Forgot to cancel car auto-renew - what can I do?

owen22

Hi all,


My car insurer (Admiral) recently sent me a renewal quote and I had every intention of searching around for a better deal but the letter got buried under other stuff and I stupidly forgot all about it.


Although the renewal date expired 2 days ago, I've not yet paid for the renewal as they tried to take the payment from an old bank account, so it got declined.


I've read about 14-day 'cooling off' periods for cancelling policies but this has only been in reference to new, rather than renewed, policies.


Is there anything I can do?

spadoosh

Have you tried doing anything yet?

Ring them, tell them you either do or dont want the insurance policy and pay or dont depending onwhich you want.

Bear in mind you are quite likely tobe driving around now whilst ununinsured.

If you do not wish to renew with admiral there a chance that there might be some charges to pay for cancelling the policy. It not unusual for them to be fairly forgiving the sooner you do it. No guarantees though.

owen22

spadoosh wrote: »

Have you tried doing anything yet?

Ring them, tell them you either do or dont want the insurance policy and pay or dont depending onwhich you want.

Bear in mind you are quite likely tobe driving around now whilst ununinsured.

If you do not wish to renew with admiral there a chance that there might be some charges to pay for cancelling the policy. It not unusual for them to be fairly forgiving the sooner you do it. No guarantees though.

No, not done anything yet as it was the e-mail sent 5 mins ago about the declined payment that reminded me I hadn't dealt with it!


Just wanted to check my rights before I called them

uk1

Until you make a payment to renew the policy, it hasn't renewed so cannot be the subject to a cancellation charge as mentioned previously. You are only subject to the terms and conditions and can only cancel a policy that is in force. Call them and tell them that you had decided not to renew and are going elsewhere. Ensure you have cover before you drive.

owen22

uk1 wrote: »

Until you make a payment to renew the policy, it hasn't renewed so cannot be the subject to a cancellation charge as mentioned previously. You are only subject to the terms and conditions and can only cancel a policy that is in force. Call them and tell them that you had decided not to renew and are going elsewhere. Ensure you have cover before you drive.

This is what I was hoping!


Will be calling Admiral in a minute so let's see what they say...

uk1

owen22 wrote: »

This is what I was hoping!


Will be calling Admiral in a minute so let's see what they say...

If you had used the automated bank system to move accounts it's odd that they didn't inform Admiral of your new account. Even if you hade, and it had renewed, you could have had your bank cancel it under the Direct Debit Guarantee.

However, I'd say to them that when you moved bank accounts you informed everyone that you planned to continue with and they were not on that list. Goodbyeee ....