[Randolph13]

Received our renewal quote from Aviva which is for two cars but they do seperate out each car and the bmw fully comp with a 350 excess in a rural area for the wife and I was quoted at #620
So I did some checking and for the same cover came up with the following quotes
Admiral 250
Saga 330
Hastings 354 with an excess of 525
Churchill 310 with an excess of 550

Seems Aviva don't want my business anymore so it looks like Admiral for me.

Any experiences of Admiral please

[Nobby Clark]

Admiral are good if you are claiming against one of their insured drivers.
Note; Admiral do not replace your new car with another new car in the 1st year in the event of write off like some there companies do so GAP insurance may also be required.

Avoid any of the UK insurance group though. They are cheap for a reason.

[magic77]

Been with Admiral for few years and only problem I had is the call centers not paying attention. First time I went to them to get mutli car declared my mods, got price payed up. Documents turned up and no mods listed. They then wanted to hike insurance by another £200 plus £50 admin. So cancelled and got wife to do it and was fine. More case of idiots on phone at call center than the company. Since then no problems

Renewal they do the same though huge price increase, ring them up and it drops. This year reduced it by over £200 from the renewal price just on a 5 min call. Only other thing is with the multi car do get couple individual quotes first on each car first. Then you know if its worth it.

[Nickc1982]

Admiral have been fine for me and other half has had there support going through a claim. Have to admit we used their recommended garage and the work is very good, I am super fussy!

Nick

[Ss66]

Hastings direct This year for me

[Gaz330d]

My 330d renewal quote was £800 !!

Finally paid £430 with Lloyds Car Insurance.

[McBride]

Been with admiral for years. They always seemed to be cheapest for me year on year. Agree with another post though when you get a renewal, phone up and there's at least £150 to come off it.

Picking up wife's new car tonight and admiralwas also cheapest for her so at some point we will probably go to a multi car policy.
I did notice last night when getting quotes that my insurance has gone up by £300 across all companies which is annoying.

[Daftasabrush]

Admiral may be cheap but the quality of their policies is reflected in the price. It's not necessarily true in insurance that you get what you pay for, but admiral are cheap for a reason.

Personally I wouldn't risk having a low rent policy on such an expensive vehicle.

[McBride]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

Admiral may be cheap but the quality of their policies is reflected in the price. It's not necessarily true in insurance that you get what you pay for, but admiral are cheap for a reason.

Personally I wouldn't risk having a low rent policy on such an expensive vehicle.

Could you elaborate?

I have always viewed car insurance as fairly black and white. You crash the car they either a) pay to repair it or b) give you market value for it.

Some companies are bound to be more aggressive in their payout figures but that's why I have gap insurance to cover the difference.

The only downfall I can see is in customer service. Having never made a claim on the policy I can't comment on that. However their general customer services has always been very easy for me, even when adding modifications.

[....,,,,..,,..]

We had our renewal through from Admiral.

My 330d has went down by £10 and wife's car has is about the same.

However what has made a difference is the admin and tax, that has increased the policy even though insurance is same / dropped.

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by McBride

Could you elaborate?

I have always viewed car insurance as fairly black and white. You crash the car they either a) pay to repair it or b) give you market value for it.

Some companies are bound to be more aggressive in their payout figures but that's why I have gap insurance to cover the difference.

The only downfall I can see is in customer service. Having never made a claim on the policy I can't comment on that. However their general customer services has always been very easy for me, even when adding modifications.

It's usually the stuff in black and white, plenty of info available online:

http://www.lv.com/car-insurance/comparison

http://defaqto.com/star-ratings/car-insurance

Things like genuine windscreens (important on PCP/lease), repairs carried out at approve repairers without fuss, covering of optional extras (admiral charge to cover pro-nav as an optional extra but won't pay out for it).

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

It's usually the stuff in black and white, plenty of info available online:

http://www.lv.com/car-insurance/comparison

http://defaqto.com/star-ratings/car-insurance

Things like genuine windscreens (important on PCP/lease), repairs carried out at approve repairers without fuss, covering of optional extras (admiral charge to cover pro-nav as an optional extra but won't pay out for it).

all my optional extras were covered as built, no need to individually declare and that is first I have heard about Pro-Media.

So yes Admiral will cover your car as built without the need to declare every single option, just depends who you talk to at Admiral, mine was sorted via Toronto office.

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Randolph13

Received our renewal quote from Aviva which is for two cars but they do seperate out each car and the bmw fully comp with a 350 excess in a rural area for the wife and I was quoted at #620
So I did some checking and for the same cover came up with the following quotes
Admiral 250
Saga 330
Hastings 354 with an excess of 525
Churchill 310 with an excess of 550

Seems Aviva don't want my business anymore so it looks like Admiral for me.

Any experiences of Admiral please

My insurance is due early next month and my renewal from LV is £368 with a £400 excess. In percentage terms that's a fair jump from the £300 I paid last year but on a like for like basis I'm not seeing it coming through significantly cheaper with anyone else and Admiral was actually £413; therefore, your quote from them of £250 with a £350 excess sounds very competitive!

Given LV have a good reputation I'm not inclined to move elsewhere to save twenty or thirty quid but I will probably see if I can use the lower quotes I've had to negotiate the renewal with LV down a bit!

