How nice!   Admiral Insurance had my daughter's motor policy set to auto-renew so we didn't have to lift a finger!    Great!   NOT!

 

The renewal premium was double the cost of last year.

So, we tried to cancel my daughter's policy and stop the "auto-renewal".   They were very friendly, and chatted non-stop about all the benefits of staying with Admiral, or putting the family's cars on a "Multicar" policy etc etc and kept us talkig for over 20 minutes.   When we tried to finish the call, the guy got quite aggressive and started asking if the other insurers knew my daughter had been on a "Speed Awareness Course" as that would affect the premium.   (That isn't even disclosurable as there is no fine and no penalty and only two or three of the worst insurers (you know, the ones with obscure names and end with"at Lloyds" - the ones dodgy geysers use) specifically ask questions like that.   How do they get that information anyway - thought that would violate the Data Protection Act?)

 

No wonder they kept us on the phone so long - at 15p a minute, they are on a nice little earner as they get a kickback from the telephone provider.   I noticed all the phone numbers, customer services, claims hotline etc are all on this use of scamming phone numbers.

It's something to watch out for when renewing your policy and DON'T allow them to have an auto-renew option.

 

 

IMO you should never auto renew any car insurance policy.

 

Doing that means you want to be fleeced and they are more than happy to oblige.

Standard industry practice unfortunately.

My Auto renewal with Bell (part of Admiral) was actually cheaper than I could get elsewhere, so I let it renew. Never had a problem dealing with Admiral, if at renewal the price was more like it was the previous year its usually fixed in 10 mins on the phone. Last year they price matched plus an additional 10% off, this year it was the cheapest anyway.

You don't need to call them on the 15P minute line either, there is a Freephone number which you can from saynoto0870 that takes you to exactly the same customer service options menu.

Speed awareness course related questions are becoming more common as more of us take up the option instead of points, its all part of building the risk profile for the potential customer.

Its just not insurers.

It also applies to everything from breakdown cover to hire costs (ref auto renew)!

The worse is like the AA -

U can only get a premium discount IF u sign up to auto-renew :-(

.....So, in the criminal underworld this practise is known as "extortion" but when business does it, it's legal and above board?     
 

Edited 17 September, 201411 yr by bealine

My octavia insurance is auto renew,however i get a letter quoting what the years policy will be etc around a month before & on this occasion my insurance has come down £60 from last year & when i did the usual go compare etc none could match the quote from my existing insurer so im happy to renew with them,if i wasnt i just ring up before the policy is due to be renewed & tell them i wont be renewing(like i did in 2012 for 2013 insurance). when the classic insurance came through for my mini & peugeot 205 i rang up & said i could get it cheaper so they matched it to keep my bussiness & i saved around £60 just by having one phone call.

Aviva did this to me a few years ago, because it was paid monthly they said it was a monthly contract hence why they auto renewed it, none the less they gave me a full refund.

 

Elephant also went to do it to me, but i said at the time i wasnt interested as their price was twice that of anyone else, so they said that i could cancel the auto enrolment up to 14 days after the first day and get a full refund.

Insurance companies infuriate me. Every single year I bounce the same two companies off each other to get cheaper quotes; last years went from £733 renewal to £500 after a few phone calls, this years from £530 to £435. I'd never settle for the initial renewal quote.

 

Echoing Chan110's post, the AA are absolutely shocking at this. The wording is along the lines of "....as you're such a valued customer your renewal fee is £150", this just so happens to be £50 more than last years fee. So you call them up, they tell you how much they value your custom and they knock a bit off, then a bit more and so on. This year I cut the ex girlfriend off the policy and it still costs the same as last years premium. Don't get me wrong, the service is invaluable when you need it, and I do highly rate the AA, its just the way they attempt to have your pants down every year whilst telling you how much they value you that breaks me.

Ive not had the experiance of auto renewal ever being cheaper, generally the opposite I ring up and they go, oh sorry we can't beat the new quote (I tend to shop around) but my brother on the other hand has always managed to get money off his car (1.6 TDCI Focus) and has usually saved about £200 quid by just ringing up.

