Not a question, just a warning

kgw2511

Renewing my car insurance, I followed the advice on the MSE website i.e.

·      Don’t renew with existing provider;

·      Use the Car Insurance Compare+ tool;

·      Purchase the renewal 23 days before due date.

This led to an increase on last year’s price of £181 to the cheapest quote of £254.

The day after paying this, my existing provider quoted £193 and I had to forfeit £50 to cancel the new policy, even though it was only a day old and was not due to start for three weeks.

elsien

It doesn’t actually say don’t renew with the existing provider.
What the page says it is most people are better off moving elsewhere, and to always compare quotes first before auto-renewing. 
It then says the best time to get a quote between 20 and 26 days.

So you compare quotes and then you either  phone up, or you wait for your current provider to be sent through before making a final decision.

So what happened with the 14 day cooling off period - if you were within that you shouldn’t have had to pay £50 to cancel. I would suggest you go back to them to query that you’ve had to pay the cancellation fee. 

mark_cycling00

The mse advice isn't very clear.

You have to only use the comparison sites 23days before renewal.(apparently)

If you use them before then the insurance companies save it and keep giving you that price for many weeks.

kgw2511

elsien said:

It doesn’t actually say don’t renew with the existing provider.
What the page says it is most people are better off moving elsewhere, and to always compare quotes first before auto-renewing. 
It then says the best time to get a quote between 20 and 26 days.

So you compare quotes and then you either  phone up, or you wait for your current provider to be sent through before making a final decision.

So what happened with the 14 day cooling off period - if you were within that you shouldn’t have had to pay £50 to cancel. I would suggest you go back to them to query that you’ve had to pay the cancellation fee. 

"Never auto-renew".

user1977

kgw2511 said:

elsien said:

It doesn’t actually say don’t renew with the existing provider.
What the page says it is most people are better off moving elsewhere, and to always compare quotes first before auto-renewing. 
It then says the best time to get a quote between 20 and 26 days.

So you compare quotes and then you either  phone up, or you wait for your current provider to be sent through before making a final decision.

So what happened with the 14 day cooling off period - if you were within that you shouldn’t have had to pay £50 to cancel. I would suggest you go back to them to query that you’ve had to pay the cancellation fee. 

"Never auto-renew".

Yes. Not "never renew".

rigolith

Did you do a comparison before the 23 day point?

It seems like if you do, it locks in the higher prices.

dunstonh

kgw2511 said:

elsien said:

It doesn’t actually say don’t renew with the existing provider.
What the page says it is most people are better off moving elsewhere, and to always compare quotes first before auto-renewing. 
It then says the best time to get a quote between 20 and 26 days.

So you compare quotes and then you either  phone up, or you wait for your current provider to be sent through before making a final decision.

So what happened with the 14 day cooling off period - if you were within that you shouldn’t have had to pay £50 to cancel. I would suggest you go back to them to query that you’ve had to pay the cancellation fee. 

"Never auto-renew".

You have taken it out of context.

Never auto renew until you have got your existing price and have compared with what is available elsewhere.

It doesn't mean never renew.