Automatic Insurance Renewal - Is this normal practice ?

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allthedoyles

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Not happy with either Hibernian Aviva nor Quinn Direct.

We were insured with Hibernian up to Apr 09. They sent out a renewal certificate of insurance , and said in the letter '' thank you for choosing Hibernian ''

Rang them immediately and informed them that we were not going ahead with their quote .

Then we changed to Quinn from Apr 09 .

At the end of May , Hibernian took a direct debit from our bank account. ( only noticed this now at end of June )

Checked the bank statement for Quinn Direct Debit and discover that they never set up the DD .( they claim they never received the mandate - untrue - it was sent back to them )

So we now discover that Hibernian owe us a months premium (May 09) and Quinn are owed 2 months premium ( May + Jun 09)

Hibernian now tell us that they automatically renew premiums and even though we rang them , they say that unless we sent back the original documents , the insurance goes ahead ! . ( have read all documents received and cannot find this stipulation anywhere )

Do all Insurance Companies , just automatically send out the renewal papers including windscreen disc, with the expectation that it is a foregone conclusion , that you will stay with them and not seek a quote elsewhere ?
 
Contact the [broken link removed] and seek their views on this. Were you instructed by Hibernian to return the documents when you confirmed that you would not be renewing with them?
 
allthedoyles said:
Do all Insurance Companies , just automatically send out the renewal papers including windscreen disc, with the expectation that it is a foregone conclusion , that you will stay with them and not seek a quote elsewhere ?
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Nope, I think they were told not to do this anymore by the Guards, as the disks were not getting returned if policy was not taken out. The main problem as I see it is you are paying by DD, so they will chance their arm. Get your self a good old fashion cheque book.:)
 
Its car insurance . We have the insurance certificate including windscreen disc, even though we rang them and told them we were not going ahead with their quote .

In their letter which ''thanked us for choosing Hibernian '' it said we had 8 days to contact them if we were not going ahead ....which we duly did so. There was no mention anywhere that the documents had to be returned , or the insurance would automatically go ahead .
 
allthedoyles said:
... There was no mention anywhere that the documents had to be returned , or the insurance would automatically go ahead .
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This applies to all car insurances - cancellation applies from receipt of returned insurance documents, it'll be detailed in the policy booklet under "Cancellation".

I left Hibernian years ago - I found them to be only marginally less incompetent than 123.ie
 
To the OP. You had better hurry up and settle the matter, as in the case of an accident you may not be Insured. Even if you have paid Hibernian one month's premium this has probably expired. And if you have not paid Quinn a cent, then I very much doubt if you are Insured. So with all your moaning and groaning and winging I would say you are not covered and Murphy's law as it is, you could pull out of your gate in the morning and cause a very serious accident. And if the car is nicked tonight you ain't covered. So best thing is pick an Insurance Company now, call in the morning, pay with your credit card and get cover immediately before all this becomes tears and very very expensive.
 
Sound advice Johnny - Thanks .............The insurance certificate is obviously not worth the paper its written on .

Been realistic , two months have passed by and no monies paid ., so I suppose at the end of the day , we are responsible for that and not Quinn Direct.

However , is'nt it surprising that Quinn accounts department never noticed the arrears .
I mean , if I had not brought it to their attention , the year may have passed by and no money paid .
 
The simple answer is no - they don't automatically do it for car insurance. If you told them that you were cancelling your policy and then they went ahead and made a DD for subsequent months - essentially they accessed your bank account and made a withdrawal without your authorisation to do so. You want to be very careful - because if your DD for Quinn had not gone through - it meant that you were driving without insurance. The financial regulator www.itsyourmoney.ie has a consumer protection code that all financial services subscribe to - it might be of some interest to you. I'd make a complaint to Hibernian and thereafter to the insurance ombudsman. Had similar problem with my health insurance premium renewal - they were going to take it automatically from my credit card - they didnt get the chance - I switched insurers - and they lost custom and let them know why!
 
mathepac said:
This applies to all car insurances - cancellation applies from receipt of returned insurance documents, it'll be detailed in the policy booklet under "Cancellation".
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This was not a cancellation , it was a renewal quote . Insurance company were advised that we were not going ahead with their renewal offer.

They still took the direct debit a month later
 
Get in touch with the financial regulator... they can give advice on this matter. Their website has a consumer protection code - it gives advice on all types of financial products and your right including when you complain. You are quite entitled to put a complaint into the insurance company - and demand a full refund of the monies that they deducted from your bank account.... make it quite clear to them that they accessed your bank account and you did not authorise them to do so - as you had cancelled your policy. The next port of call if they dont give you the recompense you want - is the insurance ombudsman.
 
When you pay a motor or house policy by direct debit it is standard practice for the policy to automatically "roll over" at renewal date.
Nearly all insurance companies do this if the policy is by direct debit so I would imagine they are within their rights and if you wish to check with the financial regulator they will probably advise the same.

You should have been told to return your certificate of insurance by Hibernian Aviva as no policy will be cancelled without returning same (as stated above it is probably in the terms and conditions). It's standard practice as otherwards you can just cancel the policy, pay no premium and pop the disc in the window. Unless you have an accident the usual garda checks will just see a valid insurance disc.

Your policy with Hibernian is still active if they have been taking direct debits. They will continue to do so.

I would first contact Quinn and sort out the insurance with them as you being covered is the most important issue.
Once you have done this then send the cert and disc back to Hibernian advising them you want to cancel the policy from renewal date and you expect any monies taken from your account to be refunded.
 
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