If your vehicle is not modified you can stand to save plenty in my experience. My sister drives a Kia Picanto, is in her thirties, NCB, no accidents and all that jazz. She said her renewal was £550, she wasn't happy with it and told them and they knocked it down to £500. She genuinely seemed happy with that. I was horrified.

 

After a bit of geeking on moneysavingexpert.com, I went through the comparison sites in the order it suggests and ended up getting her a quote for around £260. Its well worth shopping around for this stuff, must've taken an hour tops to save her around £250.

I've kept with the same insurance company Admiral for 3 years.

When the renewal came round in May, they gave me a matching price as another company. I said I would go away and compare the two. They then gave me a counter offer of £100 less than the original quote.

 

I think it's best to get prices from elsewhere, and be prepared for a chat with a renewals person. Have everything in place ready.

 

But no to auto renew. I want to make them work for my money first.

IMO you should never auto renew any car insurance policy.

 

Doing that means you want to be fleeced and they are more than happy to oblige.

Standard industry practice unfortunately.

 

+1 they talk about customer loyalty but it's a one way street.

 

It's too easy now to run comparisons not to change every year or at least investigate changing.

Tbh I've been with admiral for 4 out of the last 5 years and I have no complaints with them at all, they handled a claim for me really quickly and were very helpful. Re the auto renewal thing, I don't really have a problem with that either, they send you a renewal price through a month before it's due and it says to cancel it just ring this number, it takes a few minutes but job done.

Don't auto renew RAC cover either, I rang them this year and told them 

their £160 renwal fee was a pee take and threatened to walk. 

They reduced it to £90. Next year I'll go AA as a new customer

then RAC then AA etc etc. The only people getting a good deal are

new business customers but it's an easy game to win at providing you 

aren't infected with the apathetic instinct of the masses and challenge them over it. 

I'm glad the Admiral customers are happy with them!   After you talk to them on the phone, I would check your phone bill though!   15p per minute isn't cheap (costs from mobiles may be considerably higher!)

Aviva operate overseas call centres so I won't deal with them on point of principle.

Edited 17 September, 201411 yr by bealine

How nice!   Admiral Insurance had my daughter's motor policy set to auto-renew so we didn't have to lift a finger!    Great!   NOT!

 

The renewal premium was double the cost of last year.

So, we tried to cancel my daughter's policy and stop the "auto-renewal".   They were very friendly, and chatted non-stop about all the benefits of staying with Admiral, or putting the family's cars on a "Multicar" policy etc etc and kept us talkig for over 20 minutes.   When we tried to finish the call, the guy got quite aggressive and started asking if the other insurers knew my daughter had been on a "Speed Awareness Course" as that would affect the premium.   (That isn't even disclosurable as there is no fine and no penalty and only two or three of the worst insurers (you know, the ones with obscure names and end with"at Lloyds" - the ones dodgy geysers use) specifically ask questions like that.   How do they get that information anyway - thought that would violate the Data Protection Act?)

 

No wonder they kept us on the phone so long - at 15p a minute, they are on a nice little earner as they get a kickback from the telephone provider.   I noticed all the phone numbers, customer services, claims hotline etc are all on this use of scamming phone numbers.

It's something to watch out for when renewing your policy and DON'T allow them to have an auto-renew option.

 

I am with Churchill ins, I get a renewal quote in the post about two weeks before the old policy is due to expire. They do try it on if you leave them to it  I rang a few days before my new policy was about to kick in, after looking on line, and the total cost of insurance and breakdown went form £310 to £220. I have also attended a speed awareness course and the instructor made a point of saying your offence has been struck off and it is now as if it never happened, the police keep info for a few years before binning. I am wondering if the insurance company claiming to know about your daughters offence is a fishing technique, knowing if they mention it to enough people they will find someone who has been on a course ? and then decide to stay ? 

I'm glad the Admiral customers are happy with them!   After you talk to them on the phone, I would check your phone bill though!   15p per minute isn't cheap (costs from mobiles may be considerably higher!)

Aviva operate overseas call centres so I won't deal with them on point of principle.

I used an 03 number for them, that's saved on my phone. Say No to 0870 website is good for that kind of thing.

Admiral people I have spoke to are either in Wales or Canada based on what time you call them. Either way easy to understand.

