Not upheld: policy renewal without authority and disputed charges complaint against Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr W complained that AJG renewed his commercial vehicle insurance policy without authority and charged him £306.99 for the renewal period. AJG sent renewal notifications by post and online portal, but failed to set up the finance agreement for payment. Mr W claimed he had opted out of auto-renewal after selling his vehicle, but later admitted he had not sold it and left it parked needing repairs. The ombudsman found AJG took sufficient steps to notify Mr W and that Mr W likely failed to disable auto-renewal himself. Although AJG made an error in not setting up the finance agreement, the ombudsman declined to waive the charge, finding it would be unfair given AJG's adequate communications and Mr W's misrepresentation of his circumstances.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while AJG made an error in failing to set up the finance agreement, it took sufficient steps to notify Mr W of the renewal through multiple channels (three postal communications and online portal access). The ombudsman concluded it was more likely than not that Mr W failed to disable auto-renewal rather than AJG failing to do so, based on system evidence showing auto-renewal remained active. The ombudsman reasoned that AJG should not bear the loss for the insurance charge when it had adequately communicated the renewal and Mr W had misrepresented the situation (claiming he sold the vehicle when he had not), preventing AJG from negotiating with the insurer.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website