Insurance Renewal Warning

[hadenough!]

My insurance renewal was due on the 3rd Nov. I phoned my insurer who gave me a cost and advised that unless I cancelled the policy,it would be automatically renewed. The price was reasonable so I left it at that, taking their word that the policy would automatically renew at 0001 hours on the 3rd.

Anyway on the afternoon of the 4th I get a call from my bank advising me that my card had been cloned, as a consequence it had been cancelled.

On the 5th, I remember that my insurance should have renewed in time for the third and realised I had heard nothing. I call my insurer who advise me that they had been unable to renew the policy as the payment had failed (presumably conected to the card being cloned).

Consequently I had been ldriving uninsured for 2 days. As it happens, a letter arrived on the 5th advising me of the issue and telling me to contact them urgently. Bearing in mind they have my mobile number, this wasn't adequate.

So, lesson learned, always phone your insurance company to check they have done what they have said they will.

Edited by Bill on Monday 8th November 15:28

[ZOLLAR]

I can't even imagine how many premiums get rejected everyday with my insurer but its probably thousands, if we had to call every single one of them continually until we got hold of them we would have to double the number of people in the call center (probably another 1000 +) just to deal with rejected premiums. It'll never happen plus your insurance dosn't just stop if you haven't paid, i speak to people up to 2 weeks after renewal who haven't paid but their insurance is still in place.

[Munter]

I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you wanted them to do.

On the 3rd an automated system tried to process your card and was rejected. On the 4th I'd guess a human tried and was also rejected so sent you a letter. The letter arrived on the 5th, but you'd had the foresight to phone up in the mean time as you knew there would be a problem with payment.

You think they should phone everybody who's card fails. I suspect they could do that if you're willing to pay significantly more.

[Fartgalen]

Munter said:

I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you wanted them to do.

On the 3rd an automated system tried to process your card and was rejected. On the 4th I'd guess a human tried and was also rejected so sent you a letter. The letter arrived on the 5th, but you'd had the foresight to phone up in the mean time as you knew there would be a problem with payment.

You think they should phone everybody who's card fails. I suspect they could do that if you're willing to pay significantly more.

Exactly. Insurance is still your responsibility, not theirs.
And they let you know anyway !

[Bill]

First off, please don't name and shame on PH. (Although I can't actually see what your insurer did wrong.)

hadenough! said:

So, lesson learned, always phone your insurance company to check they have done what they have said they will.

And secondly, if you knew your card was being cancelled surely you'd call your insurer to give them another card's details?

[hadenough!]

Bill said:

First off, please don't name and shame on PH. (Although I can't actually see what your insurer did wrong.)

hadenough! said:

So, lesson learned, always phone your insurance company to check they have done what they have said they will.

And secondly, if you knew your card was being cancelled surely you'd call your insurer to give them another card's details?

Insurance finished on the 2nd and should have renewed on the 3rd. I got a call from the bank on the 4th, by which time the renewal should have happened. I was told that I didn't need to take any action. As a direc consequence I was driving without insurance for 2 days.

[Fastra]

Possibly being a bit dense here but...

My insurance is paid monthly via direct debit and I get written notice of renewal at least 4 weeks before hand - this too says that if I don;t contact them then it will renew automatically.
Anyway, what connection do direct debits have with any cards, my DD details are just sort code and account number and have no link to any cards I have. Indeed when my card was cloned it had no affect on any DD's I had set up at the time?



edit to add:

Ahhhhh - you must pay all at once and they take any previous card details they have on record as payment.

Edited by Fastra on Monday 8th November 15:37

[hadenough!]

ZOLLAR said:

plus your insurance dosn't just stop if you haven't paid, i speak to people up to 2 weeks after renewal who haven't paid but their insurance is still in place.

When I called them on the 5th they advised me I was not insured.

[Bill]

So how long did the bank take to call you after cancelling the card?

[john_p]

hadenough! said:

As a direc consequence I was driving without insurance for 2 days.

