Admiral Car Insurance - Are They any Good?

Lee_Howden

I've followed Martin's guide to cost cutting on my car insurance and found that Admiral is coming out the cheapest. The policy loks to be decent with reasonable excess, protected NCB and hire car.

However, plenty of people appear to have all sorts of problems with them when they ave to claim from them (checked this on reviewcentre.com).

Can people confirm what they are like to deal with when claiming? Any experiences, good or bad will be gratefully appreciated.

mymatebob

I have been with them for a while.
Had to make 1 claim a few years ago - very easy no problems at all and as my NC bonus was protected didn't affect my premium.

raskazz

In my experience most people only write online reviews on their insurers when they've had a bad experience. Thus the larger insurers automatically come off worse in terms of online reviews through sheer numbers, even though the actual proportion of dissatisfied customers is the same.

Lee_Howden

raskazz wrote: »

In my experience most people only write online reviews on their insurers when they've had a bad experience. Thus the larger insurers automatically come off worse in terms of online reviews through sheer numbers, even though the actual proportion of dissatisfied customers is the same.

I did think the same myself. That's why I thought I'd open a thread on here and use other peoples experiences to help with my decision making. As someone who has had difficulty with how a claim has been dealt with before I'm particularly weary of choosing a company who possibly aren't the best when it comes to claims handling.

The Admiral quote I received is nearly £100 cheaper than my renewal from my present insurer. The next lowest quote is £60 dearer than Admirals, hence the reason why I'm not taking the decision lightly!

Like I said earlier, any views would be appreciated.

tinkerbell84

I've had insurance with admiral, and claimed with no hassle whatsoever. They're consistently cheaper for me, and I like the level of cover.

stugib

Lee_Howden wrote: »

The Admiral quote I received is nearly £100 cheaper than my renewal from my present insurer. The next lowest quote is £60 dearer than Admirals, hence the reason why I'm not taking the decision lightly!

Be careful if you're going to pay by instalments. We were going to get a Multicar policy with them last week but their instalment charge was very high compared to others which meant it wasn't that competitive on total to pay over the year.

They don't quote their monthly rate or APR on any of their online quotes, you have to ring them. I did, and they claimed they only charged 8.5% APR, though when I pushed them they said there's an additional 'discount' (they don't mention this anywhere) for paying in full, which you lose, and then pay interest on the un-discounted rate. It was more like a 30%+ APR when you worked it out based on the on-screen price versus total to pay.

jonathon_hart

I was also with admiral for years when young and never had any problems with them including on a couple of claims. I did find that when I got to about 30 though they started to come out more expensive so have since moved elsewhere.

epsilondraconis

We were with Admiral when my wife had an accident in May 08. It still hasn't been resolved - I have to say that it is the combination of Admiral and Albany Assistance that appears to be the problem (Albany Assistance appear to handle their claims). They have been slow to follow up on certain things and so progress has been somewhat sporadic. Having said that, Zurich, the insurancer of the other party appear to have given Admiral the run around by sending out misleading letters (that's what Admiral tell us anyway).

We are no longer with Admiral because I got a cheaper quote with LV.

Would I have stayed with Admiral if their quote had been cheaper - yes. Okay, they have been slow in this case processing the claim and therefore we are still out by £160 (which is the value of our excess); however sometimes these things happen. The fact is, when the accident happened, the repairs were organised quickly and we received a courtesy car (if you can call it that!). I think with any large company, you are going to get a mix of views.

Lee_Howden

epsilondraconis wrote: »

We were with Admiral when my wife had an accident in May 08. It still hasn't been resolved - I have to say that it is the combination of Admiral and Albany Assistance that appears to be the problem (Albany Assistance appear to handle their claims). They have been slow to follow up on certain things and so progress has been somewhat sporadic. Having said that, Zurich, the insurancer of the other party appear to have given Admiral the run around by sending out misleading letters (that's what Admiral tell us anyway).

We are no longer with Admiral because I got a cheaper quote with LV.

Would I have stayed with Admiral if their quote had been cheaper - yes. Okay, they have been slow in this case processing the claim and therefore we are still out by £160 (which is the value of our excess); however sometimes these things happen. The fact is, when the accident happened, the repairs were organised quickly and we received a courtesy car (if you can call it that!). I think with any large company, you are going to get a mix of views.

I take it that the slowness you are referring to is recovering costs from the third party insurer?

Thinking about my own situation I would really want a quick turnaround on repairs and a courtesy/hire car supplied whilst they are taking place. Unfortunately, settling claims with a third party insurer, whether it be for damage to a vehicle or personal injury can take a considerable amount of time and probably not a great deal unlike other insurers.

Can anyone else offer any other experiences?

agaveworm

I used them a long time ago and found them cheap and efficient....

roxy7699

I was with Admiral for a year and claimed for a smashed back window, they handled it all very well. It took a while for the car to be collected and fixed but that was down to the actual company who deal with windows (RAC I believe) not Admiral.
Im not however with them anymore due to a payment being missed due to an account closure and being told I had to pay in full rather than offering a different bank account and continuing with monthly payments.
So I took my business elsewhere, it may have been part my error but I found them unhelpful with that.