Established in 1993, Admiral is a member of the Admiral Group, encompassing insurance brands such as Bell, Diamond, and Elephant. Originally specialising in car insurance, it’s since branched out into home and travel insurance products.
In 2015, Admiral won the Personal Finance Award for Best Motor Insurance and has held it for eight years. That same year, the provider was a finalist in the Halifax Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awards, and by insuring its four millionth car in 2018, Admiral covered one in seven UK cars.
Admiral offers several car insurance policies, from comprehensive to third party, each delivering different cover options. Our experts have analysed each one, comparing them to those provided by other companies and evaluating prices, coverage, customer services, and the claims process to ensure you can make an informed decision.
It’s vital to compare car insurance prices across different providers, as rates can vary significantly based on the insurer, policy terms, and individual driver profiles. By comparing prices, you better understand the market rate for your specific needs and potentially find more cost-effective options. Additionally, policy features and coverage limits can differ from one insurer to another, so comparing helps ensure that you are getting the best price and coverage.
What car insurance policies does Admiral offer?
Admiral offers four comprehensive car insurance policies, one third party, fire and theft, and one third party-only policy. It also provides a separate telematics policy.
Third party
Third party is the minimal cover for driving in the UK and provides cover if an accident involving your vehicle causes injury to someone else or damages another person’s property. If you are on a tight budget, have an inexpensive car, or drive short distances infrequently, third party insurance could be a good option.
Admiral’s third party cover includes:
- Drive other cars (conditional – subject to eligibility)
- 24-hour emergency helpline
- Optional motor legal protection
- Optional roadside breakdown cover
- Optional windscreen cover (repair and replace)
Third party, fire and theft
This coverage ensures protection if an accident with your vehicle causes injury to someone else and covers damages to another person’s property. Additionally, it protects against damage to your vehicle from fire or theft and offers more cover than Admiral’s third party policy.
Third party, fire and theft cover includes:
- Courtesy car while yours is repaired at an Admiral-approved garage
- European cover for up to 90 days (own vehicle damage)
- Drive other cars (conditional – subject to eligibility)
- Aftermarket stereo cover (manufactured covered as standard)
- Replacement lock cover to a maximum of £500
- 24-hour emergency helpline
- Optional motor legal protection
- Optional roadside breakdown cover
- Optional windscreen cover (repair and replace)
Admiral Essential
Admiral Essential covers repairs for your car if it’s damaged in an accident. Additionally, it offers coverage of up to £5,000 for injuries or fatalities resulting from an accident and child seat cover. Admiral’s lowest comprehensive policy protects against fewer situations than its third party, fire and theft policy. As such, weigh up which policy meets your requirements.
Admiral Essential includes:
- Courtesy car while yours is repaired at an Admiral-approved garage
- Replacement lock cover to a maximum of £500
- Personal injury cover up to £5,000
- Child car seat cover
- 24-hour emergency helpline
- Optional motor legal protection
- Optional roadside breakdown cover
Admiral
Admiral provides all the benefits of the Essential policy, coupled with a replacement for a new vehicle if yours, being less than 12 months old, is declared a total loss after an accident or theft. The coverage also includes personal items and windscreen protection.
Admiral’s comprehensive cover includes:
- Windscreen cover (repair and replace)
- Courtesy car while yours is repaired at an Admiral-approved garage
- European cover for up to 90 days (own vehicle damage)
- Drive other cars (conditional – subject to eligibility)
- Aftermarket stereo cover (manufactured covered as standard)
- Replacement lock cover to a maximum of £500
- Personal belongings cover up to £200
- New car replacement for cars less than a year old
- £5,000 personal injury cover
- Child car seat cover
- 24-hour emergency helpline
- Optional motor legal protection
- Optional roadside breakdown cover
Admiral Gold
Gold provides the same coverage as Admiral but enhances the protection for personal belongings, includes motor legal defence, and offers compensation for travel costs if you require transportation after an accident.
Admiral’s Gold policy includes:
- Windscreen cover (repair and replace)
- Courtesy car while yours is repaired at an Admiral-approved garage
- European cover for up to 90 days (own vehicle damage)
- Drive other cars (conditional – subject to eligibility)
- Aftermarket stereo cover (manufactured covered as standard)
- Replacement lock cover to a maximum of £500
- Personal belongings cover up to £300
- New car replacement for cars less than a year old
- Onward travel
- £5,000 personal injury cover
- Child car seat cover
- Motor legal protection
- 24-hour emergency helpline
- Optional roadside breakdown cover
Admiral Platinum
Platinum offers the most comprehensive coverage, encompassing everything in the Gold policy plus breakdown assistance. The optional extras that Admiral’s other policies list are included as standard with its Platinum policy.
If you have an expensive car and travel long distances frequently, it’s well worth considering Admiral’s top-level cover.