As Zollar says, just because your insurer didn't take the payment, does not mean you weren't insured.

[ZOLLAR]

hadenough! said:

ZOLLAR said:

plus your insurance dosn't just stop if you haven't paid, i speak to people up to 2 weeks after renewal who haven't paid but their insurance is still in place.

When I called them on the 5th they advised me I was not insured.

Very strange, must be the way AF operate. If they said your not insured does that mean then they had physically cancelled your policy?.

[hadenough!]

Munter said:

You think they should phone everybody who's card fails. I suspect they could do that if you're willing to pay significantly more.

Nope, I think they should advise everyone to call them to renew.

The whole automatic renewal process is there to assist them retaining business. If they are unable to provide a 100% reliable renewal or garauntee that they will contact you if the renewal fails they shoudln't offer the service.

[hadenough!]

Bill said:

So how long did the bank take to call you after cancelling the card?

They called me on the 4th and cancelled it whilst I was on the phone to them.

[ZOLLAR]

hadenough! said:

Munter said:

You think they should phone everybody who's card fails. I suspect they could do that if you're willing to pay significantly more.

Nope, I think they should advise everyone to call them to renew.

The whole automatic renewal process is there to assist them retaining business. If they are unable to provide a 100% reliable renewal or garauntee that they will contact you if the renewal fails they shoudln't offer the service.

And?, they are a profit business their renewals department is all about retaining business, if you don't want to have an automatic renewal advise them when you set up your policy or call them when you receive their renewal documents.

[hadenough!]

john_p said:

hadenough! said:

As a direc consequence I was driving without insurance for 2 days.

As Zollar says, just because your insurer didn't take the payment, does not mean you weren't insured.

They told me I wasn't insured when I called them though. If this isn't the case, its a relief, however insurance companies aren't known for their charity.

[hadenough!]

ZOLLAR said:

And?, they are a profit business their renewals department is all about retaining business, if you don't want to have an automatic renewal advise them when you set up your policy or call them when you receive their renewal documents.

No issue with them making money, I do however have an issue with being put outside the law as a result of following their advise. Unless they can provide a reliable service they shouldn't offer it.

Anyway, as I say lesson learned, in future I'll make a call to either renew or cancel as necessary.

[ZOLLAR]

hadenough! said:

ZOLLAR said:

And?, they are a profit business their renewals department is all about retaining business, if you don't want to have an automatic renewal advise them when you set up your policy or call them when you receive their renewal documents.

No issue with them making money, I do however have an issue with being put outside the law as a result of following their advise. Unless they can provide a reliable service they shouldn't offer it.

Anyway, as I say lesson learned, in future I'll make a call to either renew or cancel as necessary.

It is a reliable service, its not their fault the card was cancelled do you also expect to call your card issuer at each renewal to check the card is valid as well as call you if the payment fails?.

[hadenough!]

So what your saying is that in order to ensure I remain insured I need to contact my insurer at renewal time? In which case, whats the point in an automatc renewal?

If they want the benefits of the service they should provide the necessary communication.

[Engineer1]

hadenough! said:

Munter said:

You think they should phone everybody who's card fails. I suspect they could do that if you're willing to pay significantly more.

Nope, I think they should advise everyone to call them to renew.

The whole automatic renewal process is there to assist them retaining business. If they are unable to provide a 100% reliable renewal or garauntee that they will contact you if the renewal fails they shoudln't offer the service.

No because if you call you can screw up the auto renewal, it happened to my wife and she drove without insurance for a fortnight or so, it only came to light when I rang them to query why the documents hadn't come through. They did say that even though the policy hadn't renewed they would have written a letter stating it was their fault and they would have honoured the liability if required.

[ZOLLAR]

The Crack Fox said:

hadenough! said:

So what your saying is that in order to ensure I remain insured I need to contact my insurer at renewal time? In which case, whats the point in an automatc renewal?

If they want the benefits of the service they should provide the necessary communication.

I think you're missing the point. It is not their fault your credit card didn't work.

Indeed, They did everything correctly.