Admiral Insurance WTF??
Admiral Insurance WTF??
Author
Discussion

hunt_the_fox

Original Poster:

1,044 posts

246 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
I know that this has been said before on here but multicar is quite amazing.

I got a renewal quote through for my two cars- just a shade south of £3,000, a big increase so I had a look on a couple of comparison sites. The cheapest quotes were from.... Admiral!

So I called them up and they have agreed to match the prices saving me over £1,000!!

This amazes me. How the hell do they justify blatantly ripping off their customers....?

16v stretch

984 posts

178 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
You don't even get a massive discount for multi-car from Admiral, funnily enough Direct Line have been offering Multi Car discounts longer than Admiral.

All insurance companies seem to try and shaft people on renewals, rarely have I found that you get the best deal with your renewal notice.

Robbo101

180 posts

177 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
^^^^ depends on what you mean by "best deal". If you mean cheapest, then no you wont probably receive the absolute cheapest quote relative to the market, but working on the proviso that you usually get what you pay for, would you want the cheapest in terms of cover, customer service etc ? Probably not, just the same as you probably wouldnt want the cheapest car, cheapest clothes, or cheapest watch etc.

The sad fact (& its constantly quoted on PH - though seemingly nobody takes any notice) is that the premiums from Motor Insurance do not cover the amount that is actually paid out (let alone the staff they employ, the buildings they occupy or the IT syatems they rely upon). Rather, the investments they make are where the money is made (if indeed the Insurer concerned is in profit).

Since nobody is forced to utilise the single Insurer only, is it not beyond human endevour that if you dont like the premium you receive, you place your business elsewhere ?


CampDavid

9,145 posts

219 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Companies make very little out of new customers, it's all renewals. Apparently.

Regardless, I have this every year with Admiral. It's a pain but I do end up with decent cover, decent service and a decent pice out of it. Which is alright

soad

34,275 posts

197 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
hunt_the_fox said:
How the hell do they justify blatantly ripping off their customers....?
Imagine the profit margins from customers who don't shop around

RobCrezz

7,892 posts

229 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
soad said:
Imagine the profit margins from customers who don't shop around

mikeveal

5,002 posts

271 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Robbo101 said:
The sad fact (& its constantly quoted on PH - though seemingly nobody takes any notice) is that the premiums from Motor Insurance do not cover the amount that is actually paid out (let alone the staff they employ, the buildings they occupy or the IT syatems they rely upon). Rather, the investments they make are where the money is made (if indeed the Insurer concerned is in profit).

It appears that you saying that the motor insurance providers make a loss on selling policies, that they take that loss, invest it and manage to turn a profit.

Please explain to me how you can invest a loss. I'm also slightly curious as to why any business would chose to continue to operate at a loss (I honsetly can't see this being a loss leader for other activities.)

And I thought I'd grasped the essentials of economics.

CampDavid

9,145 posts

219 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
mikeveal said:
It appears that you saying that the motor insurance providers make a loss on selling policies, that they take that loss, invest it and manage to turn a profit.

Please explain to me how you can invest a loss. I'm also slightly curious as to why any business would chose to continue to operate at a loss (I honsetly can't see this being a loss leader for other activities.)

And I thought I'd grasped the essentials of economics.
What he saying is that they take £1000 from you and pay out on average £1050. They make the money make during the latency preiod between them taking the cash of you (at the start of the policy) to when they pay out (12 months after you've had a shunt)

No idea if this is correct but I do know you need to work on your economics skills wink

Robbo101

180 posts

177 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
CampDavid, I thankyou for your explanation.

XJSsometimeSoon

378 posts

180 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
They are making a nice healthy profit out of me, over the years I have forked out over 5 grand on insurance and have not had to make a claim. Despite this my renewal quote was 150% greater than the previous year. When I asked them about this, it seems I have magicaly got myself in to an at risk group despite nothing changing !! Cheeky buggers indeed

Laughingman21

590 posts

232 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
hunt_the_fox said:
I know that this has been said before on here but multicar is quite amazing.

I got a renewal quote through for my two cars- just a shade south of £3,000, a big increase so I had a look on a couple of comparison sites. The cheapest quotes were from.... Admiral!

