Admiral Car Insurance Rant
Discussion
Hope this is the correct section, couldn't find an 'insurance' or indeed 'endless moaning rant' section.
If anyone is considering using Admiral, please take a moment to consider the following:
The own (via their parent company) confused.com - and suspiciously will almost always be the cheapest, or at least in the top 3 on confused. - For me they are anyway.
The price they quote on confused is almost impossible to obtain, and if you do get it, you will only be getting 10 months cover, so when it's time to renew other insurers may not accept your NCB.
If you pay monthly the monthly figures bare little resemblance to the headline figure because 1) they have an insanely high APR 2) they will 'helpfully' include their dubious 'personal injury cover' without ever letting you know the cost of it and only a fleeting mention of it's existence, it's also never mentioned in any of the endless lit they send you post-sales.
Also you can ONLY buy monthly over the phone, so you can look forward to spending half-an-hour plus (seriously it took me 32 mins according to my phone) where you will be ruthlessly hard-sold extras like repayment insurance, hire car cover, breakdown cover etc etc they never take no for an answer for the first or second time.
Best of all, once you been dragged through hell and back just to give them your hard-earned for what will probably be nothing in return you can look forward to being called 4-6 times a day, during working hours which is REALLY handy when you've got a job to do. Under the pretence of 'making sure everything is ok' and then being hard-sold the junk extras you didn't take the first time.
Most of the time I’m ether too busy to answer or just ignore it, the few times I’ve picked it up I’ve spent a couple of seconds telling them yes, I got the stuff in the post, yes I’ve sent in my NCD, yes I’m happy.
As soon as they start the sales pitch I tell them to sod off and I get
“Sorry sir is this not a good time”
“No time is a good time, don’t call again”
“Sorry about that, is this afternoon better?”
“Do you understand what I’m saying?!?!”
“Yes, sorry you’re busy, I’ll call back”
“No don’t........” beeeeeeeeep and the prick’s hung up.
I wrote them an e-mail on Monday to complain, they promised me they would stop calling, but they still call 3 times a day – I answered the first few thinking it would be the customer service team but it’s the sales chimps I say “hello” they ask to speak to Mr. Jay, I confirm my address etc and then they say, “oh sorry sir, your notes say you don’t want to be called, I’ll leave you alone good day”
How the **** is that ‘leaving me alone’!?!?!?!?
They have offered me the chance to cancel the extras, but won’t tell me the costs of them – how the balls are you meant to judge the worth of something if they won’t tell you the cost!
Sorry, rant over.
If anyone is considering using Admiral, please take a moment to consider the following:
The own (via their parent company) confused.com - and suspiciously will almost always be the cheapest, or at least in the top 3 on confused. - For me they are anyway.
The price they quote on confused is almost impossible to obtain, and if you do get it, you will only be getting 10 months cover, so when it's time to renew other insurers may not accept your NCB.
If you pay monthly the monthly figures bare little resemblance to the headline figure because 1) they have an insanely high APR 2) they will 'helpfully' include their dubious 'personal injury cover' without ever letting you know the cost of it and only a fleeting mention of it's existence, it's also never mentioned in any of the endless lit they send you post-sales.
Also you can ONLY buy monthly over the phone, so you can look forward to spending half-an-hour plus (seriously it took me 32 mins according to my phone) where you will be ruthlessly hard-sold extras like repayment insurance, hire car cover, breakdown cover etc etc they never take no for an answer for the first or second time.
Best of all, once you been dragged through hell and back just to give them your hard-earned for what will probably be nothing in return you can look forward to being called 4-6 times a day, during working hours which is REALLY handy when you've got a job to do. Under the pretence of 'making sure everything is ok' and then being hard-sold the junk extras you didn't take the first time.
Most of the time I’m ether too busy to answer or just ignore it, the few times I’ve picked it up I’ve spent a couple of seconds telling them yes, I got the stuff in the post, yes I’ve sent in my NCD, yes I’m happy.
As soon as they start the sales pitch I tell them to sod off and I get
“Sorry sir is this not a good time”
“No time is a good time, don’t call again”
“Sorry about that, is this afternoon better?”
“Do you understand what I’m saying?!?!”
“Yes, sorry you’re busy, I’ll call back”
“No don’t........” beeeeeeeeep and the prick’s hung up.
