Admiral not as friendly and caring as the ads suggest (Admiral Car Insurance)

Member Name: Northern_lass

Product:	Admiral Car Insurance
Date:	26/08/09 (289 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Still looking for some

Disadvantages: Hidden costs; premium rate phone numbers; don't care about customer loyalty

Very unimpressed with Admiral, my son took out a car policy with them this year because they were a bit cheaper than his previous insurer, but even so his insurance is very high because he's a young driver. We live in Greater London but he wanted to take his car up north to uni for next term, thought it would just be a matter of informing them of the change of address, how stupid was I! To have his car in Sunderland would cost the equivalent of £600 more per year, bringing the annual premium to around £2000!! And to add insult to injury, Admiral can only be contacted on an expensive 0871 number and by the time I'd been held in a queue for several minutes and tried to negotiate a reduction (they knocked £15 off, big deal) the call probably cost a few quid.

Well, needless to say he can't afford the extra premium so the car will have to stay here. It seems Sunderland is a den of iniquity, and they must base that on some statistics I suppose, but as someone who was born and bred there I have to say I find it surprising. My Dad's car insurance was always lower than mine, and he lived there all his life.

In fact I've just found two websites classifying insurance 'risk areas' from A to F (F being high) and the area in Sunderland where my son will be living is exactly the same risk level (E) as where we live in a (fairly respectable and quiet) outer London borough. So really I don't know where Admiral are coming from on this one.

But my main gripe is the total inflexibility shown by Admiral and the fact that they don't care about losing my son's custom, as they certainly will, because he's already looking for new quotes and has found cheaper ones, but to cancel a policy mid-year is a pain, would mean phoning Admiral again, and they're bound to make an admin charge.

As a general comment, it's annoying that insurers consider all young male drivers to be high risk - Admiral certainly aren't alone in that. My son has been driving for nearly two years now and has an unblemished driving record. But as well as high premium, he also has a high compulsory excess on the policy, so they get him all ways. I don't condone driving without insurance, and I certainly wouldn't risk it, but I can understand young people being tempted to do so, because it just isn't affordable.

Have divided into more pargraphs, as suggested!

Summary: Will be voting with our feet on renewal