[225]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

It's usually the stuff in black and white, plenty of info available online:

http://www.lv.com/car-insurance/comparison

http://defaqto.com/star-ratings/car-insurance

Things like genuine windscreens (important on PCP/lease), repairs carried out at approve repairers without fuss, covering of optional extras (admiral charge to cover pro-nav as an optional extra but won't pay out for it).

As per my other post Hastings are ripping me off with the renewal. A comparison site quote with them same cover is 120 less than they want me to renew for. Shame as they have been good the last year.

I have a few weeks to battle the rip off merchants at least.

[Lothandyr]

Originally Posted by Brigand

all my optional extras were covered as built, no need to individually declare and that is first I have heard about Pro-Media.

So yes Admiral will cover your car as built without the need to declare every single option, just depends who you talk to at Admiral, mine was sorted via Toronto office.

I was told by Admiral that I had to declare ANY option, even if fitted at the factory. This meant anything that was added to a basic model and they only had space to add 6 options on their system.

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by Lothandyr

I was told by Admiral that I had to declare ANY option, even if fitted at the factory. This meant anything that was added to a basic model and they only had space to add 6 options on their system.

I had same when went through their Wales office, then when finalising quote the Doris in Toronto said as built was fine, it was any options after it left factory, so stuff dealer fitted etc.

Canadians I do love them

[SH89]

I've just renewed my insurance. Last years with more than was £830 with a £150 excess and for renewal they wanted £750 with a £250 excess. I managed to get the same cover for £570 with esure.

[Lothandyr]

Originally Posted by Brigand

I had same when went through their Wales office, then when finalising quote the Doris in Toronto said as built was fine, it was any options after it left factory, so stuff dealer fitted etc.

Canadians I do love them

From their policy:

Your policy does not cover any non standard parts (modifications). Manufacturer’s optional extras are only covered if they have been declared and we have agreed to arrange cover for them.

I lost confidence in Admiral when they were unable to list my options correctly and so moved to BMW insurance. Got to watch them insurance companies!

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Brigand

all my optional extras were covered as built, no need to individually declare and that is first I have heard about Pro-Media.

So yes Admiral will cover your car as built without the need to declare every single option, just depends who you talk to at Admiral, mine was sorted via Toronto office.

Regardless of what the minions on the phone say, the policy documents which you have to read when they arrive in the post clearly state their line on this. You need to declare all options, and then they don't cover them, just make you pay for the "increased risk". Absolutely fine on a bog standard VW Polo with no options and is a listed model, less so on a well specced BMW.

Oh ok, so reading above, they will cover options but only if they're declared

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

Regardless of what the minions on the phone say, the policy documents which you have to read when they arrive in the post clearly state their line on this. You need to declare all options, and then they don't cover them, just make you pay for the "increased risk". Absolutely fine on a bog standard VW Polo with no options and is a listed model, less so on a well specced BMW.

Oh ok, so reading above, they will cover options but only if they're declared

have you listed your RTTI or other connected drive options?

These actually fall under the same statement, it was this that set off the discussion I had with admiral.

Apart from that, the insurance ombudsman, pretty much takes the line as long as not deliberately out to defraud or lie etc, then something like 90% cases are fine.

It's on my file with Admiral, along with my VIN if I remember correctly.

I also double checked with my GAP insurance and they were happy as well.

[Daftasabrush]

I'm not with Admiral, I'm with an insurance company who are happy to insure my car as it stands and don't want full options. I do have other cars with them but they're bog standard and not worth much.

[GaryUFM]

As someone who works in insurance, particularly with high net worth clients, or corporate clients running big businesses, this still amazes me!

The amount of money people spend on their car (or other valuable possessions), and the amount of research that goes into it, and then once done, it's, 'right, what's the cheapest car insurance...'

Think it's all black and white, or all insurance companies are the same? Check out ABI stats about repudiation rates (the number of claims different insurance companies turn down), or FOS complaints. You pays your money, you takes your choice.

Any insurer consistently charging such low rates is going to lose money. They often treat it as a loss leader, hoping to make it back on other cross sales, or investment returns (though the PRA is *supposed* to be cracking down on this, and each line of business should be profitable on its own merits, not cross-subsidised). If they don't make it back, then you see knee-jerk increases.

Admittedly this can be annoying, but there are those out there that do charge a fair, consistent price. Trouble is, what the insurer sees as fair and what the customer does can be wildly different: there is always someone out there prepared to take a punt, so a really cheap alternative is always going to be visible. At which point the punter asks themselves, 'how can this lot justify charging twice the price?'*

Tends to be mainly two types of people interested in the detail of insurance, and prepared to pay a bit more for it: those in the industry, or those that have had a major claim.

For the latter, if it goes well, handled professionally and fairly by a reputable insurer, they'll continue to pay a fair premium. The alternative is it has gone very badly, and the punter recognises it was down to cutting corners, and they vow never to do again.


*That's not to say the more you pay, the better you get. Outlying quotes for four figures upwards (unless you're a young driver which increasingly is the norm now), may just indicate the company doesn't want your business, so prices itself out of the market. These big quotes can come just as readily from charlatans as well as reputable companies.