Admiral Mid-Term Motor Cancellation = £45!

[mentat72]

Hi all, just called up Admiral to cancel my motor insurance as I have sold my car.

The cancellation fee was £45!


While I'll be getting back a fair amount as the policy is December to December, I think that charge is extortionate. So, just as a warning don't take up Admiral car insurance if you may be looking to cancel before the term ends.

Thieves.

[battyboimatt]

I would never touch Admiral with a barge pole, I had a policy with them once, and phoned to cancel told it would be £35, paid this and then months later got a letter from a debt collector saying I owe Admiral £135 for my insurance that I had canclled, phoned Admiral and requested tape, funny enougth it was there alternative contact centre and they couldnt find anything, paid up and will never touch them again

[dunstonh]

I think that charge is extortionate.

Its within the typical tolerance accepted by the FOS. Seems reasonable to me seeing as you wish to break the contract.

So, just as a warning don't take up Admiral car insurance if you may be looking to cancel before the term ends.

Virtually all make a cancellation charge now.

Thieves.

I'm not sure why you can call them that seeing as it is a published fee you are made aware of.

[mentat72]

It's the anger more than anything that makes me use the word 'Thieves'.

I just don't see that £45 is a fair amount to break a contract, I could understand £10 or £15 to cover 'admin' costs. But £45 is taking the pee.

If I had known up front about the £45 charge I would not have renewed it with them and will not deal with them in future.

[dunstonh]

I just don't see that £45 is a fair amount to break a contract, I could understand £10 or £15 to cover 'admin' costs. But £45 is taking the pee.

You are also paying for loss of profit as well as a part recovery of the set up costs. Remember that the annual premium includes those but if you dont pay for the year, those costs still have to be met by the insurer.

It is fair when you consider what goes into car insurance. Plus the very low profit margins that exist. Indeed, many are running at a loss.

If I had known up front about the £45 charge I would not have renewed it with them and will not deal with them in future.

You better be prepared to have no car insurance or find your choice of insurer is much restricted. Indeed, you may find that the cost of insurance each year ends up being more than the £45 because of that restriction on not using providers that charge a cancellation fee.

[bluebash]

Just a note to say that I wrote to complain about being charged a £45 cancellation fee and received a reply that 'for good customer relations and to recognise my long standing custom with Admiral' they have decided to write off the outstanding amount. So it's worth querying it and not just paying up and grumbling....

[TheOne]

Just got a letter today, 16th of December, from Admiral saying that they will be cancelling my car insurance on the 4th of December!!!!!!!!!!!! So I phoned them to ask what the heck was going on. As I understood (I couldn't understand the guy too well!) they were saying that it was because they tried to take a payment in November of £51.00. I asked what this amount was for as my quote was for about £425 including their monthly payment plan ("tax") etc etc (looking for this now to confirm) which would only work out to about £36 as month. So I asked him what's happened as £51 a month adds up to £612!!! All I got the the bloke on the phone was "We haven't changed anything" So he's either completely uninformed or lying. They're now saying I owe them £99.93 but have no idea how it now adds up to this amount?? Grrrrrrrr!!!!!!! Useless ******ers!!!!!

[TheOne]

So, I phoned Admiral this morning, as I thought I'd better just pay up this £99.93 and get it sorted and complain later, so at least I have car insurance. So I'm speaking to the guy on the phone (an English guy this time, woooo!!!) ready with a card to pay off the £99.93, and he then tells me I owe them about £380!!! WTF!! Where the hell am I supposed to get this sort of money from??

[glitter123]

Its not just cancelling they charge for. I bought a new car last year and Direct Line charged me £35 admin fee for changing.

[dunstonh]

Originally Posted by glitter123

Its not just cancelling they charge for. I bought a new car last year and Direct Line charged me £35 admin fee for changing.

Nothing wrong with that. They publish that they have an administration charge on amendments.

[icheyne]

I'm sorry but these charges are very cheeky. No one expects their policy to be automatically renewed and for unreasonable mid-term cancellation fees to be applied.

[dunstonh]

No one expects their policy to be automatically renewed

why not? The renewal letters always tell you if it will or will not be. So, in theory everyone should know.

and for unreasonable mid-term cancellation fees to be applied.

