Privilige car insurance renewal but no renewal notice, now claiming I owe them money.

[jotto]

Last year I had my car insurance with Privilige and had no problems. As with most things, coming up to renewal, I shopped around and found a good deal. As I received no renewal notice from privilige, I took up insurance with a different company.

 

A few days passed and I received a package from privilige saying insurance documents enclosed which I simply put back in the post box marked return to sender, not required. I did the same with 2 subsequent letters from them, again without opening them.

 

I then recieved another letter which my wife opened saying they had not been able to collect the premiums due and to ensure my bank details were correct.

 

I wrote back to them saying I had not recieved a renweal notice and had not agreed to renew my insurance with them and as such had returned all previous mail to them unopened.

 

This morning I returned from holiday to find a letter from them saying that basically I still owe them for 2 months premiums before the policy was cancelled and that if not paid they would send the matter to an ouside debt collection agency.

 

Im not worried about the debt collectors because I will simply tell them the amount is in dispute.

 

My main gripe is that without my express permission, Privilige has assumed I would like to carry on my insurance with them because I DID NOT tell them I didnt want it. I know insurance companies write and tell you on the renewal notice that if they do not hear from you they will carry on taking your money and your cover will continue.

I did not receive a renwal notice and as such did not have the opportunity to tell them to go take a walk.

I cancelled my policy by returning the documents unopened marked return to sender, not required as soon as they were recieved. The fact that one part of the company does not talk to another isnt really my problem.

 

So, what do I do? Privilige say the policy was in force untill the letter they recived from me expressly telling them it wasnt required and as such owe them 2 months premiums. Should I ignore it or contact them explaining exactly why I wont pay?

TIA.

[vusys1]

when you took the policy out orignally were you advised that the policy would auto renew?

 

you confirmed that you received insurance documents but returned them unopened marked RTS and the subsequent letters. If renewal was not required werent you curious why they had sent 2 follow up letters? did you call them for your NCD for your new insurance?

 

Priv is owned by Direct Line,which is in turn owned by RBS, if you have insured with one of the their other companys i.e Churchill,LTSB,Direct Line, etc they will waive the outstanding as the business has still be retained even though you have left Priv

[Michael Browne]

If you didn't receive a renewal notice and didn't open any mail from Priviledge, what did you send as proof of your NCD to the new insurance company?

[jotto]

Will check original policy wording to see if it says anything about auto renewal....probably in the small print.

As with any mail I consider to be junk, I now just send it back at their expense for them to bin instead of me.

Sent copies of 2 previous renwals as proof of NCD and as the insurers can see when and how much claimed, they knew it was correct. Having said that, they told me they had recieved the documents and that all was ok but I soon got another letter saying I hadnt sent proof of NCD and my premium would be doubled! After a phone call, I was told that the documents had been received and all was OK. My second monthly payment went out and was double what it should have been so I rang again, to be told the same thing...documents had been recieved but my file hadnt been updated. Rang again to confirm and was told documents hadnt arrived!!!!! Long story short, in the end, I think they rang privilige themselves!

 

If there is nothing in my original policy about auto renewing, should I quote this and just say as I received no renwal I shouldnt have to pay as I didnt renew my contract with them?

[mkb]

I had a similar thing with my buildings & contents insurance that only ended up getting sorted when I complained to FOS.

 

The insurance co emailed me 2 days before my renewal to say they had sent out the renewal quote!

When I went to FOS (after getting DCA letters), lo & behold, the written quotes turned up - shame they didn't post them to me at the time!

[vusys1]

if there is money outstanding Priv would not have confirmed your ncd to your new insurer so i would check how much next months payment will be.