Changing insurance company: when to give notice and how it works

When to give notice

An insurance policy runs for a period, normally a year, and renews itself when that period ends. That is not one company's small print: it is in the Spanish insurance contract act, Ley 50/1980, and it applies to all of them.

• If you are the one who does not want to renew: written notice at least one month before the end of the current period.
• If the company does not want to renew: its deadline is two months. That is why non-renewal letters always arrive before the premium notices do.

The month counts backwards from the renewal date of your policy — not from today, and not from the day the premium notice lands. The exact date is at the top of your particular conditions, under fecha de efecto and vencimiento. Many policies renew on 1 January; others on the anniversary of the day they were signed.

One month is the legal minimum. What your own policy says about notice is in its conditions; bring it in and we will tell you the exact date so you do not have to look for it.

How we do it

Four steps, and none of them takes more than a short visit to the office. Anything you do not have to do yourself, we do.

• 1. You bring us the policy you have and your last receipt. A photo on WhatsApp is enough; you do not need to arrive with the folder. If you cannot find the policy, the receipt and the name of the company are enough to start.
• 2. We read it with you, cover by cover. We are an exclusive Allianz agency: we do not compare companies, we only offer you Allianz. What we do is read what you already have, so that nothing you were paying for goes missing from the new policy. A lower price almost always means different cover, and you either see that before you sign or you never see it.
• 3. We set the start date for the day the old policy ends. Not a day uninsured, and not a day paying two policies for the same thing.
• 4. We draft the non-renewal letter and you sign it. It goes out by a route that leaves a record — burofax, registered post, or whatever channel your company accepts — and you keep the proof of sending. That piece of paper is the evidence that you gave notice in time, and it is what ends the argument if a premium notice turns up next year.

After the change we stay your office: receipts, amendments, questions and claims. We charge nothing for handling the switch.

Health cover: where there is most to gain

With health insurance the switch comes with a benefit that hardly anyone knows about. If you are coming from another company, waiting periods usually fall away: you do not wait another six months for a test or a hospital admission. Two documents are needed for that, and both have to be alive:

• The previous policy, still in force — not one that has lapsed
• The last receipt paid

Which is why the order matters here more than anywhere else: bring them to us before you cancel the other policy. Once it is cancelled there is no policy in force left to show, and the periods then start as they would on a brand-new policy.

Pregnancy and childbirth keep their periods of one month and ten months, and so does lithotripsy, with six. Everything else is set out on waiting periods.

On a company policy for your staff we confirm it case by case, in writing, before you sign. We know the rule for the individual policy; on a group scheme we would rather confirm it than assume it. You can see it on health cover for employees, from two employees upwards.

Car and motorbike: ask for the certificate before you cancel

Your current company is obliged to give you, on request, a claims record certificate — the certificado de siniestralidad: the claims involving liability over the last five years, or a certificate stating there are none. It has to be issued within fifteen working days of your request, and that is set out in the Spanish motor liability act (article 7 of Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2004).

• Ask for it in writing and keep it. It is the only document that evidences your claims record. How that record is valued is a matter for the tariff of the day; what is certain is that without the certificate there is nothing to evidence at all.
• Ask for it before you cancel, not afterwards. Fifteen working days is three calendar weeks: asking on 20 December for a 1 January renewal is cutting it fine.
• Car insurance is compulsory in Spain. A single day's gap between two policies is a day driving uninsured. That is why the start date goes on the renewal date and not on "whenever I can get to the office".

With the certificate and your current policy we can tell you the Allianz price. See car insurance and motorbike insurance.

Home, life and what the bank told you

If you bought with a mortgage, the home and life policies were probably signed at the bank on the day of the deed. This is worth knowing:

• The bank can require the property to be insured, but it cannot force you to take the policy out with them. The Spanish mortgage credit act, Ley 5/2019, says the lender must accept alternative policies from any provider offering equivalent conditions and equivalent benefits, that it cannot charge you anything for reviewing them, and that accepting an alternative policy cannot worsen the conditions of your loan in any way.
• Tell the bank about the new policy within the period set out in your deed, and keep proof that you sent it. We issue the certificate for the Allianz policy for you to hand over.
• Life cover on a mortgage is a case of its own, because the beneficiary is usually the bank itself: the debt is settled and the family receives nothing beyond that. On your own policy you choose the beneficiary. It is explained on life cover for your mortgage or loan.

With home insurance there is no certificate to request and no waiting period to protect. What matters there is what is insured: the building, the contents and what is left out. We read that through with you before you sign.

The four mistakes that cost money

We see them every year, and all four are avoided with one phone call.

• Cancelling first and shopping afterwards. The worst of them: you are left with no cover and, on health insurance, you lose the waiting periods you had already served.
• Giving notice too late. Thirty days before renewal is no longer enough. The policy renews for a year and the change waits for the next one.
• Cancelling by telephone with nothing in writing. If a premium notice appears next year, without proof of sending you have nothing to show.
• Asking for "the same as I have now" without knowing what that is. Two policies with the same name do not cover the same things. Bringing the old one in and reading it takes twenty minutes, once.

Good to know

• If your policy renews in the middle of winter and you are off the island, that is no problem: it can all be done by WhatsApp and email. You send the photos, we send the letter back, you sign it and post it.
• If you have several policies with several companies, each renewing in a different month, write them all down for us. The usual approach is to bring them together as they fall due, not all at once.
• Letting a health policy lapse and coming back months later is a new policy, with its periods. If you are thinking about cancelling, talk to us first and not afterwards.
• We do this in English, Spanish or German — including the conversation with your previous company. That is exactly what an office in Adeje is for.
• After you sign we remain your office: changes, receipts, questions and claims. We have been an exclusive Allianz agency since 1998.

Frequently asked questions