I wrote them an e-mail on Monday to complain, they promised me they would stop calling, but they still call 3 times a day – I answered the first few thinking it would be the customer service team but it’s the sales chimps I say “hello” they ask to speak to Mr. Jay, I confirm my address etc and then they say, “oh sorry sir, your notes say you don’t want to be called, I’ll leave you alone good day”
How the **** is that ‘leaving me alone’!?!?!?!?
They have offered me the chance to cancel the extras, but won’t tell me the costs of them – how the balls are you meant to judge the worth of something if they won’t tell you the cost!
Sorry, rant over.
V8mate said:
I think Admiral are great.
And have only had excellent service when I've needed to call them, e.g. to change car, too.
I guess you've been lucky, or I've been unlucky but I've never felt so badgered by a company. And have only had excellent service when I've needed to call them, e.g. to change car, too.
In fairness the Customer Service people are reasonably helpful (apart from failing to tell the cost of the extras) but the sales people are pushy and relentless.
Never had any real issue with them, except this years Multicar renewal, up by 50% to £750. (Did include a newer/similar model)Phone call reduced this to £690 though. 30mins on the interweb got me back down to £500 with another company.
Their loss.
Their loss.
Edited by 750turbo on Monday 9th May 12:38
I used them for years for both my daughter's cars and had no problems - one is still insured with them and they went bizarelly expensive for the other one so we moved away.
Needed to call a few times and can't recall any undue delay. Often get very helpful people in their Canadian call-centre, but the people at the one in Wales have been fine too.
Everyone knows they own Confused.com so it's hardly a surprise they should come out cheapest - it would be somewhat ridiculous if the didn't.
Needed to call a few times and can't recall any undue delay. Often get very helpful people in their Canadian call-centre, but the people at the one in Wales have been fine too.
Everyone knows they own Confused.com so it's hardly a surprise they should come out cheapest - it would be somewhat ridiculous if the didn't.
DJC said:
P-Jay said:
The own (via their parent company) confused.com - and suspiciously will almost always be the cheapest, or at least in the top 3 on confused. - For me they are anyway.
Yes, me too. Elephant are first, followed by Admiral a few pounds more expensive. Swift Cover are usually third.P-Jay said:
The price they quote on confused is almost impossible to obtain, and if you do get it, you will only be getting 10 months cover, so when it's time to renew other insurers may not accept your NCB.
Incorrect. When I click through, all my policies are for 12 months. I've never been defaulted to 10 months.P-Jay said:
If you pay monthly the monthly figures bare little resemblance to the headline figure because 1) they have an insanely high APR 2) they will 'helpfully' include their dubious 'personal injury cover' without ever letting you know the cost of it and only a fleeting mention of it's existence, it's also never mentioned in any of the endless lit they send you post-sales.
I've never paid monthly, but the APR is not unreasonable. They are offering you credit services - should they do it for free? You don't have to take it out.P-Jay said:
Also you can ONLY buy monthly over the phone, so you can look forward to spending half-an-hour plus (seriously it took me 32 mins according to my phone) where you will be ruthlessly hard-sold extras like repayment insurance, hire car cover, breakdown cover etc etc they never take no for an answer for the first or second time.
I've never had the hard sell. I've simply stated I don't need that cover and it has never been pushed. I've dealt with both their UK and Canadian call centres.P-Jay said:
Best of all, once you been dragged through hell and back just to give them your hard-earned for what will probably be nothing in return you can look forward to being called 4-6 times a day, during working hours which is REALLY handy when you've got a job to do. Under the pretence of 'making sure everything is ok' and then being hard-sold the junk extras you didn't take the first time.
Seriously? I've never had this. I've been sent an email with my policy details but never any other communication. I've been with Admiral / Elephant on and off for about 10 years. I currently have a policy with Admiral and Elephant and am very pleased with them, I've never had to claim but I'm assured by others that the claims department are easy to deal with.
If you've never paid monthly, how would you know if the APR is reasonable as it's not quoted? I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but it's around 14-20% APR which is outrageous for a zero risk facility. Personally I think the idea of charging interest on monthly payments is unfair as they will cancel the policy if I don't pay them, but that's another matter.
No I didn't have to take it, but after 20+ mins of being talked to (it was no conversation) my resolve had been broken.
