Anyone had as terrible a time with Admiral Insurance as i'm currently having?!

SLanser

I was involved in an accident on a steep hill in South Cornwall on a friday. I was making my way up hill at no more than 5 to 10 mph, with my mother, her best friend & myself in the car. The car was already struggling slowly uphill as we were transporting all the clothes, decorations & cake for my wedding the next day in Liskeard, North Cornwall. I know these roads very well, as I’ve been coming to that part of Cornwall for many years, so I always make sure to hug the hedgerow, as I’m aware of how fast the local drivers can be on those roads. As we neared the top of the hill a young driver came speeding around the blind corner, in the middle of the road. I immediately jumped on my breaks, so my car was stationary & he then slammed into the front right wheel of my car, sliding his car all the way along the driver’s side of my vehicle before swerving out, hitting the hedge on the other side of the road & coming to a halt horizontally across the road.

When the driver appeared he apologised, claiming he didn’t see me. He then got defensive & aggressively shouted that I had driven into him, when he saw how annoyed i was. When I clearly pointed the fact that he’d hit me, he then proceeded to apologise again, saying he was in a rush & then changed his story once more by saying that his rear wheel had slipped on a man hole cover further up the road, despite the fact he was not swerving at all before the accident.

The other drivers mother appeared & did a great job at trying to calm my hysterical mother, whom both police officers were very concerned about. She also arranged & paid for a cab for us to get us to our venue, after I was informed by admiral insurance that I was to remove my belongings from the car & wait on the hill & try & get myself to the venue with no help from them.

As a comprehensive covered member of admiral, I was firstly shocked not only to be told I would not be helped in any manner at the accident but also the amount of time I was put on hold. I also was failed to be provided any information should I wish to claim for personal injury & that a courtesy car was out of the question , as they said from the sound of the accident I was a write off. I was still in a great deal of shock & in times such as this I would’ve expected my insurance company to assist me & reassure me as a comprehensive member, not treat me as being potentially in the wrong & leave all the responsibility of sorting out the mess to me, as if i were uninsured.

I was then called again by another person from admiral, who confirmed my car was being collected, that I wasn’t to worry, that my car would be fixed & that I would receive a courtesy car. I did emphasise on the phone that the other drivers mother was getting us a cab, so that the courtesy car needed to be sent to my wedding venue address, which I was confirmed was all ok.

The police offered to stay with my car & to take what I could with me, but based on space I couldn’t remove everything from my car. As we were leaving I did notice that the local garage had just arrived to move my vehicle, as per the admiral text message I’d received saying they would do so.

On my journey to the venue I received another call stating that my car was collected, that it would be fixed & that I would certainly get a courtesy car delivered to my wedding venue no later than Monday 10am, when we had to vacate the premises. I was also informed that they would do their best to not disturb me & that everything was going to be ok. I had informed admiral again whilst on the phone, that I could still be contacted the rest of Friday & also Sunday & Monday if needs be.

I hadn’t heard anything back from admiral, so I presumed all was fine & processing as it should, as I was always told on the phone they would call to update me. Come Sunday I still hadn’t heard anything, I tried calling but was left on hold & then cut off. So I called again to check on the whereabouts of my car, only to be informed that I was not getting a car at all. I was incredibly stressed by the whole process & the fact I was getting constant miscommunication & lack of communication from admiral.

I stated to the woman on the phone that twice it had been confirmed that I would get a courtesy car, as otherwise myself, my mother & her best friend would be stuck in Cornwall. I was informed that the other driver was claiming the accident was my fault & that I wasn’t allowed a car due to that. I reemphasised the previous details provided, only to be told that I was misinformed & that I would have to get myself back to London with no assistance.

I asked on my car again & was told it would be fixed & had been moved to another garage & was recommended to get to the garage to recover any personal belongings, which I thought was odd seeing as I was told the car could be fixed. I was also told that they could send me my belongings, but if they didn’t fit in a regular envelope, I would have to pay. I emphasised yet again that I was without a car & it was impossible for me to get to south cornwall, being currently in north cornwall. I was recommended to try & arrange to get the car moved closer to my home, again off my own back without help from admiral.

I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing & was starting to wonder what I was paying for, as I was previously with the AA & never had any such problems or issues. The stress of it all resulted in me breaking down in tears to the woman on the phone, as I couldn’t believe, as a victim of a car accident, the treatment I was receiving from those I intrusted & paid to keep me safe should such a terrible incident have occurred. I stated I wished to make a formal complaint, as I wasn’t happy & was then informed it would get me nowhere as I would just be told the same thing. I persisted & was told to wait on hold so they could put me through to a manager to discuss my complaint. I did mention I was pretty fed up of wasting my money & having to chase them & that I’d like to be called back if possible.

