Adrian Flux - What a joke !

ALPINA Costs - Insurance, Depreciation, Oil Usage

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Number5
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Adrian Flux - What a joke !

Post by Number5 » Mon Jan 29, 2018 10:53 pm

Two years ago I insured with Adrian Flux but then they got expensive so I moved the Alpina Roadster (and the 3 other family cars) to Admiral on a Multi Policy and have just been offered my renewal at £245, which they've now discounted further to £199

Today I got a call from Adrian Flux (Our resident "Alpina specialists") offering me a quote as they obviously retained my details and knew my renewal was due. OK I said, nothing has changed except I'm 2 years older, Quote away....

25 minutes later after hanging on the phone and being asked irrelevant questions that I refused to answer, like, Am I a home owner, What did I pay for the car ? and the usual Gem: What have I been quoted elsewhere ? they quoted me...... £850 !!!.

A further 25 minute 'discussion' followed asking them to justify their quote but I've advised their Customer Feedback Dept that I wont post the content of the conversation with Thomas, if they respond to my feedback form within 48 hours.

......We'll see !

I must be a terrible risk you're all thinking !
Here are the risk details:-

Standard 2004 Alpina Roadster S Lux
52 year old Male, living in BS32
Member of Inst of Advanced Motorists with first class pass.
Occupation: Security Consultant, for Govt Dept
No Acc, Claims, Convs or Speed Courses
Max PNCB on all cars
Me only to drive it and No business use or commuting
Owns 3 other cars and has access to 5 cars in family
2000 miles per year required
Car immobilised in locked alarmed garage under a dust cover
SORN'd Nov-Mar

Now I'm not blowing my own trumpet, but if that is not low risk, what is ?

Come on Dan, explain !
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Metrics
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Post by Metrics » Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:44 pm

That's bonkers.

Fair play to you to give them so much of your valuable time. Not sure this one can be explained.
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AG
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Post by AG » Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:44 am

I use A plan, have done for a years now.

But I'm sure the way they calculate premiums is think of a number and triple it and see if the customer bites.
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DAN@ADRIAN FLUX

Re: Adrian Flux - What a joke !

Post by DAN@ADRIAN FLUX » Tue Jan 30, 2018 12:34 pm

Number5 wrote:Two years ago I insured with Adrian Flux but then they got expensive so I moved the Alpina Roadster (and the 3 other family cars) to Admiral on a Multi Policy and have just been offered my renewal at £245, which they've now discounted further to £199

Today I got a call from Adrian Flux (Our resident "Alpina specialists") offering me a quote as they obviously retained my details and knew my renewal was due. OK I said, nothing has changed except I'm 2 years older, Quote away....

25 minutes later after hanging on the phone and being asked irrelevant questions that I refused to answer, like, Am I a home owner, What did I pay for the car ? and the usual Gem: What have I been quoted elsewhere ? they quoted me...... £850 !!!.

A further 25 minute 'discussion' followed asking them to justify their quote but I've advised their Customer Feedback Dept that I wont post the content of the conversation with Thomas, if they respond to my feedback form within 48 hours.

......We'll see !

I must be a terrible risk you're all thinking !
Here are the risk details:-

Standard 2004 Alpina Roadster S Lux
52 year old Male, living in BS32
Member of Inst of Advanced Motorists with first class pass.
Occupation: Security Consultant, for Govt Dept
No Acc, Claims, Convs or Speed Courses
Max PNCB on all cars
Me only to drive it and No business use or commuting
Owns 3 other cars and has access to 5 cars in family
2000 miles per year required
Car immobilised in locked alarmed garage under a dust cover
SORN'd Nov-Mar

Now I'm not blowing my own trumpet, but if that is not low risk, what is ?

Come on Dan, explain !
Hi there,

Thanks for taking the time to go through a quote with us despite us returning a premium far more than you'd had.

It's unfortunate that we appear to have not been competitive - if you wished to message me your full name / postcode I can take a further look.

I take it Admiral aren't quoting £199 for an Alpina and x3 other family cars? If so that is exceptionally competitive and don't forget in the event of even one windscreen claim / replacement they would be working at a loss.

By all means return to me via a message and I can look into.

