Insurance auto-renew, very steep - can't cancel
Discussion
Ok, last year my insurance was £280, and they have auto-renewed me at £430. Been too busy and didn't check, my fault, I admit.
Problem is I called to cancel and move to direct line for £291, and they want £100 to cancel, £35 admin fee (even though I've only used £25 worth of insurance) so it will end up costing me an extra £60 to cancel and go with Direct Line after all their bloody fees.
How is this allowed? I can understand auto-renew because we don't want uninsured drivers, but a 50-60% increase in fee, then making it so expensive to cancel.
Doesn't seem right.
Rant over.
Problem is I called to cancel and move to direct line for £291, and they want £100 to cancel, £35 admin fee (even though I've only used £25 worth of insurance) so it will end up costing me an extra £60 to cancel and go with Direct Line after all their bloody fees.
How is this allowed? I can understand auto-renew because we don't want uninsured drivers, but a 50-60% increase in fee, then making it so expensive to cancel.
Doesn't seem right.
Rant over.
After auto renewal they need to send you a new certificate..
From the day you recieve that certificate you have 14 days in which to cancel your policy, inline with the insurance rules and regulations..
If you failed to notice the error within 14 days you are at their mercy I am afraid!
From the day you recieve that certificate you have 14 days in which to cancel your policy, inline with the insurance rules and regulations..
If you failed to notice the error within 14 days you are at their mercy I am afraid!
TheGreatSoprendo said:
How long has it been since your renewal date? You should be able to cancel anytime up to 14 days after your renewal date. You say they want £100 to cancel, of which £35 is an admin fee. What is the other £65 for?
probably for the time OP has been insured for, I've fallen foul of this before, most of the insurance co's do it these days.Standard practice with insurance, they always hike the price in year 2 , many people wont notice and pay the extra so they are quids in.
Its the reason why you have to negotiate every year, fact of life.
I usually renew with the same insurer every year (RAC) but have to go through the whole game of calling them up to get a better deal , threatening to go elsewhere etc. etc. This year my renewal was £80 more so not too bad, but a quick call reduced that back to the same rate as last year.
Its the reason why you have to negotiate every year, fact of life.
I usually renew with the same insurer every year (RAC) but have to go through the whole game of calling them up to get a better deal , threatening to go elsewhere etc. etc. This year my renewal was £80 more so not too bad, but a quick call reduced that back to the same rate as last year.
davido140 said:
probably for the time OP has been insured for, I've fallen foul of this before, most of the insurance co's do it these days.
Yep, I thought that's what it might be. With an annual premium, of £430, this does suggest that quite some time has passed since the renewal date. OP - you might have to put this one down to experience and make sure you're a bit more on the ball next year, I'm afraid!
TheGreatSoprendo said:
HellDiver said:
Why is it allowed? Because the insurance industry are a pack of 
s.
Only industry that can get away with ignoring the sexual discrimination and ageism laws.
s.Only industry that can get away with ignoring the sexual discrimination and ageism laws.
Please tell me you're joking?The b
ds!
Firstly, it is your own fault for being unorganised and ignoring the numerous letters and cover notes they would have sent you 'because you were busy'. You couldn't have been that busy for 14 days solid...
I totally agree that this whole proceedure of automatic renewal is wrong though, and indeed I have had my home insurance automatically renewed by my old company despite putting it in writing that I would be cancelling and going elsewhere. After numerous phonecalls and indeed charges for cancelling a direct debit on a policy I never took out I had to fax them a copy of my new cover note before they would waive all the charges, and even then 'it was a goodwill gesture'...AA home insurance BTW, don't use them as they are utter cowboys.
I totally agree that this whole proceedure of automatic renewal is wrong though, and indeed I have had my home insurance automatically renewed by my old company despite putting it in writing that I would be cancelling and going elsewhere. After numerous phonecalls and indeed charges for cancelling a direct debit on a policy I never took out I had to fax them a copy of my new cover note before they would waive all the charges, and even then 'it was a goodwill gesture'...AA home insurance BTW, don't use them as they are utter cowboys.
Different insurers tend to be competitive on different risks, so the notion of compant X being expensive and company Y being cheap doesn't stack up in reality. Personally I've never found DL to be particularly competitive on either home or motor insurance, but I have no doubt they are for plenty of people.
Jeffmaniac said:
Have to disagree that auto renewal is a bad thing.
If the OP had not auto renewed then he could have been puled over by PC Plod asking where is your insurance...
Fine, 6 points and a ban later he would have wished the insurance co had auto renewed him!
Well, indeed. If the OP was "too busy" to cancel the auto-renew I suspect he'd have been "too busy" to arrange insurance.If the OP had not auto renewed then he could have been puled over by PC Plod asking where is your insurance...
Fine, 6 points and a ban later he would have wished the insurance co had auto renewed him!
[/highhorse]
I have just been caught with the auto-renewal too.
Happened over the weekend at 1am on Sunday Morning.
I didn't know they could do it, never had any other insurer do this.
The first I knew was an email telling me they couldn't collect the fee because the bank details I gave them were out of date.
I was sent an email informing me it was due to be renewed on the 1st but as I knew that I couldn't afford to pay it at the moment I didn't do anything about it.
Price has gone up £40 from last year too.
Happened over the weekend at 1am on Sunday Morning.
I didn't know they could do it, never had any other insurer do this.
The first I knew was an email telling me they couldn't collect the fee because the bank details I gave them were out of date.
I was sent an email informing me it was due to be renewed on the 1st but as I knew that I couldn't afford to pay it at the moment I didn't do anything about it.
Price has gone up £40 from last year too.
Jeffmaniac said:
Have to disagree that auto renewal is a bad thing.
If the OP had not auto renewed then he could have been puled over by PC Plod asking where is your insurance...
Fine, 6 points and a ban later he would have wished the insurance co had auto renewed him!
Totally agree. If you're organised enough to deal with your insurance properly, it's never a problem. If you're not, you should be grateful for the safety net.If the OP had not auto renewed then he could have been puled over by PC Plod asking where is your insurance...
Fine, 6 points and a ban later he would have wished the insurance co had auto renewed him!
The other little trick is the multi-policy discount. I took out buildings & contents insurance plus two cars with RAC and get a nice discount on all 3 policies for doing it. Roll on to renewal time and the discount has vanished. A quick phone call required to re-instate the discount.
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