Admiral Insurance Excess - Normal Practice?

[Gerg]

I had the misfortune of having a Range Rover drive at some speed into the rear passenger door of my car.

The Range Rover driver admitted complete responsibilty at the time and subsequently - I strongly suspect that they were on the phone.  If I explained the specifics of the accident, then where the blame lies for the incident is really, really obvious.

My insurer (Admiral) advised me that despite it being 'not my fault', which isn't remotely in dispute, they will take a cut of my excess (2 - 20%, they weren't sure how much) before returning it.  This is because I didn't buy their driver's legal protection cover at the last policy renewal, they said. The excess hasn't been paid yet, I should add.

In the event, this isn't the issue it might be, as I'm dealing with the other insurance company directly, where no excess will be required to be paid, the other insurer are being very accommodating thus far.  

I had thought that driver's legal protection insurance was for legal representation in complicated claims, not so much for cover to pay for your own insurance company, when they roll-you-over in a straightforward claim.

Is Admiral's position the industry norm?

 

[Bper]

The excess you pay is the agreed amount at the time you brought the insurance. If your excess is for example £200 that's the agreed amount you have to pay in the event of an accident. When do you pay excess on car insurance? You pay the excess in the event of any claim made on your insurance policy regardless of who's to blame. However, if it's proved the accident was the other person's fault and the full cost is recovered from their insurer, you may be able to recover this amount.

Ask them to confirm why they are looking to do this and also ask them to indicate in the terms and conditions of your policy that states this.👍 

[Roy124]

There may also be  claims management company involved. They have a bad name at times yet we first cane across one when someone ran into the back of my mother's car, she was 92 at the time. 

We did not realise at the time that it was it her insurer but a CMC working on their behalf.  Your excess might be used as their fee should things fail. 

In her case, once we understood she was activing as an intelligent friend, everything went smoothly.  A hire car could nit be arranged because of her age so other costs were covered.  A chiropractor was appointed and physio paid. Ultimately she got a cash payment. 

 

[Cyker]

It's kinda ty but this does seem to be the way insurers operate; In all the non-fault accidents I've been involved in, if I claimed via my insurer, they'd always take the excess from me first, then I'd get it back later after everything was done and they claimed the bill off the opposing company.

Some of them do give you the option of waiting for the other company to admit liability, then they get the excess and other monies off the other company before repairing your vehicle and you don't have to pay the excess, but obviously this is only useful in minor accidents where the car is still fit to drive and if you use their repair people.

In fact, all the insurers I'v been through that with have said I can opt for my own choice in repairer but then I loose the excess no matter what, which also seems  ty

This is why it can be advantageous to deal with the at-fault party's insurer directly and have them handle everything at no cost to yourself, but the risk is if the repair isn't satisfactory or develops a problem later down the line it can be more of a ballache to get them to rectify it.

Usually the at-fault party's insurer will want to deal directly tho' as they don't get shafted as badly than if your insurer does it through them  

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

The rarified world of car insurance eh?

I don't remember if it was to do with excess or not or some other daft reasons, but when a lovely Dutch Avon lady accidentally scraped her heavy Dutch bike against my old pug grandad wagon,it caused a fair bit of damage.

I did not want to go through any insurance,as it was a pure accident, and the lady was honest enough to knock on my door, and tell me that she was very sorry, and would put it right.

But she said that her household insurance would cover it, and to claim from them via my car insurance.

I foolishly took it to the recommended repairer , and then the fun started.

They first tried to insist that I took a loan car, which I didn't want for several reasons.

It would have cost her insurance company more for a start, and at that time I was still biking,it was summer, I was about to leave on a biking trip, and only lived around the corner anyway from the repairer,so didn't need a car.

So off I went on a 4 day trip on my Yamaha with camping gear to Yorkshire.

A day after my return, I rang the repairer to check on progress, didn't get any straight answers, so thought ok , leave it with them for a day or two.

A week later they told me it was ready to pick up, so I strolled round there, and they seemed unsure as to where it was.

After a couple of hours faffing around, they said they had found it, and if I could just pay the £340 ? that I could drive it away, and thank you for your custom.

It seemed a bit strange,as if I remember my excess was £200 even if it was that reason, so at this point I was getting mildly annoyed, not least by the charming young lady repeating over and over the word "okaaay"as though she expected me to agree with whatever nonsense she was talking.

So I thought, okaaay, you keep the car and sort out all your self created problems,I have got my bike, it's summer, take as long as you like.

9 am the next day I got the call,all sorted out and you can pick up your car with no payment.

It was dirty,had overspray , body shop dust, and a sandwich wrapper in the footwell ,ham and tomato IIRC.

This was a national repairer btw , used by many major insurers, what a shower, I would have done better with filler and a rattle can, and saved the Avon lady's insurance hundreds.

 

 

 

[Gerg]

Thanks for the replies gents.

The paying out of my excess in this situation wasn't a problem for me, I was anticipating that. 

What I wasn't best pleased about whas the idea that Admiral would only pay a percentage of it back to me because, they explained, I hadn't bought driver's legal protection.

Many years ago, when buying motorcycle insurance from one of the market leaders (name currently forgotten), the schedule arrived in the expected manner.

On the back of schedule, pre-printed in a small font and much reduced contrast, was a breakdown of their Riders Legal Protection charge, which I hadn't bought anyway.

The £20 charge broke down as:

£0.50 to the underwriters

£19.50 Administration fee

I kid you not.  This was in the days of such high-volume, industrial, printing being done on continuous stationary - everyone got that message on the back of their schedule.  I've never seen that since.

In the last few months it has become quite apparent that, from evidence way beyond the above, the Admiral insurance service has gone down the pan.  I just wondered if they had become very mercenary too!

Cheers, chaps!