Car insurance company useless
18-March-2010
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Car insurance company useless

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Last month I was travelling to work on the A1124 Halstead Road at Earls Colne in Essex and on the way I stopped at a newsagents to purchase a newspaper.  When I exited the shop I witnessed a blue van reverse into my car causing damage to the rear right hand side.  It began to drive away so I ran after it and stood in front of it to stop it.  The driver got out and said that he was sorry for hitting my car and that he wasn’t looking where he was going, he apologised again and gave me his insurance details.

When I arrived at work five minutes later I telephoned his insurance company and confirmed with them that he was insured and had given me correct details, I told them what had happened and they told me there was nothing they could do until the accident was reported to them by the policy holder.  So I telephoned my insurance company, Admiral and reported it to them.  They told me to take my car to Colchester accident repairs where it would be repaired.

Admiral Insurance

As instructed, I took the car to Colchester and was given a courtesy car while mine was being repaired. When settling the bill with the garage I had to pay an excess of £300.  I questioned this with Admiral as the accident was not my fault and I was told that that I had to pay it and that it would be refunded to me when the money was recovered from the other insurance company.  Like a fool I trusted Admiral and paid the £300 believing that it would be refunded to me as promised.

The next week I received a letter from my insurance company stating that my policy was due to expire and that I should renew.  My premium had gone up by over £300 so I telephoned Admiral to ask why.  I was told that I had lost my no claim’s discount due to the accident.  Naturally I told them that the accident was not my fault and that I had given them the details of the guilty party who had admitted fault.  I was told that there was nothing that they could do about it as until money was received from the insurance company, it was counted as pending and that I should pay the extra and that it also would be refunded to me along with the £300 excess when the money was received from the other insurance company.  Again, I believed them and paid up, presuming that in the near future I would be receiving around £600 that was due to me.

At the time £600 was over half of my monthly salary and put me into financial difficulties.  But being naive I believed that I would get it back.  The next thing I heard was that the van driver had apparently contacted Admiral and admitted fault.  He told them that he didn’t want the accident to be dealt with by his insurance company and that he would pay for any damage himself presumably to retain his no clames bonus.  Admiral agreed to this without ever consulting me or even informing me of their intentions.

When Admiral sent the van driver the bill for repairs he returned their letter saying he no longer lived at that address and had left no forwarding details.  This was a blatant lie because he lived a short distance from my work and I saw him every morning.  I lived in Colchester and worked in Halstead, he worked in Colchester and lived in Halstead and I passed him on the road every morning.  I informed Admiral of this and again was told that there was nothing they could do about it and I would not receive the money owed to me until the money was collected from him in full. They also informed me that they had passed his details on to a debt recovery agency who were trying to trace him.  Even though I continually enquire about this matter by telephone I am told it is still pending, that was three years ago.  Since then I have had quotations from other insurers who quote an over inflated premium because I have an ongoing claim to which no fault has been agreed.

I would estimate that to present, building up my no claims discount again by paying the higher premiums together with the £600 owed to me I am out of pocket in the region of at least £1,000, money that is due to me because of Admiral's incompetence in dealing with this matter properly.

Article By: Aggrieved from Colchester


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'Misty Lilac'.

Whilst having sympathy with your experiences dealing with the insurer as regards their poor responses to communication,, you must understand that they are quite within their rights to deny your son's claim.

As you yourself say “The fact that the vehicle he collided with was illegally parked on the verge appears irrelevant.” I’m afraid this is the case.

In simple terms your son lost control of his car and hit a static object (parked car) which was damaged as a result of the collision. Unfortunately it does not matter if the object should not have been there, the very fact that he appears to have admitted he lost control of his car (whether through inexperience or incompetence) means he is wholly to blame.

A painful lesson for him, unfortunately.
*Congo  10-Mar-2010 12:42

 
My son ,whilst driving at low speed at the approach to a sharp right hand bend,skidded on ice and went onto the nearside verge/footpath. My son's vehicle glanced the front nearside of a vehicle parked on the grass verge used by pedestrians. This caused him to deviate from his course and collide with a tree. Had the other vehicle not been there my son's vehicle tyre tracks in the snow clearly indicate he would not have hit the tree.The owner of the parked vehicle claimed against my son for damage to his vehicle.Admiral Insurance contacted my son by phone and he explained what had occurred.On his behalf I also spoke to Admiral and was advised to submit a full written explanation and attach any relevant photographs which was done.Several attempts were made by phone to speak to the person dealing with the matter at Admiral only resulting in answerphone messages being left. My son received an e mail , to which his e mail reply was rejected. He was left messages to contact Admiral (on a premium rate number),when returned only answerphone response as above. Admiral were advised to ring a different number as my son was not allowed access to his phone at work.Having formally complained to Admiral we were advised the claim had been settled PRIOR to receipt of formal letter and photographs!!.Reason for settling was due to fact that my sons vehicle left the road. The fact that the vehicle he collided with was illegally parked on the verge appears irrelevant.He is third party F&T and now has lost his no claims bonus and will be paying through the nose at his next renewal....which will NOT be with Admiral. Am seeking legal advice and considering reporting to FSA.
*Misty Lilac  09-Mar-2010 17:27

