Quote Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee View Post
My wife's car insurance automatically renewed a couple of months ago. She was able to cancel and get a refund.

Perhaps it's something some insurance companies are now doing, adding an automatic renewal to the contract.
The insurer has to do one of two things as a default, either cancel your insurance at the renewal date, or renew it (usually on different terms). What they cannot do is simply let the existing contract continue past one year.
If you've missed a renewal notice and taken cover elsewhere then you should have no problem getting a refund.