So I called them up and they have agreed to match the prices saving me over £1,000!!

This amazes me. How the hell do they justify blatantly ripping off their customers....?
If you think they're shafting you when you're paying the premuium, just wait until you try and get cash out of them for a claim!

gowmonster

2,471 posts

188 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
did a quote with admiral (on the phone) for multicar for both our cars, turned out to be way more expensive that insuring them separately, absolutely crazy

Altrezia

8,724 posts

232 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
gowmonster said:
did a quote with admiral (on the phone) for multicar for both our cars, turned out to be way more expensive that insuring them separately, absolutely crazy
This happened to me twenty minutes ago.

£2200 quoted to insure three cars, a clio, an impreza and an elise.

I have all three insured for £1500 elsewhere, now. Sigh.

Deva Link

26,934 posts

266 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Robbo101 said:
The sad fact (& its constantly quoted on PH - though seemingly nobody takes any notice) is that the premiums from Motor Insurance do not cover the amount that is actually paid out (let alone the staff they employ, the buildings they occupy or the IT syatems they rely upon). Rather, the investments they make are where the money is made (if indeed the Insurer concerned is in profit).
Turns out that might not be true: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Bacon Is Proof

5,740 posts

252 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
XJSsometimeSoon said:
Despite this my renewal quote was 150% greater than the previous year.
365% increase for my OH this year, does she win a prize?

paulmoonraker

2,850 posts

184 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Bacon Is Proof said:
XJSsometimeSoon said:
Despite this my renewal quote was 150% greater than the previous year.
365% increase for my OH this year, does she win a prize?
How?

mikeveal

5,002 posts

271 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
CampDavid said:
mikeveal said:
It appears that you saying that the motor insurance providers make a loss on selling policies, that they take that loss, invest it and manage to turn a profit.

Please explain to me how you can invest a loss. I'm also slightly curious as to why any business would chose to continue to operate at a loss (I honsetly can't see this being a loss leader for other activities.)

And I thought I'd grasped the essentials of economics.
What he saying is that they take £1000 from you and pay out on average £1050. They make the money make during the latency preiod between them taking the cash of you (at the start of the policy) to when they pay out (12 months after you've had a shunt)

No idea if this is correct but I do know you need to work on your economics skills wink
So what you're saying is that the money we pay for our premiums is treated as a loan by the industry. The yearly cost of maintaining the loan is paying out on claims & staffing / operations costs (this would have to come in lower than the cost of just borrowing the cash).

I suppose that could work. Doesn't seem to be a long term model. The capital income from insurance won't grow much year to year at constant currency, the only way you can drive this up is to gain market share in a saturated market.
It won't be very long before the investment arm of the business has making enough cash to dump the insurance arm - that is the re-invested returns will out perform the loss making insurance business. At this point, its a no brainer to sell off or asset strip the insurance business.

Whilst I don't keep a very close watch on the market, I'm not aware of this happening.

As ever, I'm happy for someone more enlightened to point out the flaw(s) in my thinking.

paulmoonraker

2,850 posts

184 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
Multicar can be ok for 'normal cars', but for something different then specialists are better I find. Especially if you have done ridiculous power enhancing modifications to it. In this case, with the right specialist and providing you are not 11 years old, it can become cheaper (I guess they figure that the car will spend more time in pieces or being washed than on the road)...

paulmoonraker

2,850 posts

184 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
mikeveal said:
I suppose that could work. Doesn't seem to be a long term model. The capital income from insurance won't grow much year to year at constant currency, the only way you can drive this up is to gain market share in a saturated market.
It won't be very long before the investment arm of the business has making enough cash to dump the insurance arm - that is the re-invested returns will out perform the loss making insurance business. At this point, its a no brainer to sell off or asset strip the insurance business.
This is a good point however... Perhaps they are st investors/speculators...

thinfourth2

32,414 posts

225 months

Wednesday 31st August 2011
quotequote all
I hate car insurance

If it wasn't a legal requirement i wouldn't bother

I only insure fully comp because it is cheaper then 3rd party only

And the whole process of phoning around answering 20 million stupid questions before being put on hold for an entire week before they give you a st price makes it even worse.

I wish a pox upon them