I then received another call shortly after, from the same woman, stating that as a ‘good will gesture’ they would provide me with a car & that I would get it before 10am on Monday. Nothing was mentioned further about my wish to complain, so I presumed I’d be contacted about that shortly. When Monday came, I still hadn’t heard anything or received my car, so at 9am I called admiral yet again to request the location of the car. Firstly I was told I couldn’t have one again, then when I had to retell all the information about what happened yet again, they told me I could have one & they’d chase it up.

I was later called by admiral who informed me they was taking care of everything with regards to my car, that they would chase the car company & that I would have a car by 10am, they also informed me that I didn’t have to pay anything, they would arrange my belongings to be sent to me no problem. I didn’t have the car by 10am as specified & the courtesy car only turned up just before midday, after we’d be sitting around for hours in the heat waiting for it. The rental company were the nicest people to deal with out of the entire weekend, despite the wait at their offices, they were great & a much needed relief after the stress of admiral.

Once I finally got the car & managed to get home I awaited news from admiral. They attempted to call me twice on the Tuesday, both times I got cut off, I tried twice to call them back, only for the same thing to happen. I was then called Wednesday again, but the call cut off once I answered but was sent a text from them to say I wasn’t to worry, they’d try again in 48 hours. I never heard a thing again until I tried chasing up the status on the following Monday, even then I wasn’t happy with the phone call.

Firstly, despite being given a direct line/ext to contact a specific file handler, I never once got hold of him. I first spoke to a lady that told me I’d been misinformed again, that my car couldn’t be fixed & it was a write off & I needed to collect my belongings, else they’d charge me to send them. She then went to transfer me to the DVLA, I was a little confused as to why she was doing this & when I questioned it, she said she was starting me on the write off process. I asked her if I had any other options apart from that, as I wasn’t aware that she was just going ahead & doing it as I hadn’t confirmed with her that was what I wanted to do. She then gave me 3 options, one being the write off & they would give me the market value for the car, which I was informed I could have to help me make my decision, the second was to write off but I take the car off their hands & try fix it myself, the last was to revoke my claim & then I would no longer be insured by them & I would have to make all further arrangements for my car.

I was a little confused as to why I’d revoke my claim & asked her if I could be updated on it & she informed me it was another department & my best option would be to revoke the claim. I wasn’t best impressed & asked for time to consider my options. She had mentioned I could get a second opinion on the car costs through them, of which she mentioned were over £5000, but I may have to pay for it off my own back. I was then informed I was no longer insured by admiral & when I asked why that was, as the claim was still unsettled, I was told no it’s ok I am still insured, but wouldn’t be once the car was written off.

I called again the next day to see firstly if I could get a quote on the car, secondly to see if I could initiate a second opinion & also to chase up my initial complaint. I was told by the chap on the phone that firstly I was misinformed & could not get a quote, as I would only get one once I wrote the car off, which he then proceeded to try & do with me, again before I had confirmed whether I wanted to do that. Then I was told that I was misinformed again, as they would not allow a second opinion & it’d be best for me to get my local garage to collect the car & give their quote again to me to submit to admiral, but again they would not assist me in any manner with this. Lastly he informed me that he had no record of my initial complaint & that he would chase it up for me & get someone to contact me about it. He also mentioned I was no longer insured by admiral & again I mentioned the claim was still unsettled, to which he changed his mind again & said no it was fine I was still insured. I also asked why I’d not heard about my claim or the case, again I was told it was a different department & that he’d instruct them to update me.

I have now instructed my local garage to give me a rough quote to fix the damage, which I am awaiting their response for. I now have to get back down to Cornwall from London to remove my belongings from my car, again at my own personal expense (the honda garage where my car is currently located were about as helpful & friendly as admiral have been thus far). I am still yet to be informed as to what the process will be with regards to what will happen once I write the car off, will my courtesy car be taken away? If so what am I meant to do without a car?

Despite speaking to admiral last on Tuesday, I have still yet to hear back both about my initial complaint & about my claim. So I am now making a second complaint via email to them, in attempts to save my phone bill & actually get some form of response. I have received nothing but lack of communication & miscommunication, the service has failed to live up to what one would expect as a fully comp driver & I am still in the dark about what is going on & what the final outcome will likely be. I feel as if I’m being swept aside simply due to being on the same insurance as the other driver and that admiral would rather just get rid of the problem as soon as possible, so as not to have to fight with themselves, rather than actually provide a proper service as an insurance company.

If I fail to receive any updates or communication or this matter is not dealt with in what is deemed as an appropriate manner, I shall proceed to take to matter to the FOS to seek further assistance.

Would i recommend them to a friend? not a chance!

Bantex_2

Think you are expecting a bit too much from an insurance company. They are there to recompense insured losses and not much more.

McKneff

I agree with Bantex, why would you expect them to help/reassure at the scene. Ive been driving 45 years and would never expect anything but to transport me onwards. If you want that sort of service, join the AA or RAC which you would pay for.

Mr_Mink

If the call costs are stacking up try entering their number on https://www.saynoto0870.com, that should give you a regional number to call.
Could at least make the constant calls a bit cheaper for you.