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I just phoned my insurer's customer service and advised them I wanted to cancel auto-renewal. I was told I can't. My car is broken and I will be selling it shortly (or close to end of policy date, so that I will have another year to my NCB), so no point renewing it at this time. That said, I do not want to cancel as I will be charged fees. My policy ends on 30-09-2018.

I was told I need to cancel my policy after it renews. My problem with that is that it's an extra payment AND admin fee anyway.

Is there a way to cancel my auto-renewal? Insurer's web portal allows to make changes to policy, but obviously cancelling requires call, and there's no dedicated link. So I'm getting the Paragraph 22 feeling... All I want is for the insurance to run its course.

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  • If the fees are more than the cost of certified mail, you can send them a letter saying you revoke (1) your authorization to renew (2) your authorization to charge your account after the current expiration date. Keep the proof of delivery, and use it to contest any attempt they make to charge you.
    – Ben Voigt
    Aug 31, 2018 at 5:49
  • If you sell the car before 29.09 then just send a copy (e-mail, fax, post) of agreement and state the car is no longer in your possession.
    – SZCZERZO KŁY
    Aug 31, 2018 at 10:55

2 Answers 2

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How is the payment to be made?

If it is a direct debit then phone your bank and cancel the payment authority. If it is a continuous payment authorisation on a credit card then you can now get the payment authority stopped (see this Money Saving Expert aricle) by talking to the card provider. Once you have cancelled they will not be able to take the money.

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    But that will not cancel the policy. Unless I will be able to not to renew i will be on the hook for the money anyway.
    – AcePL
    Aug 30, 2018 at 15:04
  • I have found that if they cannot take the money then they will not renew the policy. Cancel the payment authority and then tell the company that the payment has been cancelled at the bank. The policy won't be renewed.
    – uɐɪ
    Aug 31, 2018 at 7:00
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This is going to vary insurer by insurer.

I was told I can't.

You have the answer for your insurer :)

Typically the auto-renewal letter/email that gets sent out approximately 6-8 weeks before the end of the policy period will say something along the lines of

Your insurance policy is about to expire, so we're about to auto-renew it for you for the low low price of £xxx using the payment details we have on file. If you don't want to renew, call 01234 567890 / email someone@example.com

If you didn't give them any way to hold your payment details, you don't have anything to worry about. If you did, you could contact your bank and cancel the direct debit / continuous payment authority.

But given that it sounds like you're going to hold the policy to near term anyway, easiest to just wait for the cancel-auto-renewal window to open.

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  • Normally the company says that you can't cancel because it is too close to the payment date and they have already submitted the payment details to be processed. In other words the "cancel-auto-renewal" window has already closed.
    – uɐɪ
    Aug 30, 2018 at 13:58
  • I've never has a problem cancelling the auto-renew on a policy, after I have received the renewal letter. In my experience, they don't take the money before the renewal date.
    – Simon B
    Aug 30, 2018 at 22:09
  • Just cancel the current policy. They must refund any auto-renewal that goes through. The new period will not have been consumed, even partially.
    – mckenzm
    May 31, 2020 at 2:38

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