Car insurance "Discuss your renewal" - being directed to online servicing / in phone queue for hours

Spivved1987

Is there any provider where this not a big problem? I'd be willing to pay an extra twenty or thirty quid a year for a 'premium' policy which would not have me tearing my hair out in frustration!

Car_54

Why do you want to discuss it with them? Discuss it with the meerkats instead.

daivid

Can’t say I've ever waited hours, wait and discussion combined have probably never topped 20minutes. I've been with Admiral, Esure, Direct line, Tesco and Sheila’s Wheels. I always start by saying I want to cancel my renewal, as with 1 exception in the last 10 years I’ve found something significantly cheaper than the renewal. I’ve given up letting them ‘see if they can do better’ as this has never happened, near equalled but never bettered.

Peter999_2

I agree with the OP, it drives me mad.   I have never asked for a policy to auto-renew and yet every year I get an auto renewal email.   I should then be able to cancel it online, but no, I have to phone up, go through hundreds of options and am then interrogated as to why I am cancelling.
Every time I query the fact I have never agreed to auto-renewal I get told that I must have ticked a box which I haven't.    Very frustrating.

Bigwheels1111

I’m with Bymiles, They have auto renew like everyone else.
But in the app you can turn it off.
For me Bymiles are best part of £800 a year cheaper then any other insurers.

Bigphil1474

I was with LV and I stopped the auto renewal online, easy to do. Switched to Sheila's Wheels in February so not sure about them yet. Auto renewal is more handy than not - especially if it gets to renewal date and you've forgotten about it. Better to be paying over the odds, than to be driving round with no insurance. 
Had a look at Bymiles, but given I'm only paying £212 for a years fully comp, they can't compete.

Grey_Critic

Sitting with the phone glued to your ear listening the Vivaldi seems to be standard these days - and then every 30 seconds the message - We value your call etc. - really does rub it in and not every call is free. I often liken it to waiting for a package to be delivered or someone coming to fix the washing machine and such.

I do not ever do auto-renew - I had a long running argument with Hastings as they kept insisting I had agreed to auto-renew even though I had a letter from them saying they took note I did not do so.

The internet does not always answer the question either. I wonder if we are not coming around to talking with Insurance Brokers - one call and leave the hassle to them.

forgotmyname

My broker does not auto renew. Sometimes wish they did as its often cheaper than the comparison sites.

Member of a club or forum for a particular make/model can often get discounted insurance.

chipfork

We've had this with Esure and eventually after lots of calls and long wait times managed to cancel our auto renewal. Their web chat is always busy, I'm not sure it actually works. Their renewal quote was over £400 and we found a better featured policy for £230.

I'm not sure if we could have changed the auto renew option online at some point, certainly not an option once we got the email with the quote for the new term. I understand that with some insurers, that as you approach the end of your insured period, they disable the auto renewal cancellation option. Why, I have no idea, but it certainly makes it much more work to end your insurance with them.

born_again

Grey_Critic said:

Sitting with the phone glued to your ear listening the Vivaldi seems to be standard these days -

That's what speaker phone is for. Ring number. Put on speaker. Carry on with your day 😁

iwb100

It’s easier to get through to my car insurer than it is my doctors surgery. That’s no joke and completely the case. So no real complaints.