Most people expect to be paid for work they do. So, why should insurance companies be any different?

[whatmichaelsays]

This has been done countless times on many other discussions.

Here's my twopenneth on it (lifted from another discussion)

These charges are simply about businesses reacting to the demands that we the public make.

The reality is that the public's insatiable desire to have everything "as cheaply as possible" means that companies are constantly having to look at bringing in ancillary charges or removing "free" services in order to make their headline price seem more competitive. There's big kudos in coming out on top in a Confused or Gocompare search and if you can do that by stripping out services, increasing excesses or generally cutting costs, then firms will do it.

We have seen it most overtly in the airline industry and we are seeing it creeping in to other industries (more and more firms are charging surcharges for credit cards for instance). Where a company may have changed an address for free in the past, the pressure to bring the headline price down to the bare bottom means that those services get removed from the standard package. Very few people will want to change an address so the negative impact of introducing a charge is minimal.

Insurance is a competitive, cut-throat industry and the margins have been shrunk dramatically. Five-ten years ago, insurers made little profit from a customer in Y1, making it up in Y2. Today, with many of us changing insurer every year (not forgetting the Quidco kick-back), firms are having to change that business model to make as much as possible in Y1 whilst still keeping the headline price low. Ancillary charges is one way of doing just that.

At the end of the day, businesses are simply reacting to consumer demand and at the moments, our demands are almost entirely price driven.

[lisyloo]

You are very right.
I think the reason that people find it hard to accept is that they haven't overall seen insurance costs coming down, whereas if you get a flight for 1p, then you don't mind so much.

[dunstonh]

This has been done countless times on many other discussions.

I like your response. There ought to be a sticky to cover why the charges exist (and automatic renewal as well) and your post should be there as it explains it well.

[shazzom]

I've just bought a new car, already had my 1.6 Peugeot 106 insured with Admiral at £95 a month, have just bought a 1.4 Corsa and rang to change over, and new quote is £150 per month!!! So have found a much cheaper quote elsewhere, and cancellation fee with Admiral is now £47.50, plus £5 fee for each additional cover extra, so I have personal accident cover and hire car cover, so I also have to pay an extra tenner to cancel those and my normal policy cover, so all in all £57.50. Am hoping to argue with their retention team to match my other quote or at least keep it at £95 so the same as it is now, am hoping to get out of paying that fee but will leave if I have to!

[Alison_B]

My son is about to change his car. He is with Admiral and his insurance is due up in February. He picks the new car up on Friday and they have only quoted him £138 to change his insurance for the remainder of the year plus £18 admin fee.

[talulah25]

Originally Posted by shazzom

I've just bought a new car, already had my 1.6 Peugeot 106 insured with Admiral at £95 a month, have just bought a 1.4 Corsa and rang to change over, and new quote is £150 per month!!! So have found a much cheaper quote elsewhere, and cancellation fee with Admiral is now £47.50, plus £5 fee for each additional cover extra, so I have personal accident cover and hire car cover, so I also have to pay an extra tenner to cancel those and my normal policy cover, so all in all £57.50. Am hoping to argue with their retention team to match my other quote or at least keep it at £95 so the same as it is now, am hoping to get out of paying that fee but will leave if I have to!

Hate to tell you but you are probably going to have to pay more than £57.50 to cancel, there will also be a time on risk charge as well and short-term rates are not cheap!

[caseyann]

I was quoted £120 to cancel my Admiral multi policy - I had a change of car and I got a quote that was £700 cheaper - with Admiral single car policy - they explained that there was an admin charge for changing cars mid term - but £700 more to stay with multi car or pay £120 cancellation.

[dunstonh]

Originally Posted by caseyann

I was quoted £120 to cancel my Admiral multi policy - I had a change of car and I got a quote that was £700 cheaper - with Admiral single car policy - they explained that there was an admin charge for changing cars mid term - but £700 more to stay with multi car or pay £120 cancellation.

If you take their cancellation charge off that £120 then the rest is probably unpaid premium and possibly non-refundable items (if you bought any).