To think direct debits shouldn't be able to autorenew if the amount has changed?

Auto renew is the work of the devil. Whatever insurance or other contract I sign up to the FIRST thing I do is make sure auto renew is turned off, even if it means calling the company to do so (a pain in the neck). I would rather keep track and find the cheapest year on year, (though I understand not everyone has the time or inclination to do so.)

You can still do that with auto-renew.

I change my insurers regularly. I get the email with the new premium on (and that as a pp has pointed out, also informs me that I can shop around) and then I go to the comparison sites and the Martin Lewis site

But I still opt for auto renew, just in case I forget to renew/re-insure in time.

Again, the whole point of a direct debit is that it's for a variable amount! If you want it to be the same amount every month you need a Standing Order. But you won't be able to renew that. Or pay a variable bill like a credit card or electricity bill. Or do any of the things that a Direct Debit is actually for. Thus is completely on the OP for not reading her emails.

Then set it up as a Standing Order where YOU control the amount going out each time.

This is a total non-problem. The solution already exists.

Those of them who are online very probably; but there are still a lot of older folk who are not online (or who are but are not all that adventurous or confident), and so are effectively locked out of many of the best deals.

They can ask family members for help, I suppose, but they have to know about the existence of price comparison sites in the first place,and how much they can genuinely save you - or at least put you in a much better negotiating position.

I do get that a lot of people won't know what a standing order is though - it is like the cheque book - not something most people encounter every day and seems to be rarely used. My point was more that it would be a maybe yearly thing for the bank to text for each increased rate for insurance or whatever has steadily been coming out at one amount - they have the software to do this automatically. They must get thousands of calls with people complaining such and such company took more that they were meant to. So although I know there is a solution, I just think maybe it doesn't need to be a problem if they were caring more about their customers and the cost of living crisis.

How would that work, though? For argument's sake, your last year's premium was £100. The renewal for this year comes in for £103, but your SO pays them £100 again - so you haven't paid enough to buy and enact the new policy, but you have still paid them £100 - which their accounts department may not recognise and struggle to even allocate.

Im intrigued how insurance works eg my car insurance quote was iirc £555 v 379 last year. Nothing has changed except me, DH and the car are a year older. I got renewal with a different insurer for about 370. When I called to cancel, the person asked if I wanted them to see if they could they could get a better price for me. Ie "dont leave" ...i said no thanks as id already set up the direct debit with the new company. But if they could do it for less (im sure they would have come back with a lower figure) where did the original renewal price come from?
If it had been eg 400, I probably would have gone with it out of laziness!

Insurance companies won’t accept standing orders.

Read the direct debit guarantee, you’ve more protection with that than with a continuous card payment.

@Fizbosshoes
A lot of people are inherently lazy and won’t bother shopping around. That’s where insurance companies make more money.

Is it not just a check box on the original contract? Do you want to autorenew Y/N?

I always clicked no when money was my primary concern. Now convenience is I tick yes..

I can't agree it is "the work of the devil".

I shop around every year, for all my insurances (and car rescue) to make sure I am getting the best deal for me, but, should I be going through some disaster / terrible time at the point of renewal, and not be able to, I'd rather the cover still ran at an over inflated price, than I ended up with no cover.

I've been having trouble with my e-mails recently, and didn't receive my renewal proposal from my current company, but I still got both a letter in the post and a text from them to tell me it was due. Plus the renewal reminders from the comparison sites I commonly use. Plus I put a calendar reminder in for a month - 3 weeks before each renewal anyway.
Anyone choosing to not read the information the company sends them can hardly blame auto renewal, but auto renewal can be incredibly useful if you have had some emergency or terrible life event that has prevented you from doing your normal checks for whatever reason.
Auto renewal itself doesn't stop you from shopping around.

Sometimes it is a free tick box; but often it's done as a default with the instruction to 'just get in touch to let us know if you want to change this'.

Whatever the potential benefits to the customer of auto-renewal, companies will always want/push for it, as it then takes the power from the customer's hand and puts it firmly into theirs.

It's the exact same principle as with free trials of subscriptions, where you have to cancel if you don't want to start paying once the free period runs out. You would think that, if what they're selling is so great, people would be clamouring to sign up permanently and start paying, to avoid losing it; but virtually no companies have this confidence in the value of their product nowadays, nor the desire for customers to have made the 100% active choice to keep buying it.

It's kind of like the modern digital equivalent of the Britannia Music Club - where it's assumed that you will want to buy whatever they want to sell you, unless you let them know; although at least you don't have to go to the effort and expense of sending them your choice not to buy something from them in the post now... I bet plenty of companies would still love this to be the case, though, if they thought they could get away with it (and had mechanisms to deal with the extra admin at their end).

Personally, if ever I see a company where they have a big, simple, prominent link on their homepage saying 'click here to leave us/cancel', that tells me that A, they are a highly reputable company with integrity, that only wants customers who fully and actively consent to stay with them; and B, are probably the kind of company whose offer is strong enough that very few people do choose to leave them - at least for reasons of dissatisfaction (very different if you can no longer afford it or you're notifying them of a death etc.).

None of this 'you must phone us and then be given the ultra hard sell for us to persuade you to stay, coupled with us putting coercive obstacles in your way to prevent you from achieving your wishes'.