Car Insurance Auto renewal

Burge55

When taking out my last insurance I specifically stated to the Insurance Company the fact that I did not want Auto- Renewal and made sure that it was disabled when I checked my policy on-line

However when i recieved their enewal invitation and quote I noticed this little gem to the policy renewal

"Contact us to make a payment

You can contact us before <DATE> to pay. To keep you insured, your policy will renew without payment but you'll be charged and we'll be in touch to request the outstanding balance."

So now they are telling me even though i dont want auto renewal I still have to phone then to stop them issuing new cover and then sending me the invoice.

As with all re-newal quotes the price was ridiculously high with an increase of 20% over last and over 40% higher than other quotes for the same cover.

When are insurance companies going to be stopped from  this practice of auto re-newal with inflated pricing.

Sandtree

When people develop perfect memory for their renewal dates and so never accidentally let policies lapse.

peter021072

This is so annoying, I've just spent ages on the phone stopping my AA insurance. I recall there were some rule changes on auto-renewal some years ago, can anyone remember what they were?  Is it possible to cancel the continuous payment authority or whatever they call it nowadays, without a long argument?

rs65

peter021072 said:

This is so annoying, I've just spent ages on the phone stopping my AA insurance. I recall there were some rule changes on auto-renewal some years ago, can anyone remember what they were?  Is it possible to cancel the continuous payment authority or whatever they call it nowadays, without a long argument?

Cancelling the payment method doesn't cancel the policy

I don't think there were rule changes.  There was talk that the cancellation method should equal the purchase method ie if you buy online you should be able to cancel online but don't think its close to being implemented yet

swm1

I notice that Admiral now allow you to opt-out of Auto-renew at the point of purchasing the insurance.

Other insurers should follow this example!

Perhaps we could start a list of companies that do this?

DullGreyGuy

swm1 said:

I notice that Admiral now allow you to opt-out of Auto-renew at the point of purchasing the insurance.

Other insurers should follow this example!

Perhaps we could start a list of companies that do this?

As what? A big red flag when someone rear ends you and says they think their insurer is Admiral? So actually they may well be uninsured because they didn't remember their renewal date.