home insurance renewal

Arctos

Insurers seem to have crafty tricks to keep us renewing with them. I've had buildings insurance with one provider for years and the annual increases are accompanied by seemingly plausible explanations. A bit like the old image of the frog sitting in a pot of water that is being gradually heated.

Thanks to MSE I decided to do a comparison. Ah - but was I comparing apples with pears? It seemed that caveat emptor was wise. The first tempting offer was almost 40% of my current insurer's offer. I almost completed going through all the documents [the usual "confirm that you have read.."] when an abrupt halt was caused by a failure to generate a document. I took fright. If, in the unlikely event of a claim, would this be the standard I could expect?

Eventually, I settled for a policy that seemed like for like to my present one, but with a premium almost 50% less than my renewal quote. True, when I phoned my existing insurer they offered me a discount - to which I replied "Not even close!" I instructed them not to auto renew on my credit card.

Has anyone had experience of insurers ignoring such an instruction and taking the money anyway?

flaneurs_lobster

Has anyone had experience of insurers ignoring such an instruction and taking the money anyway?

Insurance is a regulated marketplace, no insurer would deliberately flout a customer's instruction to not renew.

But crap happens.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6667064/home-insurance-renewal

Yes, you have poorly paid call centre agents trying to hit high KPIs to keep their crappy job, mistakes happen. They won't be financially incentivised to make mistakes, normally the opposite.

Calls are recorded so typically it's a very easy complaint to resolve on the rare occasion it happens. Plus if they dont resolve it you can go to the Financial Ombudsman which will cost the business a £650 fee even if the ombudsman rules in their favour.