Can car insurer take auto renewal early

guy777

Hi all
hoping for some advice. 

My car insurance renewal date with Ageas is 20 April. I was going to phone them on Monday 19th to cancel but found out that it had already been taken (annual payment on my cc) and is £150 more than last year.
I found in my email that they had sent renewal notice and it said I must contact them on or before 13 April to cancel. Can they do this when renewal date is 20 April? I never agreed to this arbitrary deadline.
I can’t get in touch with them until Monday and I know I can still cancel but I also know they will charge me admin fees. Any opinions on if they must give me a full refund?

Thanks for any advice

GrumpyDil

Companies always process payments a few days early but as long as you cancel before 20th (so on Monday) you should not be charged anything.

jay1804

guy777 said:

Hi all
hoping for some advice. 

My car insurance renewal date with Ageas is 20 April. I was going to phone them on Monday 19th to cancel but found out that it had already been taken (annual payment on my cc) and is £150 more than last year.
I found in my email that they had sent renewal notice and it said I must contact them on or before 13 April to cancel. Can they do this when renewal date is 20 April? I never agreed to this arbitrary deadline.
I can’t get in touch with them until Monday and I know I can still cancel but I also know they will charge me admin fees. Any opinions on if they must give me a full refund?

Thanks for any advice

They will probably try and charge a cancellation fee however if you ask nicely they might match another quote or waive the fee.

GrumpyDil said:

Companies always process payments a few days early but as long as you cancel before 20th (so on Monday) you should not be charged anything.

Not always, diamond take the payment the next day. 

A_Lert

In my view it would be unfair for the insurer to charge an admin fee for cancelling an auto-renewal before the new policy starts, whether or not they have already taken payment. But I bet many still charge it and I don't know if the Ombudsman would be interested in such a small value dispute.

Keep in mind if you haven't already got new quotes that they'll be higher now it's so close to the policy start date, so you might not actually get cheaper than your renewal. (And if you pay up front you would need the money now while your old insurer may be slow processing the refund, you might not have that.)

guy777

A_Lert said:

In my view it would be unfair for the insurer to charge an admin fee for cancelling an auto-renewal before the new policy starts, whether or not they have already taken payment. But I bet many still charge it and I don't know if the Ombudsman would be interested in such a small value dispute.

Keep in mind if you haven't already got new quotes that they'll be higher now it's so close to the policy start date, so you might not actually get cheaper than your renewal. (And if you pay up front you would need the money now while your old insurer may be slow processing the refund, you might not have that.)

Thanks good points. Will check out new quotes today before I cancel

dunstonh

Can they do this when renewal date is 20 April?

yes.

I never agreed to this arbitrary deadline.

In effect, you did but reading the letter and deciding not to take any action.

I can’t get in touch with them until Monday and I know I can still cancel 

To be clear, you do not want to cancel.  That is not what you are asking.  You are asking them not to renew.  Using the word cancel can create confusion and cause them to cancel the policy and you suffer a cancellation charge.

As long as you inform them that you are not renewing before the renewal date, then they will not charge a fee.