More Than Auto-Renewal

[GeoffF100]

I have got my car insured with More Than. I am sure that I never requested auto-renewal, but I have received an email telling me that my policy will be auto-renewed. I logged into my account and clicked the link to cancel renewal, and got a bubble asking me to ring them. The auto-renewal is still in place. I have a nasty suspicion that they have retained my payment details too. I remember a Money Box item about this sharp practice. If I do not successfully get rid of the auto-renewal, I expect that they will want to charge me a cancellation fee. I am very annoyed. The quote does not look cheap, and I do not wat to be insured with a company that behaves like that, if I can help it. I will have to ring them on Monday.

[staffordian]

I'm assuming the policy has not yet expired, in which case, a call should cancel the auto renewal, and they cannot charge you a fee for this.

It might be worth getting alternative quotes before ringing. A key reason for this practice is to force you to call them if you don't wish to renew, so they can try to retain the business; giving them a quote to match can't hurt; if they match it (or come close) you might feel it less hassle to continue cover rather than swap; I believe they are one of the better companies to deal with in the event of a claim.

Auto renewal is a PITA, so I understand why you wish to move away for no other reason that this practice, but be aware you may find who you move to do similar, it seems an increasingly popular trend.

Staffordian

[GeoffF100]

Yes, the policy has not expired yet. The new premium quoted is substantially larger than last year. I am angry enough to move my account on principle, but perhaps I should get alternative quotes first. Nonetheless, if nobody renewed when they pulled this trick, they would soon stop.

[Gersemi]

Yes, the policy has not expired yet. The new premium quoted is substantially larger than last year. I am angry enough to move my account on principle, but perhaps I should get alternative quotes first. Nonetheless, if nobody renewed when they pulled this trick, they would soon stop.

This practice annoys me too, but I understand that the insurance companies claim that it stops people from unintentionally becoming uncovered by forgetting to renew. I'm sure that's not their main motive, but I suspect it's enough to prevent legislation to stop it.

[gryffron]

Annoys me to. To be fair loads of insurance companies do it, and isn't usually that difficult to cancel.

The question to watch out for is "May we contact you next year with a renewal quote?", which some providers take to mean auto-renewal.

I don't think it's worth getting excited about it. Just tart your business around and find the best quote. As I'm sure all us Fools do. And if that means going back to the same guys in a year or two, don't worry about it.

Gryff

[GeoffF100]

I think that the best approach is to cancel the auto-renewal, make my displeasure known, record the time and name of the person I spoke to, and get a written acknowledgement for the cancellation if I can. I can then go into a comparison site and make my choice. If More Than turns out to be much cheaper than the competition, I can always set up a new policy.

[granretire]

My house insurance is due up on 23 Feb. It is currently with AXA. As I hadn't received any communication about renewal I checked online with my account and found that they had increased the premium and were just going to bill me with the new amount. As I had paid last year by credit card, I would not have been aware of the price till I got my statement towards the end of next month! I had not agreed to automatic renewal - I always check such things. Needless to say, I have changed to a different company with a better quote.

[GeoffF100]

Just rang them. They said they will cancel from the renewal date, but I will not receive a confirmation, and that this will not be shown on my online account, but all calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Great.

[WessexMario]

it's can be advantageous to tell them you're cancelling the auto-renewal just before your policy expires anyway,
To keep your business the company will often then offer you a better quote than the auto-renewal quote.

Even if they don't, and you can't get a better quote, it would be a strange company that would refuse to renew if you changed your mind back again.

[GeoffF100]

I have re-insured with Churchill at a lower cost. Their reputation appears to be similar to that of More Than. Churchill did not offer me the option of opting out from auto-renew, but at least they did not introduce it by stealth. Clearly this is a cancer spreading across the industry.

[GeoffF100]

Churchill wanted proof of NCD, so I had to log into More Than again. The More Than new policy is now shown as Cancelled. Breath a sigh of relief! I got my NCD wrong, by looking at the current schedule. Doh!, It is now 9 years rather than 8, but I do not expect that makes much difference. Hopefully, that is job completed.

[GeoffF100]

Churchill has given me refund for the NCB mistake. They are also not bothered about a lost keys claim that I made when I was with LV, but had forgotten. I do not expect that they cover that anyway. I had to enter that into Go Compare as an "impact". There was no category for lost keys. The only impact was the keys hitting the ground. I expect that has been pushing up my insurance costs for years. Very impressed.

[k333]

My house insurance is due up on 23 Feb. It is currently with AXA. As I hadn't received any communication about renewal I checked online with my account and found that they had increased the premium and were just going to bill me with the new amount. As I had paid last year by credit card, I would not have been aware of the price till I got my statement towards the end of next month! I had not agreed to automatic renewal - I always check such things. Needless to say, I have changed to a different company with a better quote.

I am astonished that this is allowed. Surely they have to tell you! I always get notified of auto-renew and with the house insurance & it suits me fine because LV so far haven't been playing the usual tricks so I've been with them since 2011. It must be very profitable business - the chances of me ever claiming are quite low I would have thought.

The car insurance with the AA wasn't on auto-renewal. Last year I got 30% off with a quick phone call. This year they tried it on again, so I've just gone with someone else and got 50% off their quote.

In the long run, I reckon LV will do better than the AA.

- K

[DetailMerchant]

One way around this I've found with some insurers is that if you pay via American Express they don't seem able to auto-renew.