Admiral Platinum car insurance includes:
- Windscreen cover (repair and replace)
- Courtesy car while yours is repaired at an Admiral-approved garage
- European cover for up to 90 days (own vehicle damage)
- Drive other cars (conditional – subject to eligibility)
- Aftermarket stereo cover (manufactured covered as standard)
- Replacement lock cover to a maximum of £500
- Personal belongings cover up to £300
- New car replacement for cars less than a year old
- Onward travel
- £5,000 personal injury cover
- Child car seat cover
- Motor legal protection
- 24-hour emergency helpline
- Roadside breakdown cover
Admiral’s car insurance policies compared
| Policy name | Cover type | Age range | Courtesy car | Breakdown cover | Windscreen cover | Telematics |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Third party | Third party | All | No | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Third party, fire and theft | Third party, fire and theft | All | Yes | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Admiral Essentials | Comprehensive | All | Yes | Optional | No | No |
| Admiral | Comprehensive | All | Yes | Optional | Yes | No |
| Admiral Gold | Comprehensive | All | Yes | Optional | Yes | No |
| Admiral Platinum | Comprehensive | All | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Admiral additional features
With Admiral’s car insurance policies, several optional extras can be added to your policy, and these are broken down further depending on your requirements.
Breakdown cover
Admiral’s breakdown cover is divided into three categories, covering different eventualities. However, all three include:
- Cover for your named drivers
- Message service
- Caravan and trailer cover
- Lost or broken keys
- Misfuel assistance
- Alternative transport
- Overnight accommodation
- Electric vehicles
| Feature | Roadside assistance cover | National cover | European cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited UK roadside recovery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Recovery limited to 10 miles from breakdown | Yes | No | No |
| Recovery to any UK destination | No | Yes | Yes |
| Home breakdown callouts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Unlimited European roadside recoveries | No | No | Yes |
Personal injury cover
Although Admiral’s comprehensive policies already include £5,000 personal injury cover, this is limited to the policyholder and their partner and excludes named drivers.
The optional Personal Injury Cover includes named drivers and provides an additional £50,000. If you choose Personal Injury Plus Cover, the coverage extends up to £100,000
Hire vehicle cover
Admiral’s third party, fire and theft and comprehensive policies include a courtesy car as standard. However, this doesn’t provide cover if your car has been written off or stolen, and your courtesy car may differ from your own vehicle. This is where hire vehicle cover comes in useful.
Opting for hire car coverage over the typical courtesy car coverage can be beneficial for several reasons:
- If you need a similar-sized car to your vehicle
- If Admiral can’t arrange a courtesy car to meet your needs, you may get a daily payment
- Admiral offers a one-time pay-out if you don’t want a hire car
Motor legal protection
If you are in an accident where you’re not at fault, Admiral’s motor legal protection provides up to £100,000 in legal cost coverage. It assists in reclaiming uninsured losses like excess and personal injury. Additionally, it helps defend against motoring prosecutions and handling claims involving uninsured drivers.
LittleBox telematics cover
LittleBox insurance involves installing a discreet telematic device in your car. This device assesses your driving behaviours, allowing Admiral to offer discounted rates to those who demonstrate safe driving habits.
LittleBox can be added to third party and third party, fire and theft policies.
Admiral’s LittleBox measures your speed, smoothness, and cornering. While there’s no restriction on when you can drive, frequently driving between 10 pm and 4 am can lower your driving score, potentially affecting your renewal discount. If you often drive during these hours, LittleBox might not be your ideal choice.
To be eligible for a LittleBox policy, you must fulfil the following criteria:
- Your car needs to be worth at least £250
- You’ll need to drive at least 1,900 miles annually
- Your car must have been manufactured in the last 15 years
Admiral car insurance customer service
Admiral offers three methods of contact – live webchat, online contact form and by phone.
Our researchers went through a lengthy recorded message process when they rang Admiral. However, this is quicker if you are a policyholder.
Once the recorded message was finished, the calls were answered quickly, and the customer service team were polite and accommodating, answering questions clearly and confidently.
The live web chat only allows you to update your policy, look at your documents, visit your account, or make a claim. It suggests calling the customer service team with anything else.
Admiral’s online contact form states that you should receive a reply within 24 to 48 hours, which our researchers did.
Making a claim with Admiral car insurance
If you need to claim on your car insurance, Admiral has an online process to follow. Claims can be made by phone if preferred.
- After you’ve clicked to ‘make a claim’, you’re taken to a screen where you click on which insurance you have
- Specify car insurance
- You’re asked if you need emergency recovery or need roadside assistance and provided with a 24-hour phone number
- The same page gives you the option to make a new claim, or follow up on an existing claim
- Under the new claim, you have three options:
- Insured with Admiral: You can start your online claim
- Not insured with Admiral: Even if you’re not insured with Admiral but are involved in an accident with a policyholder, the provider might be able to help. You’re given a number to ring
- Only making a windscreen claim: Admiral uses Autoglass for glass repairs, and you can start your online windscreen claim, or contact Autoglass directly
Admiral car insurance phone number
Customer services 0333 220 2000
Calls to 03 numbers will cost no more than calls to national geographic numbers (starting 01 or 02) from both mobiles and landlines.
