Yes, it's a scam. In the past I've told one company when I took out the policy that I didn't want an automatic renewal but they still renewed. Another time my insurer didn't send the quotes and reminders and I too ended up with two policies.

It's easy to check the MID database at www.askmid.com and, as you had taken out a valid policy with another company, I expect that they were also being dishonest with what they said about MID.

It's worth including a note when you send the NCB proof to the new company to say that you don't want the policy to be automatically renewed there. Many insurers run the same scam. Sending a note wont stop them trying to renew but, as long as you keep a copy, it will put you in a good position to reverse any payments that get taken.

It is because you have a legal obligation to ensure that the vehicle is insured whilst in your possession that all insurance companies will always automatically renew the insurance so that you do not and cannot become uninsured in case you forgot when you were due renewal or many other reasons. If the provider did not do this then they could by default be placing you into an illegal predicament which could also leave you uninsured in theevent of an accident or claim. As they do this "auto-renew" you are forced to manually cancel the policy if you don't want it. The auto renewal saves the company putting you into an illegal position...so in a way you should be thanking the insurers that they do this.

I know it makes it a little more awkward for you but at the end of the day they do issue with all the relevant paperwork and if you shoose not to read it then you can hardly fault the provider for following established and agreed processes.

At least you know now that when it comnes to 11 months and you want to change provider that you need to give sufficient notice

Many annual policies allow for automatic renewal these days. If you don't want this, then you have to inform companies.

With Admiral, if the policy was set for auto renewal and you did not contact them before renewal, you have actually got away with it lightly. There are many companies who would have argued the t*ss and expected you to pay the relevant cancellation fee, which can be up to £50.

You will have the same situation with Churchill in 11 months time, unless you phone them to say you don't want auto renewal to happen. They can take the auto renewal marker off the policy and you will then have to phone if you want to renew. If you don't the policy will lapse.

My car insurance with Admiral was coming up for renewal. I actually renewed with Churchill.

I then started getting letters from Admiral claiming I was not insured, they had checked on MID? So they had automatically renewed my policy and were having trouble collecting the payment from my debit card, which fortunately had also expired. If they've automatically renewed my policy when I have not and have no intention of paying the renewal fee, this has got to be their commercial risk, they weren't doing this for my benefit!!

My belief was that I had paid for a 12-month contract with Admiral which was about to expire, I'd found a better deal and had no obligation to do anything or explain anything to Admiral. Also, I didn't particularly want to pay 8p/minute plus network extras to be held in a queue in order to tell Admiral they cost too much.

I ignored the continuous flow of letters and then today got another one an snapped!!

I phoned their call centre and payed 8p/minute plus network extras, waitied for the recorded message, got held in a queue and asked why they wanted £388.84 from me for an insurance policy I neither wanted or needed.

I was told unless I had told them within 21-days, my policy would automatically be renewed, that's what I had signed up for. So I said my commercial and legal contract, I paid for was for 12-months, I chose not to renew, so surely you can't keep trying to charge me. I've gone elswhere.

So he then said I needed to give him the new Insurers name and my policy number. I said no. He said they would charge me a cancellation fee unless I provided the information.

I gave them the company name, but then thought why am I giving them the policy number, in fact why am I giving them any information.

So we then got into a debate about why he needed this information. They needed to contact Churchill, but why? Churchill knew I was with Admiral and had contacted them so they could get the no-claims details!!!

So I refused to give him the policy number and said my contract had expired, all he was after was commercially sensitive information. And why at the start of the call did I owe them £388.84, then if I wouldn't give them my new insurance company and policy number I owed them a cancellation fee.

He then said there was no cancellation fee and just having the Insurers name was enough. They could contact them and give my registration number to get whatever information they needed.

I fully understand a car needs to be insured and unless I register it as off road, I should keep paying insurance. This is right and helps identify those who do not insure. But an insurance company managing these new legislations like this is underhand and outrageous.

Too make it worse I was on the phone for at least 20-minutes which cost me at least £1.60 plus network extra's.