Are Admiral staff up to something dodgy?

MRB

I called Admiral today to discuss my renewal price. 

This time, I was told that I order for them to give me a quote review, I would need to update my payment details and accept the current quote.

If I didn't like the new quote they would then offer me, I could cancel the policy with no charge.

I have never, ever encountered this before and it smells of:

1. Staff getting you to accept a quote to hit their targets
2. Using the 14 day cancellation window as a way of getting out of the quote you just accepted and signed up to

This all seems very suspect. They should be able to, and have always previously (as has every other insurers) given me a quote review at point of contact without having to agree to anything.

So, rogue operator trying to hit targets? Call centre scam to have the contracted agency hit targets? Or just a new and crap way of working?

Thoughts?

Jaybee_16

I was changing my car about a week after the insurance renewal date with Saga. Did an online quote as a new customer and the insurance would have been about £500 more so I phoned Saga to see what the cost would be for the new car before I renewed because if it was going to be that expensive I would go elsewhere.
Saga told me that before they would tell me the insurance cost for the new car, I had to pay the renewal on the existing car. If I didn't agree to renew and pay the premium they couldn't put me through to the appropriate person for the new car quote.
I asked if this was some kind of scam, because if I then cancelled on delivery of the new car, Saga would charge me a cancellation fee. Saga said they don't charge cancellation fees so I paid.

MRB

Jaybee_16 said:

I was changing my car about a week after the insurance renewal date with Saga. Did an online quote as a new customer and the insurance would have been about £500 more so I phoned Saga to see what the cost would be for the new car before I renewed because if it was going to be that expensive I would go elsewhere.
Saga told me that before they would tell me the insurance cost for the new car, I had to pay the renewal on the existing car. If I didn't agree to renew and pay the premium they couldn't put me through to the appropriate person for the new car quote.
I asked if this was some kind of scam, because if I then cancelled on delivery of the new car, Saga would charge me a cancellation fee. Saga said they don't charge cancellation fees so I paid.

It 100% sounds like a targets scam. The contract is signed and agreed, you've renewed your policy. It's now down to you to cancel before the 14 days are up. It would be good to see if anyone else has encountered this and whether or not it's a whole industry step-change in terms of how they deal with renewals. 

I wonder if in a boardroom somewhere, someone is touting the renewal figures as being at an all time high and just keeping quiet on the amount of people who then cancelled immediately when the quote couldn't be lowered.

Brie

I think I'd be saying no and hanging up.  I don't pay for things until I know the price.  If they can't tell me the price up front - the same as they would have to for a new customer - then I'll go be a new customer elsewhere.

walesdave

I'm not an insurance 'fanboy' by any means but had a lot of dealings with Admiral car insurance recently. Found them to be really professional and even went so far to send their Head Office an email to say how well they had dealt with me. Not saying you didn't get a bit of a 'target driven' sales advisor, but overall I think they are a decent company.

retiredbanker1

walesdave said:

I'm not an insurance 'fanboy' by any means but had a lot of dealings with Admiral car insurance recently. Found them to be really professional and even went so far to send their Head Office an email to say how well they had dealt with me. Not saying you didn't get a bit of a 'target driven' sales advisor, but overall I think they are a decent company.

This could be a complete coincidence but Wales dave are you employed by Admiral at all - they are based in Cardiff?

Never heard anybody be so nice about any insurance company to be honest.

walesdave

retiredbanker1 said:

walesdave said:

I'm not an insurance 'fanboy' by any means but had a lot of dealings with Admiral car insurance recently. Found them to be really professional and even went so far to send their Head Office an email to say how well they had dealt with me. Not saying you didn't get a bit of a 'target driven' sales advisor, but overall I think they are a decent company.

This could be a complete coincidence but Wales dave are you employed by Admiral at all - they are based in Cardiff?

Never heard anybody be so nice about any insurance company to be honest.

No. I'm an IT contractor :-:smile: Crashed my car about 2 months ago, followed by my wife's a couple of weeks later - turns out I've got a brain tumour where my optic nerve is. I explained 'things' to Admiral once and they really went to town getting settlement figures etc. and they hired my wife a car so she could get me to hospital appointments etc. even though our policy didn't strictly warrant it and they also re-imbursed the money we paid for a hire car ourselves for the first few days after the second crash.

As far as Cardiff - yes, well known employer there, I think they have a pretty good rep with the staff.

Marvel1

I much prefer to do online quotes and gain some cashback.