Admiral Insurance - Advice please

**Damien** · 29-03-2011, 20:10

Yo.

I am looking at insuring, as the main driver rather than a named one, my car as I am becoming the main driver.

Given my age and the length of time I have had my licence it's quite expensive but Admiral and Elephant are significantly cheaper than the rest. Now, the car is pretty old and is worth a couple of grand at most. I have seen some bad reviews of Admiral but I am wondering if I should ignore them? First of all my main goal is to be legally insured and start to build a no claims bonus. I am also baring in mind that the reviews on the web are always going to be skewed by people who are unhappy, no one registers for a review site to praise an insurance company after all.

Your views?

budwieser · 29-03-2011, 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien

Yo.

I am looking at insuring, as the main driver rather than a named one, my car as I am becoming the main driver.

Given my age and the length of time I have had my licence it's quite expensive but Admiral and Elephant are significantly cheaper than the rest. Now, the car is pretty old and is worth a couple of grand at most. I have seen some bad reviews of Admiral but I am wondering if I should ignore them? First of all my main goal is to be legally insured and start to build a no claims bonus. I am also baring in mind that the reviews on the web are always going to be skewed by people who are unhappy, no one registers for a review site to praise an insurance company after all.

Your views?

Hi Mate, Check out www.moneysupermarket.com, Car Insurance, Get a New Quote.
Put in all of your details and see what comes up.

**Damien** · 29-03-2011, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by budwieser

Hi Mate, Check out www.moneysupermarket.com, Car Insurance, Get a New Quote.
Put in all of your details and see what comes up.

Yah. I used Confused.com and this was the cheapest. To be honest it's a very good price giving my age and that I have been driving for 1 year, no claims (as I was a named driver).

**Russ** · 29-03-2011, 20:28

I used to work for Admiral - the first thing to know is out-of-hours they use an Indian Callcentre.

Admiral place more emphasis on being "a great place to work" than getting people answering the phones. Many a time we'd be taken off calls to take part in "team activities" ie playing silly games while call queues were rising. They also have a policy of ALWAYS being in control of a call even if they're in the wrong. Admitting the company made a mistake is considered "making the business look faulty".

They are under instruction to apply charges for any changes to your account but will back down if you're firm enough.

**Hugh** · 29-03-2011, 20:40

We use Admiral for a multi-car policy, and it was £200 pound cheaper this year than last (and that is with a 19 year old lad and a 23 year old lass on the insurance).

Mr_love_monkey · 29-03-2011, 20:47

I was with Admiral for 5 years (I think, maybe 6) never had a problem with them - had one claim for windscreeen, which got sorted with no problems - were a lot cheaper than all the others - only left them when I got my landrover - and they wanted 4 times the amount...

I then cancelled my policy (about 3 months into it) - and they refunded me my money pro-rata-ed - however they made a mistake and actually paid me to have the policy - due to them using my original renewal price to pro-rata it, rather than the price they matched from elephant - but I didn't complain

**Russ** · 29-03-2011, 21:02

I remember when I was there we had some celebrity policyholders, one of them was a Watchdog tv presenter. No names mentioned but her account had a massive pop-up warning agents to be polite and do whatever it took to keep her sweet.

**Paul M** · 29-03-2011, 21:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hugh

We use Admiral for a multi-car policy, and it was £200 pound cheaper this year than last (and that is with a 19 year old lad and a 23 year old lass on the insurance).

Ditto.

I have a Multi Car for my car and my Daughters car (She is 19, only passed last month). They were the best deal to get her insured, and all my dealings with them so far have been fine.

Shadow Demon UK · 29-03-2011, 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien

Yo.

I am looking at insuring, as the main driver rather than a named one, my car as I am becoming the main driver.

Given my age and the length of time I have had my licence it's quite expensive but Admiral and Elephant are significantly cheaper than the rest. Now, the car is pretty old and is worth a couple of grand at most. I have seen some bad reviews of Admiral but I am wondering if I should ignore them? First of all my main goal is to be legally insured and start to build a no claims bonus. I am also baring in mind that the reviews on the web are always going to be skewed by people who are unhappy, no one registers for a review site to praise an insurance company after all.

Your views?

Thats because Admiral and Elephant are owned by the same company. I'm a similar age to you and was with Admiral last year and now with Elephant because they were cheapest by a quite a large amount. When i phoned Admiral to make sure they wouldn't auto renew my policy the person told me they are owned by the same group and would have price matched elephant. I don't know why their prices differed if they are the same company.

I've had no problems with either apart from Admiral who charged me about £20 when i changed my address, but i think a lot of insurance companies do that.

**Chris** · 29-03-2011, 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

They are under instruction to apply charges for any changes to your account but will back down if you're firm enough.

ain't that the truth. I had insurance with one of their aliases and had Mrs T down as a direct sales agent, as she occasionally transports children's clothes to sell at village halls. After we had an accident before Christmas the CSR took me through the details of the policy as part of the claim. In conversation i remarked that we were giving up the direct sales as it was making no money. A week later I get a letter from them thanking me for notifying them of changes to the policy and charging me £20.

I made a very firm phone call and they did indeed back down ...

They have been amongst the fastest to settle of any insurer I have dealt with, but do beware their sly practices ... It seems they make up for low premiums by shafting customers wherever possible afterwards.

Mr_love_monkey · 29-03-2011, 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow Demon UK

I don't know why their prices differed if they are the same company.

Different loadings in the rating engine - looking to attract different types of people - it's always good playing one off against the other - if you get a lower quote - but be warned, they do check the quote from the sister company sometimes, especially if it's a very different price

**Rob** · 29-03-2011, 22:39

It is worth checking companies line Direct Line who aren't on the comparision sites. Other tricks can be insuring fully comp instead of third party whcih some find can offer a cheaper price. Look at the amounts of policy excess too. Some companies may credit you a little if you've been a named driver for a while elsewhere with unblemished record.