Motor insurance cancelled on the M5! Thanks Admiral!

There isn't much to worry about - i've used them and they've been cheapest for years for me. I've just found them crap at dealing with the aftermath of a claim - if they're within £50 or so of someone else this time i'll probably go elsewhere, otherwise i'll live with it!
 
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Castiel said:
I have never had an insurance company ask me for anyone's licence?

If they cancelled the policy, did they refund the premium?
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I have with One Call, took the policy out on 23rd December and they gave me 5 working days to get them there.

Problem was my partners was at the DVLA for an address change. I called them and explained and received an email on the 27th saying they were cancelling my policy.

The charges for cancellation totted up to £202 which I refused to pay. The policy was only £220. 18 Months on I am still in a fight over it and took it to the Ombudsman. They have sent letters threatening to go to my work to collect the money which is way beyond the guidelines of the OFT.

One thing I learned is insurance companies think they are a law into themselves. Only thing you can do is avoid the worst culprits even if it means paying a few more quid.
 
I've found Admiral not very competitive! Even with their 'Multicar Savings blah blah!' I've done a few quotes for our two cars seperatly with other insurers, the grabbed a new Multicar quote (as a new customer to see if they give discounts to New people)...

2013 Fabia Greenline II Estate (my car)
2009 Fabia 1 Hatchback (wife's car)

Admiral Quote - £75.98/month (Multicar)

Lloyds Quote - £17/month (me)
£16.50/month (wife)

Tescos Quote - £18/month (me)
£16/month (wife)

Both give me exaclty the same cover (Protected No Claims, Legal Cover, Courtesy car etc.. etc..) and lower Excesses!

We're definitely gonna jump ship! on our re-newal next month!
 
we're the letters recorded delivery? if not then that's bull that they can just write you a letter.... you may never have gotten them and then unknowingly been driving without insurance because they can't be bothered to communicate properly.

and wow that bull crap from One Call threatening to go to your work to get the money? lol who the **** do they think they are?!?!! written letter of complaint as high up in the company as you can go?

I hate these letters that give you x days to do something as by the time you get it you've usually lost a few days already. what if they sent it before the April bank holiday? there's 4 days where there might not be any post at all!

also they seem rubbish for making notes/transferring info. they always say "i've made a note of it here on the system that you've called regarding xyz" but usually the next guy you talk to says there aren't any notes or not think to look if there are any until you get stressed saying the same thing over and over and that a note was made :p
 
That's shocking/worrying that they give that very small time frame to respond! Most of that time was taken up in the postage system!
 
Complaint letter. This is the formal one, i'll do a simple one to the CEO / CIO later

Quality Manager
Admiral
Capital Tower
Greyfriars Road
Cardiff
CF10 3AZ

RE: Complaint Regarding Policy AD MOT XYZ – 2014 BMW M5

Dear Sir or Madam,

I would like to complain about the service that I have received with regards to the administration of my motor insurance policy with Admiral. This policy was taken out in early March 2014.

On the June 4th 2014 I received a letter (dated 30/05/14) claiming that as part of an audit I need to send you copies of the licenses of all parties on my policy. It claimed you would be grateful if these were received within the next seven days.

I asked all three parties on my policy to start sending me their information and started to email it through to your email address ([email protected]) as it came to me. My first email was sent on the 6th July and contained my license details.

On the 12th July I received a letter (dated 06/06/14) claiming that as you had not heard from me you were cancelling my policy as of midnight on the 12th June. This was a formal notice of cancellation. Your first letter made no mention of any cancellation warnings.

I think this level of service and the act itself to be a substandard level of service with regards to policy administration. Sending two, unrecorded, letters and cancelling a policy all within a two week window is not a satisfactory way to treat your customers. At no time did anyone attempt to contact me by phone even though all my details are in your system.

Besides the usual difficulties people have with finding the paper counterparts of their licenses imagine a family going on a two week holiday and driving home from the airport uninsured. If you had written to me towards the end of June this would have been my exact predicament and you could have put me, my family and others at risk not to mention the likelihood of being stopped by the police and receiving 6 points for driving without insurance. Such an event is likely given many UK airport have Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems upon entering and exiting airports.

