Admiral and TESCO - If SORN'd then not insured !

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Admiral and TESCO - If SORN'd then not insured !

Post by Number5 » Wed Jan 09, 2019 11:58 am

I have a 5 car Multi Car Policy with Admiral and one of those cars includes my Roadster.

I only do about 1500 miles a year in the Roadster which is generally the MOT in Feb, a Spring Trip to Snowdonia and a France trip in Autumn. The rest of the time it is away in a locked and alarmed garage and therefore SORN'd.

Yesterday I heard a rumour that Admiral wont insure a car if not taxed, so I called them. At first the Operator said it wasn't true so i asked her to confirm in writing.

At that point she referred, came back and confimred that I was right and that ADMIRAL WILL NOT INSURE A VEHICLE UNLESS IT'S TAXED !. Their logic is that it must be roadworthy to be insured and untaxed is not legally roadworthy ! I do not see how this increases their risk at all. There are occasions that I'd take the car out on a nice day, but refrain as I dont want to buy a whole months tax. If I have to tax it, it will come out more and therefore be more exposed to risk !!!

On requesting that they remove the vehicle from the policy at renewal next week, she then informed me that my £2000 five car premium was now £2100 for the remaining 4 cars, as the others go up on the basis that I lose my 5 car discount !

This is now a chicken and egg situation. You cant tax an uninsured car and you cant insure a car thats untaxed ! Madness

So - if you're with Admiral and it's SORN'd call them and check !

...And I've just read TESCO are the same too !
Last edited by Number5 on Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by jolls » Wed Jan 09, 2019 2:37 pm

This is now a chicken and egg situation. You cant tax an uninsured car and you cant insure a car thats untaxed ! Madness

I insured my Alpina after being SORN'd and also without an MOT. To check this out why not go onto Admirals website and see if they'll insure the Roadster. I bet they don't refuse it!

You'll probably need a Laid Up car policy. HTH
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Post by Number5 » Wed Jan 09, 2019 4:33 pm

jolls wrote:"This is now a chicken and egg situation. You cant tax an uninsured car and you cant insure a car thats untaxed ! Madness"

I insured my Alpina after being SORN'd and also without an MOT. To check this out why not go onto Admirals website and see if they'll insure the Roadster. I bet they don't refuse it!

You'll probably need a Laid Up car policy. HTH
I think you're missing the point...
As soon as Admiral find out the vehicle is SORN'd they will refuse to insure it. OK, If I say I'm taxing it tomorrow, they'll take it on, but thats no good having an annual policy for a car you SORN 6-9 months of the year. I still want Fire & Theft cover whilst its off road and they wont provide it.

I suggest you call Admiral if you 'believe' your insured with them whilst you have it SORN'd ....and ask for it in writing too
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Post by Number5 » Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:00 pm

I've also just phoned LV to get a quote for a Multi Car Policy.

They will cover a vehicle whilst SORN'd but the 300bhp Alpina Roadster isnt on their list of cars. However, the 265bhp Z4 3.0si and 340bhp Z4M Roadster are though !!
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Post by jolls » Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:26 pm

My point is that they’ll take your money. I suppose their get out clause regarding SORN is that it’s a material fact.
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Post by ali » Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:44 pm

Insurance companies are the biggest crooks of them all Any excuse not to pay out or cause you ill feeling and unrest is just a nonsense given the extortionate premiums we have to deal with to drive our cars.
I own 6 vehilces 3 x alpinas 2 x ///M powered cars and my business sprinter van and everything is taxed and not sorned so it is insured Even the E39 being restored is still taxed so it is insured even though it's been off the road for a year
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Post by Gee » Wed Jan 09, 2019 10:47 pm

This is interesting as my car is insured through Admiral and also SORN'd. I wasn't aware that it would be not be insured if I decided to SORN it for 6 months of the year!! I better give them a call...
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Post by Charles » Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:19 am

Based on your figures, Number 5, it might actually be cheaper for you to keep the Roadster taxed and therefore insured under the Admiral policy unless you can find separate cover for it for less than £135 per year.

This is based on a £100 increase from Admiral if you remove it, offset against a £235 road tax for the year.
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Post by nealpina » Thu Jan 10, 2019 2:18 am

Are you sure it has not been misinterpreted? Is it referring to a car on the public highway without tax? As a car’s policy is void without tax on the public highway (there use to be a 14 days grace period when car tax expired, not sure if it still applies under the new car tax rules when they changed it several years ago). Also unless going for a MOT.

What does it say about private property e.g. driveway or garage?
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Post by nealpina » Thu Jan 10, 2019 2:27 am

Just did a quick google and from their website: SORN a guide to insuring your car if its of the road . Not sure why they will have this on their website if the car won't be insured.

Just noticed that link was modified on 4 January 2019 and published on 3 January 2019. Therefore is extremely unlikely to be an outdated link
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Post by Number5 » Thu Jan 10, 2019 6:54 pm

Charles, I came to the same conclusion that it was still best for me to tax it and stay with Admiral, but the principal still smarted a bit.

Anyway, A friend of mine with a Z4M emailed them yesterday and got a reply form a general clerk saying it wasn't a problem and was covered whilst declared off road.

I forwarded the email to the Complaints Dept who firmly advised me yesterday that they would not insure a SORN'd vehicle, and lunchtime today, they rang me to say " On this occasion, in light of the evidence I had provided they would cover MY car whilst SORN'd but this is not something they are doing for everybody at this stage.."

So I don't know where that leaves everyone else but I'm now sorted I've now got it on writing..

I think its opened a right can of worms for them, and they clearly cant operate one rule for one and another for everyone else !
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