As you may already know, when we talk about tacit renewal of insurance we refer to the possibility that insurance policies are automatically renewed for the same period of their natural expiry .
Perhaps you also know that tacit renewal in auto insurance is no longer expected! Therefore, at the expiry of the policy conditions, the contract will no longer be renewed for the same period and you will automatically be without insurance coverage.
However, this does not apply to other insurance policies: think, for example, of life policies, those for professional liability, the health policy, and so on. In all these cases, in fact, the duration of the policy can be extended from year to year, provided that the tacit renewal clause is included in the contract.
Contents hide
1 The abolition of tacit renewal
2 Where tacit renewal is still expected
3 Multi-year policies
4 And the additional guarantees to the RCA?
The abolition of tacit renewal
Before proceeding further, however, let’s focus on auto insurance for a few moments.
In fact, since 2013 the so-called abolition of tacit renewal in motor TPL policies has been formalized . The art. 170-bis paragraph 1 of the Private Insurance Code has therefore provided that the compulsory insurance contract of civil liability deriving from the circulation of motor vehicles and boats has a duration of one year, and is automatically terminated on its natural expiry, without possibility that it will be subject to tacit renewal.
It follows that the insured, before the expiry, or in any case no later than 15 days after the expiry (the so-called grace period ), will have to take out a new policy with the same insurance company or with another insurance company. .
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Where the tacit renewal is still expected
If the above should by now constitute a clear concept in the Italian insurance market, it is good to clarify that the tacit renewal , or the automatic renewal of the insurance contract, unless the customer receives a cancellation within the contractual terms, can be introduced for all other types of insurance.
But be careful: it is a possibility, and not an obligation. Which, in other words, means that the same policies of a different type with respect to the RCA (for example, life policies), could have within the contractual conditions the provision of an express extension of the conditions, and not tacit.
Precisely due to the variability of this clause, we recommend all our readers who are interested in learning more to carefully consult the contractual conditions they have signed or intend to sign, in order to understand what the provisions of the policy are.
Multi-year policies
Another particularity is then provided for in the case of multi- year or multi-year policies . These are policies that have a maturity of more than one year, and which insurance companies generally offer to their customers in exchange for a discount.
Well, generally these policies exclude the possibility of being able to benefit from a cancellation for at least 5 years from the time of their subscription. Therefore, even for these policies, the suggestion is worth checking carefully what the terms of the contract say, in order to be able to arrive at a fully aware interpretation of their forecasts, and avoid being frozen within a contract for several years ( and from which, possibly, it would be possible to exit upon payment of a penalty).
And the additional guarantees to the RCA?
Finally, as regards the additional guarantees to Motor TPL (by way of example, think of theft and fire, the Kasko, driver accidents), up to the entry into force of the 2017 Competition Bill, they always provided for tacit renewal.
From the entry into force of the aforementioned provision, however, it is possible that a non-tacit renewal may be envisaged. For ancillary policies that are stipulated together with a loan agreement or with the purchase of a new car, however, tacit renewal remains possible.
