the auto-renewal (somewhere in the the documentation). If you missed it then sorry, but you still have to pay for the cost of cancellation.
Admin fees are legal.

if the bank charge situation isn't illegal how come Martin says it is?

Legally bank penalty charges are different to fees for admin costs.

isn't one allowed a thirty day money back guarantee

This isn't a legal right.
This is a voluntary arrangement by Halifax.

Hope that helps

raskazz

sayhereford wrote: »

Strong replies indeed.......from the company itself perhaps? The car hasn't been used for over two months so would not have been driving illegally and if the bank charge situation isn't illegal how come Martin says it is? Just because someone tells you in writing something is going to happen does not make it legal!

So if the car was not used did you SORN it?

The previous replies you had are entirely correct.

When you signed up you agreed to continuous payment authority. Most insurers allow you to opt out of this if you wish. You clearly did not, therefore the automatic renewal is perfectly legal - and, as as others pointed out, could have saved you from being stopped without insurance. If you did not receive the renewal notice then I'm afraid you must shoulder responsibility for not realising the renewal was due and not informing your insurer of the new address.

The charge for time on cover is perfectly fair. Let's face it, if the car had been stolen during this period you would have claimed for it and the insurer would have paid out.

Learn your lesson - take responsibility for your own actions - or in this case, lack of action.

lisyloo

So if the car was not used did you SORN it?

As far as I am aware there is no obligation to do this (providing it's taxed of course).

raskazz

lisyloo wrote: »

As far as I am aware there is no obligation to do this (providing it's taxed of course).

I know there is no obligation to - but if the car was genuinely not being used then most people would do this and get a tax refund, and then would also realise that insurance could be cancelled at the same time...

RibAd

Yes it's legal

and it's alll there in black and white - just read your documents and RENEWAL NOTICE

tom188

and if the bank charge situation isn't illegal how come Martin says it is?

Maybe unlawful, but certainly not illegal