[davyk31]

I know the problems with Admiral / Elephant and the standard parts replacement clause is well covered in other postings but I believe I have made some progress on this. After many many calls and nearly 2 hours on Friday afternoon I have got them to agree that all parts in my Chili pack will for sure be replaced by Chili pack items should I make a claim. The written confirmation is to follow. I argued the case with two managers and their info on what a Chili pack ads to a MCS was incorrect so I explained clearly the differences and eventually they confirmed that the changes were not large enough to change the risk therefore all items are covered. This is a very short summary of long long discussions with several other factors being an issue such as the rubbish customer service they gave me recently and also the fact i have 3 policies with them and 2 are due for renewal within the next 4 weeks. They made it very clear that loosing business is the last thing thay want to happen. I believe progress has hopefully been made in this area.

[ButtonIt]

Good work Davy Just goes to show what a company will EVENTUALLY do to keep business

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by davyk31

I know the problems with Admiral / Elephant and the standard parts replacement clause is well covered in other postings but I believe I have made some progress on this. After many many calls and nearly 2 hours on Friday afternoon I have got them to agree that all parts in my Chili pack will for sure be replaced by Chili pack items should I make a claim. The written confirmation is to follow. I argued the case with two managers and their info on what a Chili pack ads to a MCS was incorrect so I explained clearly the differences and eventually they confirmed that the changes were not large enough to change the risk therefore all items are covered. This is a very short summary of long long discussions with several other factors being an issue such as the rubbish customer service they gave me recently and also the fact i have 3 policies with them and 2 are due for renewal within the next 4 weeks. They made it very clear that loosing business is the last thing thay want to happen. I believe progress has hopefully been made in this area.

Sounds positive, but does this mean "covered" as in what they told be the "extras" would be on my Cooper (they're "covered", but that just means they're insuring your car with the bits on, not saying they're changing the terms of their contract and guaranteing to replace those "extra" pieces), or does it mean they're making an exeption to their contract for you and that you'll get everything replaced in contradition with their own T&Cs?

[jammythart]

This is very interesting as I am at present with Elephant and have had no problems, but previously I was with Admiral (absolute pants).

Elephant have given me the best quote by far, so I think I will be staying with them, but I am quite interested to know what they are trying to get extra for?

Thanks Tom

[davyk31]

Originally they wanted extra money because the car was "modified" and therefore was in their opinion more likely to be the subject of a claim. This argument I blew apart because my car has 17" alloys instead of the standard MCS 16" items and has air con etc. This does not constitute a greater risk. They went over the Standard Parts thing many times but, and I await written confirmation, they have now stated that all items in my Chili pack will be replaced with Chili pack items should a claim arise, therefore I will get new 17" alloys etc. I do get the impression this is a concession to me rather than a change of policy but if they do it for me then all you other guys should make sure you get the same. I told them they were getting very bad publicity over this issue which seemed to concern them and also told them they would be loosing a significant number of Mini drivers due to their mad policy. Over the last week I had been promised many return calls/emails which never came and was given incorrect info form their advisors so therefore they knew I was an extremely unhappy customer and if things were not sorted I made it clear I would soon be an ex customer. Some of their call centres are worse than useless so make sure you get talking to someone in Cardiff Headoffice and always ask for someone in authority. They also did seem to say that a Chili Pack on an MCS did not change the car as much as on a MC therefore they would allow the concession. On their listing of what is in a Chili Pack they had the list for the MC which includes things like "exterior body modifications" which must mean Chrome Line exterior but from their point of view conjures up images of major body mods. I hope I have got to the bottom of all this but like I say I await the letter although I do have to say I'm confident its all ok.

[Paul]

Looks like it could be good news, because apart from these stupid clauses, they're a good company, I only left as they would not budge at all with my Cooper back in 2002.

[davyk31]

Just to update this thread. I now have a letter from Admiral saying that all items in my Chili pack will be replaced in the event of a claim by standard Chili pack items. Thats the letter I wanted and means the Standard Parts Clause does not apply as my Chili Pack is clearly under cover now too. Now everyone else, bombard Admiral and Elephant as the rules can clearly be changed with enough pressure!

[jammythart]

Nice one, lets hope this changes the Elephant for the better!