I find Admiral are usually helpful over the phone if you get their UK staff, I don't know if they have an off short Indian call centre but there's a couple of times I've had a person with an Indian accent when I've phoned and they seemed utterly clueless.  They insisted my car doesn't exist and that it must be a brand new one so I'd need to go back to the dealer to make sure it was properly registered...I pointed out repeatedly it was a three year old car with 40,000 miles on the clock but they were having none of it.  I needed to get something from the dealer anyway so checked with them and it came up fine as I thought (I prefer to double check though), phoned Admiral back and got an English sounding person on the phone who sorted it all out in a couple of minutes with no issue.

Although I can see the argument with auto-renewal for insurance with it being a legal requirement (which isn't the case for car warranties and breakdown companies who also generously auto renew) I'd still prefer not to have it.  It irritates me that their auto-renewal letter makes out that they're doing you a big favour and getting you a big discount for being a loyal customer then adding about 25% or more onto the previous year's premium.  That then means wasting an hour of my time and their time to go through all the details even though they haven't changed to finally get a cheaper premium.

John

I received my renewal letter from Churchill last week, I keep meaning to ring them up. I've just done a check on the fat singing man website and the cheapest is £985.80 and they want just over £1300, the same as last year. I'll ring Churchill up at some point and allow them chance to adjust the price, if they don't I'll go for the lower one but if they do I'll stick with them, even if it's a bit higher because they give free breakdown cover and we get multicar discount with my dads Jetta being insured with them too.

 

And talking about breakdown cover, my dad was a member of the AA until just after he got his car insured with Churchill, when he joined the AA it cost about £80, he got a renewal letter with a silver card saying that when it renewed it would upgrade him to silver membership and would cost only (I think it was £130 or something like that, but can't quite remember) He soon told them where to get off. We have took a special hatred towards the AA since this and my Peugeot insurance, they used to have 2 cars breakdown, my Pug insurance, the Jettas insurance and the house insurance. Not any more. Robbing b******s

Don't auto renew RAC cover either, I rang them this year and told them 

their £160 renwal fee was a pee take and threatened to walk. 

They reduced it to £90. Next year I'll go AA as a new customer

then RAC then AA etc etc. The only people getting a good deal are

new business customers but it's an easy game to win at providing you 

aren't infected with the apathetic instinct of the masses and challenge them over it. 

I do this aswell......last year i got £50 of free fuel from the RAC.......next march i will no doubt be going back to the AA. 

I had the same increase in premium with Admiral at renewal time at the end of the 1st year my daughter borrowed/took over/was never here when I wanted to use my car when we had to insure it in her name because she was using it to go to college. To be fair to Admiral their quote for the 1st year was loads cheaper than anyone else on the previso we moved SWMBOs car to the multicar policy too, but as I don't auto renew we just went elsewhere when their uncompetative quote for year 2 landed on the mat.

as far as the RAC is concerned I use tesco club points for that-around £60 each year joint roadside, at home and recovery with no'discount' worries if you have to call them out which we've had to do a couple of times (but not for the Skoda)

Regarding the speed awareness course question, if they ask you you have to give an honest answer if you've been on one

If you don't you are committing another offence of giving false information to obtain insurance

Whether you agree with their policy or not is irrelevant, you have the choice to go elsewhere if you don't like it

Plus, I've no doubt that the auto-renewal is stated in the Terms & Conditions, which of course the OP read (not).

They done this to me aswell.......this was after they sent me a letter saying that no contact was needed unless I wanted to renew!

I called them went mad and got all my money back!

Speed awareness courses are notifiable to your insurer if they choose to . It's got nothing to do with the Police or driving instructors, or anyone speaking with authority on the internet, etc. The only people who can tell you whether you need to disclose having been on a speed awareness course are the people who provide you with your insurance cover based no the risk you pose to them, namely your insurers. If you don't disclose relevant information to them when taking out a policy (or when your circumstances change) then you could very easily find yourself paying for insurance but not having cover.

 

As for auto renewing, why would anyone give a free ticket to the biggest bunch of thieves in living memory to take unspecified amounts of money from your bank account without your authority at every payment? Stupid, really.