Automatic insurance renewal is indeed a massive con. The companies conveniently only provide a telephone number to call if you don't want to renew. They then go ahead and renew your insurance even if you call them to say you don't want to renew. They will say that they never received your call. Obviously, they don't provide an email address or, heaven forbid it, an address for you write to, so that you have evidence that you did not want to renew. The practice is so odious that even supposedly reputable companies are entering into blatant deception. I avoid automatic renewals like the plague since my past experience. So, in taking out my home insurance, I take the precaution of checking the payment methods available in order to ensure that I won't be ensnared. Indeed, Churchill say that they don't do auto-renewal unless you request it and they list a telephone number that you have to call to request auto-renewal. But, you might have guessed, once you've entered all your details, including credit card details obviously, and come to the final accept button, they put up the message that your credit card details will be stored for purposes of automatically renewing your policy the following year!!!!!!!! This practice of automatic renewal is blatant deception and fraud. The government really ought to legislate against it. None of the companies offering renewable services like insurance will accept payment by cheque anymore. They insist on getting a card number off you in one way or another. They are so clever and determined to ensnare you in automated renewal that when they offer payment by annual direct debit, you have to make a deposit with them by credit card or debit card! It is causing endless stress and anxiety amongst those citizens who are careful with their money - admittedly the minority in this country now. The credit card companies don't want to know about any transactions made against your will. So, you end up having to fight a battle over email as nobody provides addresses to which you can write anymore. I guess we will have to wait until the practice takes off in Europe and then the Europeans will legislate against it, because their citizens have the balls to protest against this kind of thing. Actually, it is probably already illegal to hold credit card details on computer in this country unless specific permission is given by the customer. Don't the politicians go on and on about the Data Protection Act? But, what is done in practice. Nothing. So, what can be done? These automatic renewals can't be avoided nowadays. You can't rely on phoning the company's number to tell them you don't want to renew, because my experience is that they just ignore your call. You can tell your credit card company that you have lost your card before the date on which you know the company concerned will attempt to steal your money. But, you can only do this so many times. In my experience, it is pointless writing to credit card companies to tell them not to accept transactions from a certain company. Where you have to call a number to cancel, you don't have much choice but to prepare yourself for a lengthy campaign of protest, which the companies know most people don't have time for. The clincher is recording the telephone call and putting that call onto computer so that it can be emailed to the parties that you are protesting to. I'd be interested if anyone knows how to record telephone calls made via Skype and how you can get calls to 0800 numbers to appear on your telephone bill. Obviously, if enough people got up off their lazy, benefit-or-public-sector-provided arses and were made to know the value of money again in this country then this whole thing could be protested against and the government would have to do something.