The Lemon Fool

Where is the correct place (if any) to post about insurance companies (without an investment slant)?

My "automatically renewed" motor insurance went up by 46% this year. C.f. inflation <1%. I need to get this off my chest. Is it not borderline criminal to auto-renew an insurance policy with a 46% increase? Is no-one able to rein insurers in?

Chris

csearle wrote:Where is the correct place (if any) to post about insurance companies (without an investment slant)?

My "automatically renewed" motor insurance went up by 46% this year. C.f. inflation <1%. I need to get this off my chest. Is it not borderline criminal to auto-renew an insurance policy with a 46% increase? Is no-one able to rein insurers in?

Chris

Depending on the slant of the discussion/rant possibly:
Living Below Your Means
and/or
Bitter Lemons


Sincere condolences
- sd

csearle wrote:Where is the correct place (if any) to post about insurance companies (without an investment slant)?

My "automatically renewed" motor insurance went up by 46% this year. C.f. inflation <1%. I need to get this off my chest. Is it not borderline criminal to auto-renew an insurance policy with a 46% increase? Is no-one able to rein insurers in?

Chris

I would suggest you are. You do not need to accept an 'automatic renewal'. You can shop around as usual. Especially at the moment when many motor vehicles are being/have been used much less than usual. A 46% increase is just trying it on, or is a mistake. Did you not speak to your insurer about it? I am with Direct Line and my motor insurance increased by about 3%.They also gave me the opportunity to tell them of my actual mileage for the past year (my renewal was 31 March) so I did and got a cash refund of about 12.5% off the new quote.

Dod

csearle wrote:Where is the correct place (if any) to post about insurance companies (without an investment slant)?

My "automatically renewed" motor insurance went up by 46% this year. C.f. inflation <1%. I need to get this off my chest. Is it not borderline criminal to auto-renew an insurance policy with a 46% increase? Is no-one able to rein insurers in?

Chris

I guess the motoring board would be an option in addition to LBYM and BL.

Let me know your preference and I will move the thread.

John

It would be "borderline criminal" for them to automatically renew at such an increase it without telling you first.

However if they did tell you, and you just let it renew, most of the blame lies elsewhere.

Scott.

swill453 wrote:It would be "borderline criminal" for them to automatically renew at such an increase it without telling you first.

However if they did tell you, and you just let it renew, most of the blame lies elsewhere.

Scott.

Yes they emailed about five or six days before taking payment. To be honest it was rather fortunate I saw it as it has been deemed spam. I replied expressly wishing them to take no funds from my account. Bet they still do! C.

From Direct Line I always get a lot of paperwork including the renewal notice showing me the proposed premium for the coming year and asking me to ensure that nothing has changed. It usually arrives about one month ahead of the renewal date. The circumstances you describe seem like sharp practice if not borderline criminal. I think I would be looking to change insurers on principle - not Direct Line I hope!

Dod

csearle wrote:I replied expressly wishing them to take no funds from my account. Bet they still do!

Well if replying to the email was their specified method of preventing renewal, you should be ok.

Scott.

Ach, does that mean we're not allowed to give helpful replies?



Scott.

swill453 wrote:

csearle wrote:I replied expressly wishing them to take no funds from my account. Bet they still do!

Well if replying to the email was their specified method of preventing renewal, you should be ok.

Scott.

No idea what their specified method is. Maybe unless I use semaphore they won't feel obliged to resist dipping into my account?

csearle wrote:No idea what their specified method is. Maybe unless I use semaphore they won't feel obliged to resist dipping into my account?

I'm surprised it wasn't explicit in their communication. My recent one was very clear in saying "If you don't want this to renew, phone this number".

Scott.

csearle wrote:

swill453 wrote:It would be "borderline criminal" for them to automatically renew at such an increase it without telling you first.

However if they did tell you, and you just let it renew, most of the blame lies elsewhere.

Yes they emailed about five or six days before taking payment. To be honest it was rather fortunate I saw it as it has been deemed spam. I replied expressly wishing them to take no funds from my account. Bet they still do! C.

I do not like automated renewals for these kinds of reasons. If it is a direct debit then I prefer to cancel it before or at the same time as notifying the payee. I would rather have a debate with them with the money in my account than in theirs.

If it is a credit card auto-charge then that is a little trickier, although of course you can always dispute the charge with the card issuer and refuse to pay that amount.

But up 46% in a year is taking the pee.

swill453 wrote:

Moderator Message:
I moved you to Bitter Lemons Chris...seems to fit best! . John

Ach, does that mean we're not allowed to give helpful replies?

Dumb question. If you want to give a helpful reply, just be sure to use a patronising, sneering, or insulting tone.

UncleEbenezer wrote:Dumb question. If you want to give a helpful reply, just be sure to use a patronising, sneering, or insulting tone.

Thanks for the example.

Scott.

csearle wrote:

swill453 wrote:It would be "borderline criminal" for them to automatically renew at such an increase it without telling you first.

However if they did tell you, and you just let it renew, most of the blame lies elsewhere.

Scott.

Yes they emailed about five or six days before taking payment. To be honest it was rather fortunate I saw it as it has been deemed spam. I replied expressly wishing them to take no funds from my account. Bet they still do! C.

Moderator Message:
I moved you to Bitter Lemons Chris...seems to fit best! . John

Presume you are now shopping around?

I got the best quote and another £40 off this month via:-
https://compare-carinsurance.topcashback.co.uk/

And if you are not an existing topcashback member, you'll get a £5 sign-up bonus if you use this to join:-
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/supremetwo

csearle wrote:

swill453 wrote:

csearle wrote:I replied expressly wishing them to take no funds from my account. Bet they still do!

Well if replying to the email was their specified method of preventing renewal, you should be ok.

Scott.

No idea what their specified method is. Maybe unless I use semaphore they won't feel obliged to resist dipping into my account?

I've been saying for the last 20 years that when you want to cancel a contract, do it by registered post, so you have a proof of delivery. Even go so far as to write the reason for the cancellation on the strip of paper that they stick on the envelope.

Phone calls and emails are great for minor issues, but emails are so easy to edit/forge. You simply reply to yourself, changing whatever you want in the original body of the email. We do it all the time at work, just as a joke. To dig deeper, you'd need a court order to force the internet provider to provide the records....blablabla...

If they take funds from your account without permission, that will be theft, surely? Simply report it to the police. If enough people do, that particular branch manager may get an interesting meeting with his boss.

Is it not borderline criminal to auto-renew an insurance policy with a 46% increase?

No, cos you don't have to accept it.

Steve