Admiral, Multicar, what are they like with claims?
Discussion
Just got a renewal through which I can't afford, shopping around Admiral are coming out cheapest and with Multicar we could likely save a bit more when the wife's is due to.
Question for me though - anyone claimed, and how was the experience? I've been with the same broker for 15 years because they have always been utterly outstanding with any claim issues and I'm slightly worried about losing that!
Question for me though - anyone claimed, and how was the experience? I've been with the same broker for 15 years because they have always been utterly outstanding with any claim issues and I'm slightly worried about losing that!
I've been a customer of this company for a few years now. Please see below thread to get an idea of the pain i've been going through whilst sorting out a non fault incident with them:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
At this moment in time, I still have no excess back and they are currently awaiting me signing some court authorisation papers.
Not been fun at all.
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
At this moment in time, I still have no excess back and they are currently awaiting me signing some court authorisation papers.
Not been fun at all.
I've only claims from the once and that was enough.
My car was vandalised and written off. I looked up the value of the car using Glass' guide (which according to the policy documents is who they use for valuations) and it was £2,500. They offered £1,000.
It took 8 months to get the difference out of them. In that time they made it as hard as possible in the hope I'd give up.
They also sent out letters stating that unless they heard from me within 7 days they'd assume I'd accepted the offer. The post mark on the envelope would then be at least 8 days after the letter was dated. Very underhand and would no doubt stop some people taking the claim further.
My car was vandalised and written off. I looked up the value of the car using Glass' guide (which according to the policy documents is who they use for valuations) and it was £2,500. They offered £1,000.
It took 8 months to get the difference out of them. In that time they made it as hard as possible in the hope I'd give up.
They also sent out letters stating that unless they heard from me within 7 days they'd assume I'd accepted the offer. The post mark on the envelope would then be at least 8 days after the letter was dated. Very underhand and would no doubt stop some people taking the claim further.
I've had to make a claim with them a couple of years back, non fault, chose my own repairer and they didn't complain, £2k of bodywork repairs, no problems at all, got my excess back without any hassle.
There's good and bad experiences with all insurers IMO, people are more likely to voice the bad however.
There's good and bad experiences with all insurers IMO, people are more likely to voice the bad however.
Davi said:
bugger, this really isn't looking good is it!!! Oh well, didn't enjoy driving any more anyway *mumbles mutters sobs*
Well, you often get a mixed bag. I wouldn't want to denounce the scare stories that have already cropped up, perhaps in the case of trying to get money out of them yourself they're an absolute nightmare, but I had them deal with an incident where a third party needed settlement and they were a good company to deal with. At that time I was with Elephant, the sister company. I'm now with Admiral, they've always been by far the cheapest for me as a young driver with a big-engined car, suits me. And as long as you get them inside UK call centre times you always get a friendly and reasonably knowledgeable person to talk to.Cheapest I found for my shed this year was the Co-op. No idea what they're like either. The thing is every case is different so you can never tell whether these things are down to unrealistic valuations ("I told them it was worth £25k when I renewed so it must be")or other factors.
I know of at least one insurance company which has given astounding service and equally, appalling service so it may be more dependent on who is allocated your claim.
I know of at least one insurance company which has given astounding service and equally, appalling service so it may be more dependent on who is allocated your claim.
I also had to dispute with them the write-off value of my car. They sent a cheque based on their value, which I did not cash while I disputed their value by sending print-outs of equivalent car ads, plus proof of FSH, etc. In the end I got what I felt was a very decent payout. Yes they played the negotiation game hoping I was desperately in need of any payout to buy another car. Fortunately I wasn't, so ultimately "I won".
Yes it was a bit of a hassle but no worse than I reasonably expected from an insurer. Although I don't have experience of claiming with other insurers.
And yes, they are the cheapest insurance for me, so worth sticking with them.
Yes it was a bit of a hassle but no worse than I reasonably expected from an insurer. Although I don't have experience of claiming with other insurers.
And yes, they are the cheapest insurance for me, so worth sticking with them.
ariel said:
You must not let them force you in to using their "approved repairer". You will forfeit the courtesy car perhaps but keep your sanity.
Not neccesarily so, I chose my own repairer but stipulated I needed a hire car, they just built the cost into the price charged back to Admiral, no doubt hidden as something else.Paddy_N_Murphy said:
The Multicar is not working to be much cheaper these days (at renewal time) I have found.
HOWEVER,
I can say my OH reversed in to someone about a week before our wedding - rang the claim line up, spoke to a very pleasant mature man (in Wales if you get my drfit) who was courteous, informative, helpful and the problem was taken care of.
For me, customer service, how it should be.
EFA HOWEVER,
I can say my OH reversed in to someone about a week before our wedding - rang the claim line up, spoke to a very pleasant mature man (in Wales if you get my drfit) who was courteous, informative, helpful and the problem was taken care of.
For me, customer service, how it should be.
As with all insurers there is good feedback and bad feedback no insurer is perfect.
I'm not biased in any way of course
i'll bow out now 
I have made two claims with the Admiral Group. One was with Elephant. My car was stolen but then recovered. It then needed locks changing and some damage sorted. They did this with no fuss, allowed me to use Audi as it was under warranty and I got a brand new A4 for the time they had it.
The second was a my fault accident with Diamond on my wife's car. Substantial damage to both cars. They were pretty good and I got a hire car even though my wife hadn't paid for that option on the policy. Slight issue was that they gave me a Renault Clio to replace the Ford S-Max a week before we were due to visit the in-laws for Christmas but hey, at least we got a car!
All in all was very impressed and have used them again since and will do again.
HTH
M
The second was a my fault accident with Diamond on my wife's car. Substantial damage to both cars. They were pretty good and I got a hire car even though my wife hadn't paid for that option on the policy. Slight issue was that they gave me a Renault Clio to replace the Ford S-Max a week before we were due to visit the in-laws for Christmas but hey, at least we got a car!
All in all was very impressed and have used them again since and will do again.
HTH
M
Thanks for all the comments on your experiences. During the time I've been reading them and trying to make my mind up, my broker at A-Plan has once again managed to come up with the goods and get me a policy not that far off Admirals quote but without the need to leave them (or their claims handler LOL)
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