Think before you claim! - Admiral bad experience

[Tom T]

Have had a very unsatisfactory experience with Admiral. We scratched our Beach sliding door (no fault incident, a low billed). In nearly 20 years of driving we have only ever made two claims and to be frank, where it is a scratch which requires a spray, I would have probably bitten the bullet and paid myself (given excess, hassle and potential loss of NCB). However, as it is my first Cali and because the likely cost of repair at a vw approved body shop is probably higher, I thought better to enquire Via insurance and get their repairer quote. Given scratch was just before lockdown, it took until now to line everything up and my policy had since renewed. So the claim would be under last year’s policy. On call confirmed NCB not affected and submitted details. A day later I get a letter to say that the price of this years policy has been retrospectively increased by £240 (nearly 50% hike!). No mention of this on the original call. I hastily call them to cancel claim as price hike plus excess means it really is not worth putting through the insurance. They then confirm By letter that because I notified the incident the price increase stands - even though I am not claiming. To add insult to injury that is all recorded as a notified incident on the national insurer’s data exchange! So the price of an honest enquiry is £240 and what ever else insurers in the future choose to charge because of this being on record for up to 5 years. Anyone else have similar experiences??

 

[willwander]

Mrs WW’s young lad had something similar with Admiral. Just ringing to enquire about a claim, not actually making one, Immediately put his premium up by £300. Same thing about notifying incident. It was not his fault and he was not even in the car when it happened, someone left their hand-brake off and a car rolled into his while it was parked up.

 

[Tom T]

Mrs WW’s young lad had something similar with Admiral. Just ringing to enquire about a claim, not actually making one, Immediately put his premium up by £300. Same thing about notifying incident. It was not his fault and he was not even in the car when it happened, someone left their hand-brake off and a car rolled into his while it was parked up.

It’s pretty underhand. Not sure what the options are but will certainly take my business elsewhere and lodge a complaint and maybe escalate to Ombudsman.

 

[Karlos]

I have never had a premium go up after a claim before the end of the insurance term.

 

[WelshGas]

I have never had a premium go up after a claim before the end of the insurance term.

Neither did the OP. It was the renewal policy that increased in price.

 

[Tom T]

I have never had a premium go up after a claim before the end of the insurance term.

My policy renewed between the date of incident and my claim, so the price hike is for this 12 month period from March 20 not the 12 month period in which incident happened.

 

[WelshGas]

It’s pretty underhand. Not sure what the options are but will certainly take my business elsewhere and lodge a complaint and maybe escalate to Ombudsman.

Normal practice I’m afraid, despite no financial claim being made.

 

[Velma's Dad]

There's no point expecting them to be reasonable and treat you as a human being, to them you are just a policy number in an underwriting database. The main function of the insurance industry is to make bankers look ethical.

 

[Karlos]

My policy renewed between the date of incident and my claim, so the price hike is for this 12 month period from March 20 not the 12 month period in which incident happened.

Thanks for clarification Tom, I should start taking more water with Red Wine.

 

[Tom T]

Thanks for clarification Tom, I should start taking more water with Red Wine.

Ha no worries. Was conscious that my OP is pretty convoluted!!

 

[Big Ron]

Have had a very unsatisfactory experience with Admiral. We scratched our Beach sliding door (no fault incident, a low billed). In nearly 20 years of driving we have only ever made two claims and to be frank, where it is a scratch which requires a spray, I would have probably bitten the bullet and paid myself (given excess, hassle and potential loss of NCB). However, as it is my first Cali and because the likely cost of repair at a vw approved body shop is probably higher, I thought better to enquire Via insurance and get their repairer quote. Given scratch was just before lockdown, it took until now to line everything up and my policy had since renewed. So the claim would be under last year’s policy. On call confirmed NCB not affected and submitted details. A day later I get a letter to say that the price of this years policy has been retrospectively increased by £240 (nearly 50% hike!). No mention of this on the original call. I hastily call them to cancel claim as price hike plus excess means it really is not worth putting through the insurance. They then confirm By letter that because I notified the incident the price increase stands - even though I am not claiming. To add insult to injury that is all recorded as a notified incident on the national insurer’s data exchange! So the price of an honest enquiry is £240 and what ever else insurers in the future choose to charge because of this being on record for up to 5 years. Anyone else have similar experiences??

Oh yes....once you’ve been bitten by those sharks you’ll never take a swim in Lake Admiral again. Similarly bad but slightly different.....
I had a multi car policy 2012 that Renewal was going to be £2,400 a year, up from £1,100 prebiousOn a call they requoted to £1,100, but when policy came through they’d missed windscreen cover off...a call to put this right resulted in them claiming I’d changed my cover and the new quote would be .....£2,400 a year.
On telling them I’d cancel they threatened to refuse me insurance saying that this would impact quotes with other insurers.
Gits quite frankly!

 

[Soton Campers]

Had a similar experience with a car, not the Cali. Car was broken into and I phoned them to confirm what the excess was. Decided I wouldn't bother claiming, fixed it myself. Next year premium shot up because of my enquiry! Stayed with me for 5 years that mistake with various other insurance companies...never again.

 

[ArunAlec]

I think it’s standard practice with insurance companies that the mere fact that you have had an accident (and told them), even if you don’t claim, makes you a higher risk and therefore you get hit with a higher renewal premium. Although no impact on NCB.
Bit of a no win scenario.

