Insure and Go auto renewal

okigen

Hi guys,

I received a quote from Insure and Go a few days ago for renewal of my travel insurance policy last year. I thought it was just a marketing letter so threw it into the bin. Anyway, today they charged my card.

I bought 3 annual travel insurances from Insure and Go previously and now realise all 3 of them contained a small note in  the policy that it will be auto renewed. However, this is the first time I actually received a quote and also the first time the policy was actually renewed (I checked my bank statements).

Is this legal? And how come I've never been charged before if all three of them are meant to auto renew every year? I suspect it may be because in 2 other cases I happened moved house shortly after buying the policy, but then how do they know I moved/not moved in order to charge me?

dunstonh

Is this legal?

yes

And how come I've never been charged before if all three of them are meant to auto renew every year?

Mistake. One you may wish to keep quiet about.  Or maybe you missed the payment on your statements.

I suspect it may be because in 2 other cases I happened moved house shortly after buying the policy, but then how do they know I moved/not moved in order to charge me?

Continuous payment authorities do not need your current address or even expiry date on the card.

okigen

dunstonh said:

Is this legal?

yes

And how come I've never been charged before if all three of them are meant to auto renew every year?

Mistake. One you may wish to keep quiet about.  Or maybe you missed the payment on your statements.

I suspect it may be because in 2 other cases I happened moved house shortly after buying the policy, but then how do they know I moved/not moved in order to charge me?

Continuous payment authorities do not need your current address or even expiry date on the card.

Many thanks Dunstonh,

I'm gonna call them to cancel auto-renew on the one policy they have just charged me. Should I tell them to cancel on the other 3 as well? I don't want the scenerio where they suddenly remember the other 3 and continue to charge me next year.

(Actually, I've just gone back through all my files and realised I bought 4 policies in total, which makes it even more curious why I havent been charged lol One thing I suddenly remember, is that it may be the case of my debit card being cancelled so they can't charge. Not sure if this is the case though, for the last one I used Amex and continued to be charged even though the old one was cancelled).

okigen

Just some updates. So fortunately on InsureandGo you can check details of insurance policies you have bought. It turns out all of my previous policies do not have Autorenew on (don't know why), except the last one which they now charged. I have contacted their agent to cancel.

In addition, per their T&Cs, the renewed policy is only valid if card details have not changed, which in my case automatically make all of them invalid because my cards have all been replaced 😕 Not sure why they still managed to charge my Amex for the last one, because that card was changed too.

Personally I feel this is very cheeky. Of course it's my fault for not reading T&Cs carefully, but such an important term like auto renewal could really be displayed somewhere more prominently than page 5 of a 30-page-ish booklet, out of 3 big pdfs which you receive when purchase.

TELLIT01

Was the one which auto renewed an annual policy and the others single trip?  It's not just Insure and Go which has the auto-renewal system, although I don't actually agree with that happening.  Household and motor insurance are somewhat different in that they really are essentials and provide protection in the event of an oversight and forgetting to renew. 

okigen

TELLIT01 said:

Was the one which auto renewed an annual policy and the others single trip?  It's not just Insure and Go which has the auto-renewal system, although I don't actually agree with that happening.  Household and motor insurance are somewhat different in that they really are essentials and provide protection in the event of an oversight and forgetting to renew. 

No  they  are all annual policies. I normally buy a new one whenever I need them, without realising the policies were meant to auto renew. On Insure and Go website it looks like  all of my policies are actually set to not be renewed, except the last one, not sure why. Maybe autorenew is just a new thing they do in recent years.

Anyway, their T&Cs say autorenewal is invalid if my card details have changed, so in my case that means all of them are invalid now.

But I agree, autorenewal should be something customers opt in for travel insurance.

katejo

okigen said:

Hi guys,

I received a quote from Insure and Go a few days ago for renewal of my travel insurance policy last year. I thought it was just a marketing letter so threw it into the bin. Anyway, today they charged my card.

I bought 3 annual travel insurances from Insure and Go previously and now realise all 3 of them contained a small note in  the policy that it will be auto renewed. However, this is the first time I actually received a quote and also the first time the policy was actually renewed (I checked my bank statements).

Is this legal? And how come I've never been charged before if all three of them are meant to auto renew every year? I suspect it may be because in 2 other cases I happened moved house shortly after buying the policy, but then how do they know I moved/not moved in order to charge me?

I assume that you have no pre existing health conditions to declare? I was with Insure & go for several years until this year when I couldn't renew in Feb due to a pending hospital test. Each time they wouldn't renew without asking all the medical questions again. I wasn't allowed to say that nothing had changed. They sent me a quote in the post but I had to either ring to answer their questions or apply again online for a new policy.