Are Admiral, Bell, Elephant and Diamondtoo good to be true?

tobyjoness

Hi

I've just been on a couple of comparison websites to look for insurance on a car I want to buy.

Admiral, Bell, Elephant and Diamond (who are all part of the same group) were the cheapest with around the £600 mark, and then the next insurer was about double that.

My question is, if I take out the policy with one of the above, is it likely my renewal will double next year to the price that alot of other companies are quoting me?
thanks
Toby

chewmylegoff

tobyjoness wrote: »

Hi

I've just been on a couple of comparison websites to look for insurance on a car I want to buy.

Admiral, Bell, Elephant and Diamond (who are all part of the same group) were the cheapest with around the £600 mark, and then the next insurer was about double that.

My question is, if I take out the policy with one of the above, is it likely my renewal will double next year to the price that alot of other companies are quoting me?
thanks
Toby

i've been with elephant for a while. points i will make:

(i) every year, when i get my renewal quote, i put my details into a comparison site. whilst elephant will not give you a new quote (as you have to put in your reg details) what you will get is a quote from admiral and/or bell, which is always less than the elephant renewal quote. (e.g. this year elephant quoted me £850 and admiral £500).

(ii) i then then ring up customer services and say "admiral has quoted me X" and they will honour that quote as it is from their group (and the same call centre handles all of the brands) so you don't have to mess about to get the from the comparison website - this means that you will keep your costs down by getting their "new business" rates even if their renewal quotes are uncompetitive.

(iii) several years ago i had my previous car stolen when insured by elephant. once i gave them a crime reference number, they paid out very quickly, and at the amount that i asked for, was very straightforward.

property.advert

If you use your registration details or your own address, then you are shooting yourself in the foot because the websites back end databases retain this information and some, though not yet all companies, start to raise prices, just as repetitive searches of a particular airline flight will, without any corresponding purchase or reduction in quantity available, raise the price.

Welcome to the world of 21st century computing power and fuzzy logic.

tobyjoness

Thanks guys, as long as quotes for the whole group doesnt go up after year 1 I could do as chewmylegoff has said.

InsideInsurance

Have been within the group for a while with one of our cars.... must admit with the renewal process I am even more straight forward and say I've had cheaper quotes elsewhere without naming names or prices and ask what they can do. They've always knocked 20-25% off the renewal and come in significantly below anything else I've found (which often was themselves as a new business quote)

I find it a little irritating to have to do the dance every year with the same results but hey ho

chanz4

just dont use their repair company howard basford, unless you want a bad paint / repair job

BertTheRaccoon

I haven't checked their terms and conditions, but it used to be a condition with any of the EUI brands that if you had a claim which resulted in your vehicle being a total loss, once they paid out, that was the policy finished with and you would then need to take out a new policy to cover any new vehicle you purchased.

For example, you insured your car today with them, say for £500 premium. Tomorrow you run out of talent and put it around a tree. You claim for your car and they pay you out the value of the car, less the excess and also after collecting in/ offsetting any outstanding premiums.

Then you have to start again with a fresh policy.

£500 for 1 day of insurance cover.

Parking_Trouble

http://www.which.co.uk/money/insurance/reviews-ns/car-insurance/whichrecommended-providers/

Which rate Admiral & Co policy at 59%
You get what you pay for.
Better value from others.

InsideInsurance

I must admit that you have to take Which? results with a pinch of salt, though they are ok as a guide.

Did work for a company which sold under two brands. Outside of Marketing there was no division between the two brands at all, same call centre staff, same products etc etc and yet Which? rated one highly and the other as below average!

chanz4

been with admiral and bell, just different l/head and the bell comes in a folder.