Regards,

Dan

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Post by jolls » Tue Jan 30, 2018 3:04 pm

"I take it Admiral aren't quoting £199 for an Alpina and x3 other family cars? If so that is exceptionally competitive and don't forget in the event of even one windscreen claim / replacement they would be working at a loss"

I shouldn't think the OP gives a monkeys about Admiral operating at a loss if he's unfortunate to have a claim. He's happy with his renewal premium and along with prompt help in the event of a claim that's the bottom line for most of us.
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Number5
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Post by Number5 » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:02 pm

No Not £199 for the lot. £1634 for the lot

The breakdown is below:

- Alpina Roadster S £199.00
- Z4 3.0si Roadster £145.60
- BMW 520D Touring £200.00
- 2007 Mini One £140
- 2017 Mini Cooper 1.5 £950 (19Yr old Daughter with 2 years NCB)

All fully Comp cover.

The Alpina is me only to drive, the other three are me & Wife. My Daughter is only covered for her car - the Mini Cooper. Total bill £1634.

How can Adrian Flux be that far out ?

Can you publicly justify why you so strongly ask what Iv'e been quoted elsewhere before giving your price ?

I'll pm you my phone number Dan.
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Number5
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Re: Adrian Flux - What a joke !

Post by Number5 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 1:17 pm

DAN@ADRIAN FLUX wrote: It's unfortunate that we appear to have not been competitive - if you wished to message me your full name / postcode I can take a further look.

By all means return to me via a message and I can look into.

Regards,

Dan
Well, I sent Dan my contact details and so far no response.
Edit: I had a call mid afternoon, thank you Dan.
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Post by Number5 » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:35 pm

As state above, I had a call this afternoon from the Customer Services Dept at Adrian Flux. To be fair the chap who called me was far more understanding and empathetic than Thomas who I spoke to originally.

We covered the ground that their time was obviously more important than mine, due to them wanting me to hang on the phone for 20 minutes whilst they go through all my details again, rather than call me and just say,
"We believe your renewal is due. We would like the opportunity to quote again and based on the car you had when you left us and subject to no changes, we could offer you renewal at £x."

Then if that was competitive I'd be happy to go through the finer details again. But instead, they ask can we quote, then expect you to spend the next 20 minutes repeating all of the information you gave them 2 years ago (That they have apparently deleted -...except your phone number ), so that they can have your business. Why can't all of this be done prior to calling me ?


He apologised that they were not competitive and tried to offer a reasonable explanation. We covered a number of points as I'll go through :-
1) He said that the reason for asking if I am a home owner is that Insurance is based on statistics, and statistically home owners make less claims than non-home owners. - I'm not sure how that works, as I can't see a tenant making a claim (or giving a monkeys) if they don't own the property. But there you go.

2) He also said that all Insurance Co's ask what you have been quoted elsewhere, as they are a business looking to make a profit. They dont want to quote you toooo cheap if they can make a bigger margin and still win your business ! - Thats almost bordering on a Cartel !

3) He agreed that asking what I paid for a car was cheeky and had no bearing on the policy as they would only pay market value - Fair play, at least he was being honest !

4) He said that they look to specialise in Classic Cars, Modifications and unusual risks, hence being in the Alpina arena and that as I only have one modification, (the Bilstien B12 suspension, which is almost the standard replacement now). this is why they werent competitive for me.
I explained that the typical Alpina owner must be the 40+ age group who appreciate the car for what it is and are highly unlikely to modify it much away from OEM as this would seriously de-value it.

Therefore if they are looking for modified cars, they need to get on the Golf/Polo & Corsa forums for the 18 year old chavs with stretched tyres furry dice and cars that can't negotiate a speed ramp. We likened it to advertising as specialist Bentley Insurers then saying you don't fit the criteria as you haven't added a rear spoiler and go-faster stripes to your Limited Edition Corniche !

If you look at the Alpina Forum insurance section, you will find more adverse comments than positive for Flux and all they are doing by advertising in the wrong arena is annoying people and generating themselves bad publicity. to which he agreed.

He went through my quote and revised it with as much discount as he could (basically deleted every bolt on like, hire car, Euro cover, PNCB, legal exp's, etc. ) and then quoted me a revised premium of £500 dead.


He said they will listen back to the original call and he will try and feed back our conversation to the Directors at a higher level, which is fair enough and probably all he can do. I did get the impression that he understood where I was coming from and showed some empathy.

The upshot is, Flux didnt get my business as it went to Admiral for £199. - but have had some free market advice.

Dan, do you want to comment on your colleagues replies and confirm that you are actually in the market for vehicles with multiple modifications where you can justify increased premiums on devalued cars ?

So, all I can presume is that Adrian Flux are more after this :-

Image

Than this :-

Image
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