Admiral opening hours
- Monday to Friday: 8am to 7pm
- Saturday: 9am to 3pm
- Sunday: 9:30am to 4pm
Cancelling Admiral car insurance
You can cancel your Admiral car insurance coverage over the phone or online in your account. However, you will be charged a fee for doing so.
- Log into your account and select ‘cancel policy’
- Choose the date you want your policy to end
- If you paid the full annual premium, Admiral will refund your premium minus the cancellation charge, provided you haven’t made a claim
Cancellation fee
If you cancel within 14 days of buying your policy, you will be charged £25 to cover the costs of setting up your policy and cancelling it. However, if you have Admiral’s LittleBox policy and the unit is already installed, the cancellation fee is £125.
After the 14-day cooling-off period, the charge rises to £60, or £160 if you have a LittleBox policy with the unit installed in your vehicle. These figures are higher than many competitors, with Aviva charging £38 and LV £40.
Customer reviews
Admiral has a Trustpilot score of 4.4, with over 53,000 customer reviews. However, this score covers all its insurance products. The reviews break down into 80% of customers awarding four and five stars, and 17% one and two stars.
A number of car insurance customers mention the good customer service they’ve experienced and how easy it was to receive a competitive quote. Conversely, other reviews state there have been problems contacting Admiral, and some customers have experienced multiple scam calls about accident claims after purchasing a policy.
“I cannot believe how amazing Admiral were for our claim. [I] had [an] accident Monday evening, [and on] Tuesday afternoon [I] had [a] settlement amount. [It was] paid into [my] bank Thursday. [The] car [was] taken away in two days. After such a traumatic incident, it was great this was one less thing to worry about. Thank you so much Admiral.”
- Lisa Jane Wallace, via Trustpilot
“The price was competitive. The policy covered all my needs, i.e, no claims bonus protection, breakdown cover, courtesy car, legal protection etc. The guy I spoke to was clear with his information and avoided ‘insurance speak’.
“The whole process was very smooth and my certificate of insurance arrived in the post in a matter of days. Hence the above rating.”
- Daniel Burke, via Trustpilot
Admiral compared to its competitors
Our experts compared Admiral to several competitor car insurance providers, considering their Trustpilot and Defaqto scores.
Defaqto is an independent service that compares financial products, including car insurance, by reviewing market developments, conducting industry discussions and analysing market research. Its ratings allow financial institutions and consumers to make educated decisions.
The research shows that while Flow and AXA car insurance have Trustpilot ratings of 4.5 and 4.3, respectively, Admiral, with 4.4, sits between them. All four providers hold a Defaqto rating of five out of five.
| Provider name | Trustpilot score (out of five) | Defaqto score (out of five) |
|---|---|---|
| Admiral Group | 4.4 | 5 (4 for telematics, 3 for Essentials cover) |
| Flow car insurance | 4.5 | 5 |
| esure | 3.1 | 5 (4 for third party, fire and theft, and 3 for Flex policy) |
| AXA | 4.3 | 5 |
Summary
Admiral offers one of the broadest cover ranges of all car insurance providers, with four comprehensive policies, third party, fire and theft cover and a third party-only option, plus its LittleBox telematics policy. Additionally, there are several optional extras, allowing customers to tailor their cover.
Our researchers had favourable results from Admiral’s customer service, although some customer reviews suggest this isn’t always the case, resulting in a Trustpilot score behind Flow and AXA. However, Admiral’s Defaqto score equals its competitors.
Taking out an Admiral car insurance policy is an easy-to-follow process, as is cancelling the policy, although the fees are among the highest. For example, Aviva charges £38, and LV’s cancellation fees are £40.
However, before committing to one of Admiral’s policies, it’s important to look at other quotes and make a comparison. Comparing car insurance quotes ensures you’re not overpaying and allows you to make an informed choice.
Admiral car insurance FAQs
Most car insurance providers want to know about your driving history – typically the last five years – mileage, and where your car is kept. You should be completely transparent regarding any accidents or insurance claims you’ve made.
Each claim-free driving year entitles you to a discount on your renewal rate. If you’ve previously accumulated a no claims discount with another insurer, Admiral requires written evidence, typically in the form of a renewal notification or a no claims discount confirmation letter from them.
Car insurance rates have surged industry-wide, primarily because of increasing claims expenses and inflation. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) noted that the average insurance cost in early 2023 was 15% more than that of 2022.
The ABI also highlighted that the average cost of used cars has surged 30% over three years. With vehicles becoming more advanced, their repair costs rise. This influences the overall claim expenses.
Katharine brings over a decade of writing and research expertise, collaborating with some of the UK’s top organisations, such as the Independent, the Federation of Master Builders, Architectural Digest, and Cuvva Car Insurance. Her areas of specialisation include renewable energy, advanced technologies, and various aspects of home improvement, like kitchen renovations, combi boilers, and double glazed windows.