 

[Legin]

Im afraid all you have done is laid bare the insurance industry. This is all standard stuff. Unfortunately its a fact of life where money is involved self regulation doesnt work so external regulation is the only way. The insurance industry needs some regulatory attention. These are (collectively) the same lot that will now sell your details to the ambulance chasers so expect a number of calls.
It is because of this I only consider using my insurance if the bill is a big one and therefore always go for a maximum xs. Last claim was 11k when I hit a badger and Im still paying for it now. Statistically I claim every 15 yrs.
FWIW LV will treat you far better than Admiral who are bottom feeders

 

[Amonkeyhint]

As others have said, this is common practice across the industry. Once you report an incident, whether you actually claim anything as a result doesn’t matter, they add a black mark against your name for 5 years.

I was once told that our insurance company was going to pay out, despite them believing it was a fraudulent claim, as it was cheaper to pay out than it was to go through a court process to fight it.

Its a corrupt lose lose industry.

 

[Keith Smith]

We had a wire eaten through on our e-pace. Jaguar wanted £5,500 to repair it so I had to inform our insurance company who are Direct Line. In the end got it repaired for £80 so cancelled the claim and we’ve renewed since without any penalty.

 

[WelshGas]

We had a wire eaten through on our e-pace. Jaguar wanted £5,500 to repair it so I had to inform our insurance company who are Direct Line. In the end got it repaired for £80 so cancelled the claim and we’ve renewed since without any penalty.

Maybe you were lucky as it was not classed as an Accident?

 

[Eber123]

Good morning,

if enquireing and discussing options about an issue with a car insurance lead into (high) increase in insurance coast is a disgrace and should be forbidden by law!

I would never thought that this would be possible. Now I've been warned in case (God forbid) something happened to the van.

Have I said that, my insurance for the van is with a broker. Maybe this is different?

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Borris]

Have had a very unsatisfactory experience with Admiral. We scratched our Beach sliding door (no fault incident, a low billed). In nearly 20 years of driving we have only ever made two claims and to be frank, where it is a scratch which requires a spray, I would have probably bitten the bullet and paid myself (given excess, hassle and potential loss of NCB). However, as it is my first Cali and because the likely cost of repair at a vw approved body shop is probably higher, I thought better to enquire Via insurance and get their repairer quote. Given scratch was just before lockdown, it took until now to line everything up and my policy had since renewed. So the claim would be under last year’s policy. On call confirmed NCB not affected and submitted details. A day later I get a letter to say that the price of this years policy has been retrospectively increased by £240 (nearly 50% hike!). No mention of this on the original call. I hastily call them to cancel claim as price hike plus excess means it really is not worth putting through the insurance. They then confirm By letter that because I notified the incident the price increase stands - even though I am not claiming. To add insult to injury that is all recorded as a notified incident on the national insurer’s data exchange! So the price of an honest enquiry is £240 and what ever else insurers in the future choose to charge because of this being on record for up to 5 years. Anyone else have similar experiences??

Yep, that's how they work?

I had similar when someone backed into my wife's car when it was legally parked. Fortunately, I was in it at the time. When I enquired as to why they had put up the renewal by several hundreds of pounds after a no fault accident, they said that as I had had an accident, I represented a greater risk.

Insurance is a nasty racket.

Just sack them and go elsewhere.

 

[GSX1300R]

Mrs WW’s young lad had something similar with Admiral. Just ringing to enquire about a claim, not actually making one, Immediately put his premium up by £300. Same thing about notifying incident. It was not his fault and he was not even in the car when it happened, someone left their hand-brake off and a car rolled into his while it was parked up.

But its NOT unusual for insurance companies to do that even if you dont claim.. You need to seriously think about it BEFORE you even call them. My wifes car had a small dent due to someone opening their car door and even though he was seen doing it he denied it. When I phoned the insurers to ask if it was worth proceeding with a claim against him I wouldnt give our name so they wouldnt come back at us in the future..They said their suggestion was without concrete proof dont even think about making a claim..So nothing would be on our record.

 

[Legin]

So someone dents your car but you dont claim off the third party so you havent made a claim net result you pay forit instead of the 3rd party insurer. All part of the insurance scam. They need a rocket

 

[Pete Roberts]

Admiral insurance refunded £25 for each vehicle insured with them because of the pandemic I’m not sure if other companies did the same..Anyone had any experience or Covid related refunds?

 

[Benh76]

Yep, that's how they work?

I had similar when someone backed into my wife's car when it was legally parked. Fortunately, I was in it at the time. When I enquired as to why they had put up the renewal by several hundreds of pounds after a no fault accident, they said that as I had had an accident, I represented a greater risk.

Insurance is a nasty racket.

Just sack them and go elsewhere.

Yes, my lad had his RS3 hit by another car side on whilst he was going around an island. So as no fault he went through insurers thinking he wouldn't be affected. Unfortunately this was not the cause as he was seen as a higher risk and his insurance went up 15%. To add insult to injury he had like for like courtesy car cover whilst his car was in the repair shop through his own insurance, even so he still had to go through court proceedings divulging everything about his income and situation so that he wasn't held liable for the courtesy car charge. Apparently the courtesy car charge was £350 a day for a BMW 540i!!!

From memory the bill was around £18k just for the courtesy car, no wonder our premiums keep going up!

 

[ArunAlec]

Admiral insurance refunded £25 for each vehicle insured with them because of the pandemic I’m not sure if other companies did the same..Anyone had any experience or Covid related refunds?

Admiral refunded me £75 for 3 cars.... be interesting to see if they hike next years renewal to claw it back!

 

[steve_b]

Apparently the courtesy car charge was £350 a day for a BMW 540i!!!

From memory the bill was around £18k just for the courtesy car, no wonder our premiums keep going up!

yowsers. was that car arranged by his own insurer, or one of those "accident claim management companies".