A Massive Con (Admiral Car Insurance)

Member Name: Buzby

Product:	Admiral Car Insurance
Date:	04/08/00 (513 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Take your money without asking

My first experience of Admiral was when my sister used them a couple of years ago. They gave her the cheapest quote, so she went with them, but when her renewal came through the following year, it had gone up over £100!! She had another years no claims, and was now over 25, but when she phoned to ask whay it was so high, was told it was because originally she had been on a 'special offer new customer policy'! I wonder how many people renewed automatically without realising how much it had gone up?
My next experience of Admiral, was when my boyfriend, who was insured with them, sold his car. His insurance was due to run out in two weeks, he wasn't getting another car, so he thought he'd just let the policy run out, and that would be that.
About a month after the policy should have ended, he recieved a letter from Admiral, telling him that his account had refused them money! He phoned them up and said 'of course you were refused money, I never gave you permission to take my money' They said the policy was automatically renewed as had been detailed in his renewal package that had been sent to him by recorded delivery. Neither he nor anyone else in the house had took delivery of any such thing, which he told them. He also told them he no longer had a car. They said he would have to prove he had sold his car. He told them it was none of their business whether he had a car or not. His policy had run out, he did not wish to renew it, had not asked to renew it, had not paid to renew it, and had not recieved a renewal package.
Several letters and phonecalls later, and after Admiral had threatened him with legal action for not paying for the policy he had not asked for nor wanted, Admiral finally agreed to backdate the end of policy, as long as we sent them proof of selling his car.
I have never heard of such a cheek as to automatically renew a policy without asking the customer, sending details of policy premiums or requesting
some kind of permission for the money they tried to take.
I would certainly never use Admiral myself, nor reccomend anyone else to do so.

Summary: