Admiral Platinum vs Agreed Value Policies

[Masterplan]

All,

I’m about to purchase my first Lamborghini. My first super car in fact.

It’s a 2021 Huracan Evo (£170k), and I started using comparison websites to check insurance. I also assumed I could purchase gap insurance, but I can’t find an insurer that will cover vehicles over £150k.

I then read some threads stating I’d be better off with Agreed Value insurers, but the price differences are wild.


Admiral Platinum cover is £1300 vs Agreed Value policies at £5500.

Question is, are there any real risks going with admiral? Do I need a GAP policy given its age? Is the £4k difference with an Agreed Value policy worth it?

I’m genuinely stumped as to what to do. So much so I’ve hesitated placing my deposit down on the car.

Any advice appreciated

[Masterplan]

davek_964 said:

Each individual claim will vary, but as I've posted before : I am (and was) with Admiral when I had a total loss fault accident in Sept 2022 on my McLaren 650.

The Admiral "approved" repairer was....... the official McLaren bodyshop I wanted to use anyway. So the car was taken there. It took a couple of weeks for it to be declared total loss by Admiral.

Admiral then told me that - because it was not a "normal" car, they obtain bespoke valuations, because guides like Glass's / Parkers tend to be too low for cars like this. I was told that this would take about 5 days.
It actually took 2-3 weeks - and the figure they obtained was very good - and more than I'd told them what I thought the car was worth about 2 weeks before the accident (it happened at renewal time).

It's not agreed value, so it's not guaranteed - and I suppose I could have been very unhappy. But I was very pleased with them - they handled the claim well, paid me (in my opinion) a bit more than they should have and literally allowed me to replace the car with the insurance money without adding a penny.

ETA : And also didn't seem to increase the premium as a result of the accident / payout (I have protected NCD)

Edited by davek_964 on Monday 11th March 15:52

Sounds positive. Book prices are my main concern, and the fact they are often much lower than reality when it comes to these cars.

Assume you’d use them again over an Agreed Value policy?

I’m leaning towards them assuming they can allow me to use any garage in the event of a claim, and they can confirm the claim process in the event of a total loss.

[Masterplan]

To circle back around on this….

After extensive searches through various brokers, the cheapest agreed value I can get is £4000. Excess is £3k for any claim bar windscreen, which is £110.

Admiral platinum is coming in at a shade over a grand at £1045. Excess is £500 and windscreen £150

That’s for a driver in mid 30’s with an SP30 and a fault claim 4 years ago

Both include breakdown and European cover.

Admiral will use Lamborgini as an approved workshop and will default to Lamborghini glass in the event of a replacement windscreen, should a suitable alternative be too difficult to source.

I’m new to the super car game and this has fried my mind a bit. I cannot for the life of me decide which makes more sense here, but the agreed value policy seems crazy high at £4K and £3K excess. I’ll be £7K down the minute I need to make a claim (assuming it’s a fault claim).

I’m leaning towards Admiral here, but most people on here have suggested the agreed value policies.

Would be keen to know what you’d do in my situation.

[Masterplan]

lambo666 said:

Go with admiral, you will be fine, I had a very large claim quite some time ago and it was handled directly with one of their underwriters, not the idiot's you talk to when asking for a quotation etc.
I think if a claim is above 30/40k or so this is normal practice.
Was paid out in a reasonable time frame and for the correct amount.
I would still be with them, but the max value they will go to is 249k per vehicle, and my Merc S63 premium went from £1.2k to 3.4k which made no sense for a £60k car, and I went elsewhere for £1.4k.
Currently with Locktons, probably not the cheapest, but I did try 2 other competitors and they were both 1k more expensive.

I’m looking at £170k for a huracan, and only worry is what they deem as book price in the event of total loss.

The alternative is I suck up the £4k, hope it gets better in year 2 and take out excess insurance for the £3k excess.

[Masterplan]

av185 said:

As I posted earlier to protect yourself it is always best to e mail the insurer a copy of the original invoice for the car clearly showing the exact specification and ALL the options on the car whether factory fitted or otherwise.

Admiral classifies many options as either internal or external modifications, btw, which is very odd.

Other insurers worth a try for higher end cars include Aviva BOS and believe or not Saga! May have a max value of £150k and insist on tracker for what its worth.

I called them this morning, and they basically said "You don't need to tell us about optional extras that were fitted by the vehicle manufacturer, as these will automatically be covered."

I've still asked for them to review the original spec and confirm they are happy to cover it.

This would be a no-brainer if the costs were not £3k more and then £3k excess in the event of any claim.

[Masterplan]

davek_964 said:

Paying £3k extra so that (in the event of a total loss claim) they guarantee to pay you £3k less than it's worth doesn't seem all that tempting to me.......

I guess it comes down to what the determine the value of the car to be. Agreed value is guaranteed to pay out what I paid. Admiral could be several thousands lower. Some of the online value calculators are throwing out scary numbers

[Masterplan]

davek_964 said:

If you absolutely need to know what they will pay out for total loss, you don't really have much choice.

As two of us have said, Admiral don't (or didn't) use "online value calculators". They asked for adverts of similar cars for sale, they obtained bespoke valuation and they paid out enough for me to replace the car without adding a single penny.
That might change tomorrow of course - who knows. But if I was in your position - based on my own experience - I would be insuring with Admiral. I'm not sure it is suitable for you though, given your concerns.

That's a fair point. My concern is that I've discussed this quote with them a couple of times, and each person tells me something different about how they establish the value of the car. I've asked for it in writing, but they defer me to their documentation portal, which doesn't specify any differences for supercars, for example.

This whole process has sucked some of the fun out of buying my first supercar. Overdramatic...perhaps, but the only time I will know if my decision was right or wrong is in the event of total loss or a significant repair.