I'm still waiting to hear back about the costs of the extras. They don't seem very keen at all to let me know the cost of the personal injury cover.
you haven't been singled out, they stuffed me good and proper a few years back because they never sent me a letter i should have seen and they never acted on as i hadn't called. apparently no one had the nonce to pick up the phone and ask me if i had seen the letter etc.
having said that, they or one of their sister companies have come out cheapest for the kids over the years, and last year they were 100 beer tokens cheaper than my existing insurer, and that's a lot of beer in this climate, so i am back with them.
having said that, they or one of their sister companies have come out cheapest for the kids over the years, and last year they were 100 beer tokens cheaper than my existing insurer, and that's a lot of beer in this climate, so i am back with them.
I'd read the small print carefully with an Admiral policy if you have a car with a high spec. Whilst they ask you for the full details for any additional spec over manufacturers base spec IT IS NOT covered. So in my case I have an X5 which has over £10k's worth of additional options (easy to do believe me) if the car gets stolen I am only covered for a standard spec car. So whilst they are cheap if your car gets nicked you might find the cover isn't what you thought it was...........
Beardy10 said:
I'd read the small print carefully with an Admiral policy if you have a car with a high spec. Whilst they ask you for the full details for any additional spec over manufacturers base spec IT IS NOT covered. So in my case I have an X5 which has over £10k's worth of additional options (easy to do believe me) if the car gets stolen I am only covered for a standard spec car. So whilst they are cheap if your car gets nicked you might find the cover isn't what you thought it was...........
That comment comes up quite a lot on the Merc forums for the same reason.It has always slightly confused me that most insurers will apparently cover £10K of options for no extra charge, although I suppose most don't rate based on the value of the car anyway.
Deva Link said:
Beardy10 said:
I'd read the small print carefully with an Admiral policy if you have a car with a high spec. Whilst they ask you for the full details for any additional spec over manufacturers base spec IT IS NOT covered. So in my case I have an X5 which has over £10k's worth of additional options (easy to do believe me) if the car gets stolen I am only covered for a standard spec car. So whilst they are cheap if your car gets nicked you might find the cover isn't what you thought it was...........
That comment comes up quite a lot on the Merc forums for the same reason.It has always slightly confused me that most insurers will apparently cover £10K of options for no extra charge, although I suppose most don't rate based on the value of the car anyway.
Beardy10 said:
Pretty much every car on the road had optional extras...
I would dount that - we have 4 cars in the household and only the Merc has options - the others are totally standard apart from two have metallic paint.I wonder if premiums vary by trim, for the same engine - ie basic Mondeo vs Titanium X or whatever they have now? There would be a big difference in list pricing.
jesta1865 said:
apparently no one had the nonce...
You might want to consult your urban dictionary there. A nonce is one thing and the sort of person kept in solitary confinement for their own safety, 'nous' (mispronounced 'nowse' but is in fact french and pronounced 'noo') on the other hand might be the word you're looking for.Mixing those two up might get you into trouble in the wrong company
As for Admiral, their average chimp isn't all that good. Condensed version of my experience when I wrote off a Chimaera was they offered me £9000 by text message stating "This is our final offer". It was also their first and putting aside the fact it was way off target I objected to receiving a bloody text message with an implied threat. Three layers of management and a raft of emails later they gave me £14,000. Being an ex-loss adjuster may not be exciting but it sure as hell puts you in a better position when dealing with these idiots.
Edited by Flintstone on Saturday 7th May 13:57
P-Jay said:
V8mate said:
I think Admiral are great.
And have only had excellent service when I've needed to call them, e.g. to change car, too.
I guess you've been lucky, or I've been unlucky but I've never felt so badgered by a company. And have only had excellent service when I've needed to call them, e.g. to change car, too.
In fairness the Customer Service people are reasonably helpful (apart from failing to tell the cost of the extras) but the sales people are pushy and relentless.
YEARS BACK ON MY 2007 RR Vogue I was stung by them.
Over the cars life I would constantly update the mods to the car. Including my OVERFINCH front bumper etc. I was then a victim in the most bizarre brake test ever and did everything to make it known (even a trip to the police station to make statements) after the old lady armed with pen and paper "had to go to her daughters"
Admiral then instantly paid out to her despite her claiming she was at traffic lights when intact we where on a 60mph country road. Me then wanting to claim for my new bumper as I had a protected no claims I was then told they would not pay out on the mods they charged me for. They then went on to state i never told the, about it and they magically lost the relevant tapes. In my opinion the ombudsman were too lenient with them (over a year to get info) and let them react to all evidence after they were inconsistent throughout.
ALL I CAN SAY IS THEY ARE PATHETIC THEY WILL TELL YOU ALL YOU WANT TO HEAR UNTIL YOU THEN NEED TO REEP THE BENIFITS OF YOUR POLICY WHICH ISN'T WORTH THE PAPER IT'S WRITTEN ON.