If items such as copies of licenses are required they should be asked for at the start of the policy. Not at random intervals which then lead to policies being cancelled when your customers have done nothing untoward but been subject to your slow postal process!

I look forward to your reply on the matter
 
I kinda like Admiral because they include comprehensive European cover which most insurers don't. However, as demonstrated in this thread, their communication skills are woeful.
 
Vanilla said:
So on the 30th May Admiral sent me a letter (which was received 5 days later on the 4th).

As part of an audit they asked for copies of the driving license of all of the people named on my policy. Both licenses, both sides. They said they would be grateful if I could reply within seven days. So, two days is not a lot of time to do it within. I first emailed them my license while I obtained the licenses of the other two people. One out of the country, but contactable and the other a right mess when it comes to keeping things handy!

I emailed them another license yesterday and finally got the third license today which I straight away emailed to them. On the 6th June they sent a letter (received today on the 12th) saying that as they have not had the info they requested they are cancelling my policy as of midnight tonight.

Anyone else think this is a bit out of order that they've gone from 'would be grateful to receive' to cancelling policy within such a short time frame?

I'm tempted to call up and cancel the policy just so I never have to check the 'have you ever had your policy cancelled for any reason' box on future applications (lines open till 9pm). If I beat them to it wehey!
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This sort of thing is common but they really should have given more than seven days notice. My missus works for John Lewis Insurance and they give six weeks notice on this sort of thing. 30 Days first letter with a further two weeks reminder.

I'd definitely cancel the policy first, she says that having a cancelled policy makes it very difficult...

Either way, definitely report this to the ombudsman. Make them squirm!
 
xs2man said:
It has been my personal experience that if you have a claim with an insurer, they will no longer be competitive for the next 5+ years. I'm only just competitive with Direct-Line again after almost a decade of them being waaayyyy off. Not the first time this has happened either, so you may find you won't be able to use Admiral again rodenal.
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Directline paid back more than my written car cost me, and more than the market value for some reason; and yet they have been cheapest ever since and don't charge me any fee for changing cars.
 
directline were ***** to us when we went to put insurance in my name (was previously named on fathers policy) they were trying to charge us £1100ish after my parents had been with them for the past 10ish years and I had been a named driver for the 4/5 previous years. told us that we wouldn't find cheaper and without my named driver bonus it would be even more...... Whilst my father was on the phone I looked on compare the market and admiral came up with £670ish .... lol

They'll try anything :p guy didn't even attempt to price match or offer a deal.


also LOL at your sig TBL xD love a bit o Bush! :p
 
Admiral are great until you need a claim. I had a windscreen on my 335i go pop, so used their recommended firm (National windscreens).

Then despite the insurance auto-renewing (after negotiation) they wanted £150 more for the extra risk I posed (!!). On top of all of this, despite having been a customer for 4yrs of theirs, they wanted proof of NCB?!?! I told them that it was from themselves, but they said I needed to send them proof... got into a ridiculous argument about them sending me it, so I can return it.

Long story short, I left them.
 
Stormster said:
Greenlight are total retards, I'd avoid them after my experiences today as someone recommended them above! Selling my Fiesta ST on Saturday, I've bought a cheap runaround for a bit.

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Green light only do sporty cars so I'm not sure why its a surprise.
 
I was just going to say the same. They're only competitive on modified/sportier cars. I wouldn't recommend anyone else. Being able to PM them additional mods on FSTOC with no fees or admin charges is fantastic. Not to mention trackday cover for £45.
 
I got a letter as they had failed to take my auto-renewal payment out, they were cheapest anyway so I just let it renew as it had done the year before.

The letter warning I had 7 days to pay I didnt see until June 3/4th and the payment was supposed to have gone out May 17th!! Weird thing was they sent me an e-mail about June 1st saying thank you for your renewal!

I called them and paid for it which was fine, they said we'll send you an email confirming payment. That e-mail never arrived and it took 3 days for them to take payment from me.

Yesterday I got another letter saying they will cancel my policy if I don't pay, but theyve definitely had the money.

Really annoyed me that they made no attempt apart from the letter to contact me, potentially I could have been uninsured for over a week without knowing.
 
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