Home insurance lapsed with no reminder!

Type_45

I had home insurance with Legal & General between September 2019 and September 2020.
I have just realised today that I hadn't renewed it. 

I had no emails or reminders.

And I've also, apparently, lost my NCB.

I would normally pay £200 annually. But that's now going to be £330 from today.

Anyone else done this, or have any advice? 

I've emailed L&G asking what they can do. Their phone lines are closed (despite it being Saturday afternoon).

😿

daveyjp

I had exactly the same issue at the end of November. No reminders sent before the policy expired.

Type_45

daveyjp said:

I had exactly the same issue at the end of November. No reminders sent before the policy expired.

Did you lose your no claims? 

I've now got a 3 month gap 

TELLIT01

A reminder is good customer service but not a legal requirement.  The onus is on the person requiring the insurance to remember when it expires.

Type_45

TELLIT01 said:

A reminder is good customer service but not a legal requirement.  The onus is on the person requiring the insurance to remember when it expires.

Yes I'm aware of that, thank you.

eddddy

Could they have been email reminders which ended up in your spam folder?

Maybe it's a reason to opt for a policy with auto-renewal each year. If things go wrong with communication and/or you forget about the renewal, at least you'll be covered if your house burns down!

dunstonh

Did you buy the insurance online?   Normally this method sees the notification sent via email rather than paper. 

It is not uncommon for things like this to be filtered to your spam folder as false positives.  You should always check your spam filter monthly to see if there are false positives.  Some email providers, such as Apple, dont even put a copy in your spam filter.  They filter it out and you never see it.  You have no way to see it even if it was a false positive.

With auto-renewal, it would have carried out but without auto-renewal, the insurer is not obliged to chase or do anything after the renewal date.

And I've also, apparently, lost my NCB.

Unlike car insurance, there is no NCB between providers.  it is just internal and largely a marketing thing.

Type_45

dunstonh said:

Did you buy the insurance online?   Normally this method sees the notification sent via email rather than paper. 

It is not uncommon for things like this to be filtered to your spam folder as false positives.  You should always check your spam filter monthly to see if there are false positives.  Some email providers, such as Apple, dont even put a copy in your spam filter.  They filter it out and you never see it.  You have no way to see it even if it was a false positive.

With auto-renewal, it would have carried out but without auto-renewal, the insurer is not obliged to chase or do anything after the renewal date.

And I've also, apparently, lost my NCB.

Unlike car insurance, there is no NCB between providers.  it is just internal and largely a marketing thing.

It does specifically say (when filling out details on the price comparison websites) that if you have a break in your policies then you start from scratch.

I've been a home owner for 20 years and have never claimed. But I now have to say I have zero years NCB, because otherwise if I do claim it could be said that I won't get a pay out because I gave incorrect info? 

This mistake is costing me £70. That's the extra cost of losing the 9+ years NCB. I'm now having to pay £330 rather than £260.

Type_45

I've actually just done the same price comparison checks but this time saying I have 9+ years NCB.

The prices have gone up massively when with that.

Last year I paid £196. This year it is about £296.

I guess prices have simply gone up this year.

Grumpy_chap

I can only imagine reminder e-mails went to spam / junk folder.  It must be in L&G's interest to sell you the next year's cover.  I assume you weren't on auto-renew?

Chalk it up to experience and be grateful you did not need to claim while not covered.

Type_45

Grumpy_chap said:

I can only imagine reminder e-mails went to spam / junk folder.  It must be in L&G's interest to sell you the next year's cover.  I assume you weren't on auto-renew?

Chalk it up to experience and be grateful you did not need to claim while not covered.

Yes, exactly. I'm lucky I've simply remembered not being insured rather than my house having burned down and then finding out.
There was no option to auto renew, but I've put it in my Google calendar now as an annual reminder.

Prices have gone up by about 50% this year. So it's not simply that I've lost my NC (that's cost me about £50). The bulk of the increase is that prices have gone up.

Anyway, I'm now insured for £316. Was £196 last year.