If any Rep from Admiral wants to respond please do as I will enjoy destroying your reputation!
Very happy with Admiral. I've had one fault accident and a non fault since being with them. The latter resulted in my 4 month old car being written off.
With the 1st accident they authorised the repair within 24 hours, the 2nd they paid out in 4 days and I had my replacement within 7 days.
With the 1st accident they authorised the repair within 24 hours, the 2nd they paid out in 4 days and I had my replacement within 7 days.
I've used them a few times and am currently insured with them although they did mess me around.
My Missus insured her car with them first, then got a ref number to add my car when my renewal came round under multicar
I called them gave them the ref which they confirmed was one of their refs - except the quote that had been given to the Mrs didnt exist.
No problem - they quoted me for a multicar policy on the basis of adding the Mrs car when her admiral policy expired and it was still cheap.
When I came to actually take it out the price had changed by about £20. Annoying but still cheap so I went with it.
Then they told me they needed written proof of my NCD ( Admiral are the ONLY insurer in the last 10 years or so that I've had actually ask for proof - most just want the name and policy number of previous insurer ). I had the document in front of me when I called to take the new policy out with them but they were very specific that they needed to see the paper document.
No problem - I've got the renewal notice and they tell me they will send me a pack with policy docs and a reply paid envelope to send the NCD proof.
This never arrives but they email the policy docs to me - I'm insured and paid in full up front so I dont think any further about it - until I get an email out of the blue telling me as I havent sent my proof of NCD to them they are increasing my premium and will be taking an extra £100 or so from my debit card - this email arrives whilst im on holiday in greece so theres not a lot I can do about it.
When I get home I call them thankfully they havent taken the money yet and I give them the prvious insurer name and policy number over the phone and they tell me I no longer need to send the paper proof - but as the info arrived "late" they charge me a £20 "admin" fee.
Why the hell they refused to take the previous insurers detail for NCD purposes when I took the policy out god only knows.
I wont be renewing.
My Missus insured her car with them first, then got a ref number to add my car when my renewal came round under multicar
I called them gave them the ref which they confirmed was one of their refs - except the quote that had been given to the Mrs didnt exist.
No problem - they quoted me for a multicar policy on the basis of adding the Mrs car when her admiral policy expired and it was still cheap.
When I came to actually take it out the price had changed by about £20. Annoying but still cheap so I went with it.
Then they told me they needed written proof of my NCD ( Admiral are the ONLY insurer in the last 10 years or so that I've had actually ask for proof - most just want the name and policy number of previous insurer ). I had the document in front of me when I called to take the new policy out with them but they were very specific that they needed to see the paper document.
No problem - I've got the renewal notice and they tell me they will send me a pack with policy docs and a reply paid envelope to send the NCD proof.
This never arrives but they email the policy docs to me - I'm insured and paid in full up front so I dont think any further about it - until I get an email out of the blue telling me as I havent sent my proof of NCD to them they are increasing my premium and will be taking an extra £100 or so from my debit card - this email arrives whilst im on holiday in greece so theres not a lot I can do about it.
When I get home I call them thankfully they havent taken the money yet and I give them the prvious insurer name and policy number over the phone and they tell me I no longer need to send the paper proof - but as the info arrived "late" they charge me a £20 "admin" fee.
Why the hell they refused to take the previous insurers detail for NCD purposes when I took the policy out god only knows.
I wont be renewing.
I had a real problem with Direct Line many years ago when I foolishly sent them my only copy of my proof of no claims. I had a right to do with them, spending hours on a premium rate phone line trying to sort it out and then being threatened with a more than double new premium because they had lost the no claims I'd sent in.
I'm assuming that with the cut throat comparison web site market as it is they all seem to want to screw you for a few additional quid to make up for giving such a low initial price.
I've been pleasantly suprised with Aviva lately and the after sales isn't too shabby having just put a different number plate on my recent vehicle
I'm assuming that with the cut throat comparison web site market as it is they all seem to want to screw you for a few additional quid to make up for giving such a low initial price.
I've been pleasantly suprised with Aviva lately and the after sales isn't too shabby having just put a different number plate on my recent vehicle
I've been using them since I started and they have been good, only thing that pisses me off about them is how cheeky they are with renewals. They normally send a massively inflated price and when you search on confused.com they come back with a much cheaper price, usually at least £500 cheaper!
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