Adrian Flux - are they really specialist?

[aturnick54]

Been looking at insurance renewal, and have been with Admiral for past couple years and very happy with them but as always like to shop around. My Admiral renewal came to £590 mods declared and business use which is reasonable and cheaper than last year.

Decided to give Adrian Flux a go so filled out their form online, got a provisional quote the next morning of around £470 which seemed good. Called them as they claim you can get an even cheaper price by calling so thought why not. Spent 15 minutes going through the quote, and 5 minutes of hold music while they went to the underwriter for them to say that the quoted price is now £1050, over double! Makes no sense at all and told them I wasn't interested.

Also tried to get a quote from them a few years back and they flat out refused to cover me due to job. Every time it comes to renewal I find the normal insurance companies always give much better quotes, and I've never had an issue in dealing with them over the phone. I am yet to get a quote from Greenlight, heard good things about them but still skeptical they will be able to quote reasonably.

[Mr Tidy]

I left my renewal a bit late in 2020 and went with Adrian Flux for my modified BMW, but the insurer was with some random firm called Trinity Lane based in Malta! Thankfully I survived that with no claims.

Then in 2021 I used Chris Knott in 2021 with Aegeas who were much cheaper, as well as being a company I'd heard of!

[sherman]

I have used them in the past but after a couple of years I was able to get cheaper from main stream insurers.
There used to be a pistonheads discount with Adrian Flux but something happened and theres no discount anymore iirc.

[RWD cossie wil]

No, they just lie to you, stick your renewal premium up hundreds of pounds for no reason with an extra years NCB. Then won’t price match as it is absolutely the best price they can do. Then feign surprise you have found a non pisstake price, and try to stop you leaving by offering to price match….. Cut out the nonsense & just go to a good company to start with.

[scoey1001]

Never used them as others have always been much cheaper. Went with Greenlight this time.

[Royal Jelly]

I haven’t found them specialist in any way.

I’m a slightly odd case, in that all of my NCD expired due to living out of the country, so I was expecting a fairly steep initial premium 2 years ago. AF were comfortably more expensive than anyone I got quotes from. For the renewal, the gap widened.

I think their USP among my demographic was that when we were younger, you could actually get insured on a decent or modified car with them, as opposed to the flat-out ‘no’ from the rest.

Seem to be entirely redundant, now.

[steveo3002]

check a few review sits and see what you think ..not great

[Baked_bean]

I had one car insured with them in the past but generally find them to be really expensive compared to other insurers on all types of car. I don’t even bother to call them anymore.

[Lincsls1]

Royal Jelly said:

I think their USP among my demographic was that when we were younger, you could actually get insured on a decent or modified car with them, as opposed to the flat-out ‘no’ from the rest.

Seem to be entirely redundant, now.

This is the answer.

[vikingaero]

I used them once years ago. Price was OK, renewal wasn't. What put me off was the constant complaints about them on forums. It seemed they make it up as they go along. I'm one of the ones who looked at their T&C's and they weren't good. IIRC most companies charge say £25-£50 if you cancel a policy. Flux seemed to want hundreds back then.

[Denis O]

Their cancellation rules are incredible. At least Turpin wore a mask.

2 months into a years insurance on a 50th Defender, I sold the car and cancelled the insurance. They charged me around 10 months so I got virtually nothing back.

Haven't touched them since. Good riddance. There arecplenty of alternatives.

[vikingaero]

I've just checked their website again. Certainly it is very vague. As I said before most Insurers are upfront about their cancellation. Flux are muddier. For instance:

Will I get a refund if I cancel?
You would not get a refund if you have a no refund policy. If the policy does not allow a refund in any circumstance, this would be stated on the paperwork you received when you took the policy out and we would also have informed you over the phone

I've not come across many "no refund policy" in my time working for an Insurer

All cancellations are subject to a £30 administration charge. Refunds are processed net of commission or a percentage fee

When I cancelled my policy with Sainsburys Bank (UK Insurance Limited) the only charge was the admin fee. No net of commission etc.

[HustleRussell]

I have been using Adrian Flux on and off since 2010. I’ve probably had 7 or 8 policies with them in that time. They offered agreed valuation and flexdrive and were always reasonably priced considering.

Over the past two years they have become really uncompetitive. My latest renewal came in at approaching £500, and when I rang them they were adamant that they couldn’t improve it.

I’ve since heard that they are losing many of their underwriters to competing brokers.

[Dannbodge]

I've not had a great experience getting quotes with them
They were one of the most expensive I had, until I got a very good quote from Admiral, which suddenly they could match.

I avoided them very quickly.

[Dan_1981]

I think back in the day they were a little bit specialist.

These days... just another broker aren't they?

[Venisonpie]

They are specialist alright just not in a beneficial way.

[Truckosaurus]

I once telephoned them in the '90s when I was young and had a modified car, they claimed to be too busy to give me a quote, so I haven't given them the opportunity to win my business ever since.

[waynecyclist]

Used them once, had issues with the policy from the start, would never use them again

[Driver101]

I wouldn't use them again.

[PH User]

Truckosaurus said:

I once telephoned them in the '90s when I was young and had a modified car, they claimed to be too busy to give me a quote, so I haven't given them the opportunity to win my business ever since.

Wow that's a hell of a grudge!