Cheapest for me and great customer service. (Admiral Car Insurance)

Member Name: grayme m

Product:	Admiral Car Insurance
Date:	27/03/02 (897 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Personalised service, Cheapest premiums

Disadvantages: Read the small print to avoid problems

Four years ago, aged 21 with a three year old 1.6 litre car, my insurance was £900 (and that was cheap); a year later, it had fallen to £800.

For my third year I found Admiral and while my renewal quote was again £800, all other quotes were greater and most were over £1,000, Admiral asked me how £620 sounded? Pleasantly surprised, I checked I had heard correctly, yes £620. The deal was that it was a ten month policy, but after this I would be credited with a full year?s no claims bonus; at a price that worked out at only £744 over a full year (though that doesn?t take into account the effect of the extra year no claims discount.

Ten months later and the renewal came through and here a word of caution. In the small print somewhere is that they will renew the quote unless you tell them otherwise using the same payment method you used when you first took out the policy, using the new renewal price. If you do not want to renew or to change some details then you will need to ring Admiral to tell them, otherwise they will try to take the money.

I rang lots of competing companies, no one came near to the renewal that had dropped again to only £475 (some again over £1,000), this at a time when it seemed that everyone else I knew was paying more for their insurance.

Then came the thing that impressed me most. I got a personalised number plate and rang Admiral to let them know, expecting a fee to change something simple. Not only was there no charge, the confirmation letter accompanying the altered cover note came personally from Emma whom I had spoken to on the phone, not some anonymous manager with a computerised signature; wow I felt like a person and not someone dealt with by a simple keyboard press.

Needless to say that my recent quote was again the cheapest I found in my (now more limited) comparison, only £320. Just two weeks after renewing, I bought a new car and hence needed to change insurance details; all it took was a q
uick phone call to Admiral (and of course an increase in premium), then the next day Tina had sent the new cover note.

I have got used to poor service by faceless nameless people in big companies, hence I herald Admiral as a real breath of fresh air where the person on the other end of the phone ensures you get their name and completes the task they say they will, give them a try.

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