Tom

[gezmedinger]

Davyk31, Could you PM me the names of the people you spoke to at head office? I've gone for an elephant policy on my MCS because it was £600 cheaper than the next best quote I got - but the non-coverage of the options does concern me! If we had the names of the people who OK-d your chilli pack coverage that would sure be handy when it comes to talking to people who refute any idea of such stuff!

Thanks and enjoy the car!

Gez

[Fizzle]

i got a quote off admirals website yesterday for £1169 which is less than i'm paying at the mo insuring it in my mums name!! went back to see wot the price would be if i declared mods and noticed that the chilli pack was listed. added that on it's own and it added £500 to the origional quote, then i added springs, exhaust and induction kit and it went up a further £700 and by the sounds of it if i claimed i wouldnt even get these parts back!!

think i'll stick with tescos for now.

[Bartacus]

Hi guys

I am a new member and just looking through the threads at the moment and have come across this one.

I have worked in insurance claims for 15 years now and so have a professional interest in this and I am extremely surprised by what I am reading.

I don't believe that Admiral have a leg to stand on when it comes to any extra offered by BMW that you have fitted to your car, but if someone could advise me of the precise policy wording (probably best by PM)they are trying to rely on I will see if I can find an Insurance Ombudsman/Financial Services Ombudsman ruling on the matter (which Admiral would be bound by).

Thanks

Mike

[scooperman_uk]

being in the position of insurance renewalls soon.

i made a few phone calls to brokers.

given that most of the call centers have now been moved out of the UK. i found it took 3 times as long to explain the basics, let alone explain a chilli pack. a certain company have the saying "let us quote you happy", was more like "quote away my patience!".

oddly enough MINI insurance quoted me a renewal £400 cheaper than last year... but still not the cheapest i recon. im not going to go with the companies that dont accept mods and want to argue...

[jammythart]

I realise this may have been discussed several times, but I was sooo psd off yesterday on the phone to Elephant I just had to tell someone. I got the quote which was high, but lower than most!, then when the not so good English speaking lady ran through the policy, I was informed that although I was paying the premium for the Chilli pack, it would not be paid for in the event of an accident. This I should of thought does not make any sense! So I requested that she confirmed the reason why......several minutes later........it is the policy of Elephant that they only replace standard factory parts, I replied with the Chilli pack is a standard factory part, it is an option on the list of items for the new car, therefore it is not modified, the response was that if it is a factory fitted item (or items) then it will be replaced.

Of course I am writing to Elephant to confirm the conversation, and will let you all know if the outcome is not positive!

Tom

[davyk31]

Yes been there and had all the conversations, esp with the not so good English speaking employees. They now use an Indian Call centre which is a disaster , i had to repeat my registration number 12 times on my last call and spell out all the numbers and she could still not grasp it. Anyway, as regards the Chili pack, your problem will be getting them to confirm in writing as this was the part that took me ages with Admiral. Keep ringing and if you ring through the normal working day and ask for a manager you should get someone in authority in Cardiff and this is your only hope of success. Eventually I got written agreement to cover all items in my MCS Chili pack but boy was it a painful long process. Just dread ever having to deal with them in a claim situation!

[jammythart]

Thanks,

I don't suppose there is a chance you could let me know exactly who wrote the letter to you and when, so I can ring them direct.

Ta

[davyk31]

The person who eventually sorted mine was in the Renewals department responding to my treat of removing 3 large value policies from them. Was an Admiral employee and although they are essentially the same company as Elephant an Admiral employee will not deal with Elephant issues. Just ask for a Customer Services manager and they can generally help, as I said my case was helped with my treat of removing polices and I had also received very poor customer service with being promised calls and never getting them and beign given wrong information, so much so that the Customer Services manager was appalled when I recounted my story to him. In the end they were keen to help me and at some stages I had 2 Admiral employees talking to me at the same time, one on landline and one on mobile and still giving conflicting info. I told them to go talk to eachother and one of them sort it and ring back which eventually happened, also got a small reduction in premium as a goodwill measure. Their policy about standard parts is still their policy but its clear that exceptions can be made but just always get it in writing.

[jammythart]

Cheers, I have a big issue with Admiral, they took over 2 years to NOT sort out a claim and never kept me posted, I subsequently lost no claims and my premiums have gone up, I think I will use this as ammunition!

Tom