 
You fool, you don't understand insurance. I hope you don't have any more accidents though, and try and relax a little bit more.
*SwaninFlight  09-Feb-2010 21:12

 
Try having a foreign lorry driver run into the back of you , fully comp and protected policys mean nothing. Oh and would I recomend Adrian Flux or any of their 5 different companys now dealing with my claim dont think so. I must say though if any printers could actually produce a sign to put in the back window reminding them that we drive on a different side of the road in this country, but then that would be silly because he would have to have taken his eyes from off his laptop or games console to have seen me !!!
*Disgruntal  22-Nov-2009 16:35

 
contact your ombudsman that what they do they fight your case and if they think your insurance company is wrong they will make them pay,if the ombudsman says pay they are the law they have to pay,try them you dont have to pat them ,what have you got to lose
*geddes  17-Jun-2009 21:33

 
Try MMA INSURANCE, they don't want to know even if you are fully comprehensive and have legal expenses hire. Also companies to avoid like the plague are CALL 24 - 7 (especially) - a car credit hire company, and DIRECT CHOICE (brokers). Stay well away from these if you don't want to have problems!
*The Goose  02-May-2009 00:19

 
I got hit by a lorry in my Lexus, we were both travelling at walking pace but the back door and the back wing were damaged.
After 3 weeks Admiral E-mailed me to say the car was a right off and they were canceling the insurance immediately. After a few phone calls they agreed to carry on with it because the damage was cosmetic.
We need a car Because my wife is disabled so I bought a replacement immediately, I then tried to insure the new car, I could not go to another cheaper company because the existing policy has the no claims bonus, & they would not insure the car without any.
So I had to go to Admiral and have the existing policy transfered to the new car, costing me £280 a year more than the cheaper one.
They have me over a barrel at the moment, but as soon as the claim is cleared up I will be telling them where to stick the stupid parrot.
Moral is, dont use Admiral insurance, they are w@n%e)$.
*steveskeg  23-Oct-2008 18:41

 
Very poor service from Swinton Insurance - will never use this company again and would advise others not to. When changing car insurance and contacting one of their branch offices for a quote I was given misleading information and told I would get a refund of premium. On calling back to cancel my policy they changed the figure and told me that they had explained that the original figure was given only on the basis of me taking our more (highly priced) insurance with them. The person I spoke to originally had put inaccurate notes on the system so when I called customer servces to complain all they had to go on was what the office had (wrongly) recorded. Very unhelpful staff - a real 'jobsworth' experience. I am only glad that I have never needed to claim from them.
*Mrs Disgruntled  07-Oct-2008 15:09

 
If you can get enough people together, you can take Admiral to court in a class action lawsuit. Threatening to do so should be more than enough to force them to act.
*Andrew  08-Sep-2008 09:21

 
You thinks that's bad. We WERE also with Admiral and had been for 10+ years. My wife had someone drive into the back of her at a relatively low speed while she was stationary and broke our bumper. The other driver was insured and their insurance company arranged for our car to be collected and repaired no hassle at all. However, we are obliged to report the accident as per Admiral's rules and they loaded our policy by £200! No claim went through them at all but it is recorded as a 'no fault' accident and up goes the premium (I know it was £200 as if you enter the same details into their online system it comes up that much cheaper without the accident listed.)

I called and argued with them because we were totally innocent and Admiral weren't even involved at all in the damage repairs but they were adamant. Over the years Admiral have made 10's of £000s off my wife and I (we were both insure with Admiral before we even met) with no claim ever being made. More fool them for losing our business this way.
*Tim H  04-Sep-2008 14:00

 
I was driving on the south boud lane of I-75 when I noticed a black SUV swerving into my lane. Before I knew it, he bumped the right side of my vehicle and forced me into the HOV lanes pillers. I immediately dialed 911 and told them what happened. I continued to follow the vehicle while telling him to pull over. Needless to say, he kept going and even old me no he was not going to stop. Well I took down his license plate number and gave it to the police dispatcher. My car was a wreck. It was covered in damages from the pillers. The police came out and took my report and cited the man with hit and run and a few other charges. I then took my car to a mechanics shop to get an estimate for his insurance company. Over a month later, I got in touch with his company and sent them a copy of the police report that I paid for. Now here is the thing. Since this was my only transportation, I took the car to be detailed with helped inlook a lot better. I.e removed the black marks and abrasions. His company came out ( a month later) and took pictures. I then get a call from his agent saying that they are not going to pay for my car because they did not see where his car impacted mine. His insurance company is State Farm. This has caused me a lot of grief. I am not seeking personal damages, like someone else would, I just want my car fixed. So what can I do now? Anyone please help me with this.
*Sweetpotatopye  25-Jul-2008 22:57

 
I used to be insured with Admiral. never ever ever again. every detail (change of address, change of car, claims etc) was an utter nightmare, and each dept didnt nkow what the other was doing or what info was held about me. e.g. the tow truck was sent to my old address even though they sent me letters to my new address! Utter shambles. Tell everyone to stay well away from them. Have you contacted the ombudsman about your experience with them?
*fatsheep  02-Jul-2008 13:48


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