Churchill Motor Insurance Charge For Removing Auto Renewal From On Line Policy

Al_Ross

Is this correct, 3 months after leaving Churchill they wrote to me telling me to contact them to confirm important information them about my old Policy.

I called them up and the advisor stated there was £19.04 outstanding on my old Policy due to me going on line and turning off the auto renewal.

MyRealNameToo

Al_Ross said:

Is this correct, 3 months after leaving Churchill they wrote to me telling me to contact them to confirm important information them about my old Policy.

I called them up and the advisor stated there was £19.04 outstanding on my old Policy due to me going on line and turning off the auto renewal.

Sounds odd, would ask them for a fuller explanation.

Al_Ross

I argued with the customer advisor that could not be correct. I said I wanted it removed or I would go to the Ombudsman. She was adamant it was correct.  I asked to speak to her supervisor. She put me on hold for a few minutes, then came back and said she had spoken to her manager and agreed to remove the charge.

twopenny

Oh I've had similar with talk talk.
I was moved from Po bb to Shell to Talk talk automatically and then Talk talk texted with renew your policy 3 months before end.
When I did they added extra for 'a new contract '

I rang within the 14 days and said no. They removed the charge.

Blooming cheek taking this way from people who know no better.

UnsureAboutthis

One of the first things I demand on any new policy, subscription, " NO AUTO RENEWAL"

Once, when I asked for this as we agreed to a policy, the rep for the company said, "Sorry, it has to be auto-renewal."
I thanked and, said goodbye, and put the phone down, and then took out the policy with someone else.

The other thing to look out for is that the company puts you on auto-renewal when you have clearly told them not to do this, so keep your eyes open for the renewal letter stating something
like.. " your renewal premium is xxxx, you don't have to do anything as your policy will auto-renew."
You then have to call them and tell them, NO.

qsk

Al_Ross said:

Is this correct, 3 months after leaving Churchill they wrote to me telling me to contact them to confirm important information them about my old Policy.

I called them up and the advisor stated there was £19.04 outstanding on my old Policy due to me going on line and turning off the auto renewal.

When did you turn off the auto renewal, before or after it's been renewed?
I turned off my auto renewal as soon as I bought my policy and didn't get any request for additional charge.

user1977

Is it really saving any time/hassle not to have auto-renew? Surely the money-saving approach is to shop around at renewal - if you get a better price elsewhere, you contact your current insurer to see if they can match/beat it, if they don't then you tell them then that you're not renewing. Or if you don't want to switch, you just let the auto-renew run.

Al_Ross

qsk said:

Al_Ross said:

Is this correct, 3 months after leaving Churchill they wrote to me telling me to contact them to confirm important information them about my old Policy.

I called them up and the advisor stated there was £19.04 outstanding on my old Policy due to me going on line and turning off the auto renewal.

When did you turn off the auto renewal, before or after it's been renewed?
I turned off my auto renewal as soon as I bought my policy and didn't get any request for additional charge.

About a month before renewal as I had found a better deal and wasn't renewing.

MyRealNameToo

UnsureAboutthis said:

One of the first things I demand on any new policy, subscription, " NO AUTO RENEWAL"

Absolutely the wrong thing to do... just look at the post on the Motor forum the other day where a poster admitted life got in the way and both they and their partner forgot the renewal date of their insurance so were driving about for 3 months without any insurance. 

Having been a Motor claims handler have known customers that lost their home for doing the same but having a major accident whilst uninsured. 

Yeah of cause you will claim that even if you were in a coma you'd remember to renew your insurance but then there is the reality of life. Shop around, buy elsewhere then inform your insurers not to auto renew your old policy by all means but there is a very good reason why the regulators, police and any sensible person thinks that auto-renewal is a good thing as its massively reduced the number of unintentional uninsured drivers. 

Al_Ross

Auto Renewal is just another scam, to get you hooked in the following year at a greatly increased price. I have always either called the companies or in this case where it was an on line policy gone in and removed it myself. 

Wasn't expected they would try and scam me for the privilege of doing so though.

MyRealNameToo

Al_Ross said:

Auto Renewal is just another scam, to get you hooked in the following year at a greatly increased price. I have always either called the companies or in this case where it was an on line policy gone in and removed it myself. 

Wasn't expected they would try and scam me for the privilege of doing so though.

Renewing customers have to be offered the same or better prices than new customers since 1 Jan 2022. That isnt to say someone else won't be cheaper but its no longer possible for them to heavily discount new business and thus your premiums automatically go up at renewal as the new customer discount is unwound. 

Not sure how losing a new customer discount when you arent a new customer anymore was a "scam" but this forum has some very strange thinking sometimes.