as you all will be aware, every time you buy car insurance you give permission for the card to be authorised for continual renewal. the insurance company probably do this under the guise of customer safety and security to ensure continuity of insurance.
this year my renewal quote came in at £290. this is for an old duffer doing few miles with 17 years NCB
I got on to Martin Lewis and following his links got the same insurance company, the same deal for £195.
I phoned to cancel the autorenew and they price matched at £197.
I suggest this demonstrates what a hatchet job car insurance is for Joe Public - Make That Call

Couldn’t agree more... like bank account changing and utility bills etc., they rely
on consumer inertia (aka can’t-be-arsedness) or being too busy and before you know it, it’s auto renewed for 20% more than last year. Even if it doesn’t automatically renew, they still punish loyal customers for similar reasons with high renewal prices.
And yes, funny how it’s always couched as being for your safety/security.

Suggest we all develop some fighting spirit and become more mercenary.... it seems the loyalty is a one-way transaction!

I thought there was some legislation going through the Commons soon to stop parasites like insurance and recovery companies from penalising customer loyalty?

Whenever I take out a new policy I ask them to cancel the automatic card approval (which they have to do). Some will say that you need to call back afterwards because it's a new policy, which is fine, I just set a reminder for myself and call them back. Then they have to send you a letter advising that it's been removed.

Like Hermes says, they rely on customer indifference. I also make sure I pay on a credit card if it's over £100 to get the card protection too.

Mike

A month before my renewal I spend several days trawling around for the best insurance deal I can get, based on similar terms to my existing policy. Only then do I ring up my existing insurer, armed with lots of price info, and haggle about their renewal price.

I've been with Admiral on a multicar policy now for over 5 years and, with the exception of last year, they've always come down to match or be very close to the other quotes. I've had a good claims experience with Admiral in the past (no fault claims against other drivers) and so wouldn't change unless the difference was more than £50 (premiums usually above £1100).

Did the same last August and nobody could come within £100 of Admirals renewal price. I did ring them up anyway but they weren't able to drop their price so I just let it autorenew. 2012 Westminster

Had the exact same with the bike this month. Carole Nash sent me an auto renewal through at £1100 for the top level cover. Funny I paid £750 last year. Few quotes online and like for like policy comes in at £675. Speak to carole Nash, tell them it's gotta be £700 for me too stay, then they offer me a quote for £650.

Insurance companies rely on customers too just accept the quote for convenience and not spend a few hours looking around

Why wouldn't one shop around come renewal? More fool those who don't. I always do, and use Quidco for cash back. Some really good deals to be had.

Saying that, Admiral really pleasantly surprised me. I couldn't get temporary drive away insurance from BMW nor anyone else for the M2. So far the cheapest I found was £640...but to my surprise Admiral added it for £340 to our multi-car policy with both my wife and I as drivers. Absolute bargain. I wasn't even haggling the admin fee of £9 I just wanted them to complete it before they changed their mind

SoggyBottoms wrote:

as you all will be aware, every time you buy car insurance you give permission for the card to be authorised for continual renewal. the insurance company probably do this under the guise of customer safety and security to ensure continuity of insurance.

Just so you know... We won't automatically renew on a card payment, automatic renewals with us are only for those paying on a direct debit so have the credit agreement already in place for continuation... And only if we haven't heard from you to say otherwise (we will always try and contact you before) if you paid on card in full, your policy will not be automatically renewed with us as we don't take card payments without permission at point of purchase.
 A-Plan Insurance
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