Admiral car insurance review

Admiral car insurance review
Admiral is a car insurance specialist which offers single and multicar insurance. The company’s insurance goal is to help their customers save time and money, also providing legal covers, 24 hour roadside emergency accident helpline as well as personal injury cover.
Characteristics
a) Products
The first aspect when reviewing the Admiral Car insurance is the range of products. The company offers a wide range of benefits, suited for all kind of drivers. Firstly, it grants a 10% discount for online purchasing. This can be a good marketing strategy because it determines clients to use Admiral’s new products as well as giving live feedback for the services.
Moreover, the insurance covers young drivers, performance car drivers, people that live in cities and all types of drivers who contact them. What is more, if the customer has a second or more cars, he can insure them on one policy, each vehicle receiving its own discount. This is ideal for big families or parents who wish to safeguard their children’s car.
The list of services seems to be very attractive. The Admiral car insurance offers a £100,000 legal expenses cover, £5,000 Personal Injury Cover, personal belongings cover, in the case of an accident or theft and 24 hour emergency helpline. In addition, all policies include a 90-days European cover.
b) Fees
The fee is calculated keeping record of how old the car and how young the driver is, how many cars are written on the policy and how many drivers can use it. However, there are certain charges and payments that the customer should bear in mind.
If the insurance is cancelled within 14 days from the welcoming letter, the client will be charged £22.50 to cover the costs of setting up the policy. In the case of cancelling after 14 days, the fee is £47.50, costs that cover the setup of the policy and also the cancellation arrangement. Moreover, a per-day fee is expected for the time the policy was used. Whenever a policy is changed, a £17.50 fee is applied to cover the service.
In addition, the customer should be aware of the administration charges. If a Payment Holiday is opted for, then this is included in the car insurance premium and it will cost around £7.95. For a credit card payment for the premium, an administration charge of £5.95 is made. In the case of an outstanding debt being referred to a debt agency, the covering costs will be £100 and a £4.50 for rejected Direct Debit instalments. These terms and conditions are clearly explained in Admiral’s policy guidelines.
c) Marketing strategy
At the beginning of 2013, Admiral has started using call centres and price comparison sites for its products. This is a major step towards identity in the digital market, considering that up until recently, Admiral used white-label products. This improvement helps customers to receive fast and real-time estimates for their car insurance, thus saving time and money for both the company and its clients
Evaluation of objectives
An important aspect when reviewing a product or a service is whether the objectives of the company that provide them meet the personal expectations of their clients. The evaluation provided by consumers provides a good score. On a rating from 1 to 10, Admiral car insurance receives 7 stars.
High scores were given for renewal and setup fees, for legal expenses as well as for Year 1 cancellation, while their helpline is considered one of the best on the market. What is more, the company won credibility among its clients, many of them calling their services “fair and straight-forward”.
However, the biggest setback seems to be the customer service and the lack of certain services. These refer to the new car replacement, keys in car exclusion as well as the no fault excess benefit.
Customer experience
When dealing with shoppers, the experiences can be good or bad. Awful experiences regarding Admiral emerge from the poor customer service quality and also from their administration fees that seem to be charged for every action the customer requires.
One client claims that Admiral did not offered the quality service that they advertise. The client and her daughter used the multicar insurance provided by the company. After an accident, the second car was written off. However, after 18 months from these events, the client received a letter in which Admiral stated that it did not know about the accident and a £400 administration fee should be paid. After several phone calls and poor customer service, the person in cause found out that the company managed to take the administration fee out of the client’s account without her consent. However, the situation was solved and the money returned after the Complaints Department was informed. This also resulted in losing a client and a poor rating for professionalism.
However, there are also cases when customers appreciated the bright side of Admiral. This is the case of a young driver that decided to buy her first insurance from Admiral. She tells that the agent explained the service in detail and very clearly, and the paperwork was easy to understand. What is more, she also states that the company offered her a discount after declining the renewal of her policy which was much more expensive.
Suggestions
Customer service is the factor that can increase or decrease a company’s credibility in the market. The major complaint of clients refers to the situation of explaining their dilemma many times to many agents. Solutions as providing unique customer numbers indicate a better running of the service.
Moreover, the presence in the digital market can improve the transparency of information. Using comparison sites and the company’s website, the client can calculate what type of car insurance he wants, what options to apply for and how the customer is legally protected.

Conclusion
Admiral offers good car insurance with improved services. These products are ideal for young drivers or for clients that wish to save money. Leaving aside isolated bad experiences, clients seem to prefer Admiral as their car insurer because it offers a wide-range of services and the best helpline. It is my opinion that these factors position Admiral on the list of the best insurance companies.