written by Jezv on 10/10/2021
I was out doing my deliveries out of town in the company van and couldn't accelerate over 50 then it gave up smell of burning nightmare!!! The clutch had died got my Doc's out and gave admiral van breakdown a call the call was answered quickly once I gave her my location she said I would get a txt and my ETA was 40mins I got the txt and yep help arrived on time Many Thanks
written by AnyaChoate88 on 03/08/2021
Appalling. Stuck without petrol because several petrol stations had closed earlier on a Sunday. Finally called Admiral. I was told 1 and 3/4 wait time and then possibly another 3 hours national wait time on top of that!! Why? I opted to get an expensive taxi home, and then another expensive taxi at the crack of dawn the following day to sort it out. Didn't fancy being in the middle of nowhere waiting till 2.30 or 3am hoping someone was coming!!! Newsflash Breakdown service is supposed to give peace of mind...!!!!
written by 1991McDowell on 31/10/2020
I was out in the cold for over 2 hours and still no one came. They said it would only be an hour. A kind gentleman helped me otherwise in scared to even think about what might have happened. They are absolutely useless. I called them again to let them know I didn't need then to come as someone had helped me and the guy on the phone was so unapologetic of the time I watered waiting for them. I'm so disappointed in their service.
written by Leticia218 on 05/03/2020
I had to wait 3 hours and 20 minutes to get the recovery van to sort out the flat battery. They said at the beginning that the help will be there in 60min then they said it will take another 15 min and so on and on and on.
written by Matt12300 on 24/01/2020
I had cover for recovery anywhere within 10 miles of the breakdown site. My home was around 20-25 miles away and I had to return home as I had no other option. I had to wait over an hour to be picked up and then had to pay £60 for the 12 or so miles extra on top of the distance already included. Completely useless unless you only use the vehicle for trips within 10 miles of home and pricey. Admiral haven’t stopped calling me today to try and obtain payment.
written by Sethur on 29/09/2019
My vehicle had a breakdown in Reading city just 1 Mile away from my home. I was made to wait on a road for almost 3 hours from 11 PM to 3 AM in the morning with no assistance First time I called it took 10 Min for someone to pick and was prompted if I had taken cover before Sep 2019 or after (had no clue why) and then transferred to another line where I waited for 5 min to speak to an agent who can pick my complaint I was made to wait in the road for 3 hours just to know that I had to fill 5 liters of Diesel to start my vehicle by a rescue team. :( If the agent who picked my call had told me that is the issue I would have filled 5 more litters into my tank and went home. Very poor support, Very poor communication and I was kept with no information for 2 hours and I had to call the support again to know that my rescue team was 20 min away at 2 AM in the morning :(
written by Adriannas322 on 16/09/2017
My car broke down on the M40, with my wife and two year old son in the vehicle. Despite being made a 'prioirity' we were forced to wait on a verge by the side of the motorway for four and a half hours in the pouring rain. The reason? Because someone in the call centre had sent the recovery driver to the M4 instead. Even when this mistake was realised they refused to send someone to pick us up and take us to safety. Incompetence of the very highest order. And their call centre staff seemed concerned only with resolving the complaint by offering a pitiful sum of £36 to waive the fee to take us home. Avoid at all costs.
written by Lindsay179 on 05/07/2017
After Putting in the wrong fuel I was made to wait over 3 and a half hours for attendance and then a further hour to resolve the issue. I was told time and time again the company would be 90 mins, I then called and he was twenty mins away. After 2 and a half hours I was then told he was now 30 mins away and he turned up over double the initial time. This was frustrating as I had to keep the child minder waiting. If I had been told from the start Id of left the car until the next day. Admiral blamed the other company however my breakdown cover is with them and not the other company. Not a very good first experience.
written by on 23/02/2017
Roadside assistance. Very efficient service. From phone call to arriving and sorting problem, took only an hour.
written by noraacarling on 03/10/2016
You might be interested in my tweet and facebook post today. Please do not lie and tell people (who are stranded on the motorway with their children) that you will assist them WITHIN the hour. It has been nearly 4 hours and after dozens of calls, you are STILL apparently on "your way". Shameful and appalling service. After nearly 5 hours and £200 cost, my family are now home. We were insured by Admiral but I will be cancelling my policy as soon as possible and will NEVER renew with Admiral. They are terrible! My family with 2 young children were stranded on the M25 for 5 hours! The first few calls reassured us that a recovery vehicle would attend WITHIN the hour. I would like to know WHY it took Admiral approximately 5 hours and WHY we were lied to and persistently told on the phone (more than 13 calls were made) that a recovery vehicle should be there WITHIN the hour. This is disgusting service from Admiral. I will be tweeting, using facebook and alerting and discouraging ALL people in social media NOT to use Admiral.
written by unluckycarowner on 19/12/2015
Having broken down 3 times within a short space of time, Admiral have performed admirably each time. All the staff concerned have been consistently pleasant and helpful and actually seem to genuinely care about their customers. Well done all concerned and keep up the good work.
written by Gurpalkaur on 23/11/2015
I made a call at 620pm and was promised the breakdown cover would be with me within an hour. After an hour and half I was still waiting on the motorway in the freezing cold. The service I received on the phone was shocking. He was so rude and unhelpful! The man kept calling me to say he couldn't find me. So I suggested he take the SoS number to help him find as to where I was. I For sure would not recommend this service at all. Left me feeling very unsatified for something I have paid. Regards Gee
written by OmariWelsh1955 on 02/04/2015
My son broke down so called Admiral. They sent out a "roadside engineer" who established that the coil had gone. He did not have a coil with him so called someone from Automania.who said he could fix it at a cost of £30. I thought this rather strange but was told by Admiral that the contract was between my son and the engineer if we went ahead with the repair. My son had to get money from a cashpoint and the coil was replaced by the engineer from Automania. 10 miles along the road my son broke down again on the M3 in roadworks. We called Admiral again who said they would send another truck but by the time they arrived my son had been picked up by the Highways Agency. My husband had already set off from home because he was concerned for my son's safety. The second tow truck then took my son's car to our local garage following my husband all the way. A two hour journey turned into eight hours. Our garage then replaced the coil but thought the one from Automania was not new. Indeed the receipt my son signed in the dark was made out to a different name and different registration. 7 weeks on I am still fighting to get a refund for the part and compensation for my husband's petrol. I was also told by my garage that best practice when a coil goes is to change the plugs. I provided evidence including photos of the dodgy coil and a scan of the receipt but am still waiting for Admiral to contact me. I will be cancelling my breakdown cover with them as soon as this is resolved.
written by on 01/02/2015
If you are thinking of getting breakdown cover do not choose admiral, they are miss leading company who will happily take your money without providing the service for it . They came in the evening to fix my car which I was told it's done and the following morning I had the same problem. I called them just to be told that it's not their problem that my car is still not working and I need to make a new call out if I want someone to come over again and I have to pay full amount for the service again. It's not a customer friendly company, its more like a joke which unfortunately cost lots of money.
written by on 29/09/2013
We have paid our premiums to Admiral Breakdown to ensure that if anything happened we would be covered quickly as we have two every young children. For the first time in years I had to call today. I was on my own with my one year old son. I was told it would be 90 minutes. I explained that I was on my own with a one year old and I didn't feel that this was being treated as a priority. The customer representative said she would call me back in 5 minutes and look into it. She did indeed call me back and explained if I paid a further £50 then I could have someone within the hour. I was utterly disgusted. We have paid £100s over the years and we always make sure that we would be high priority when we are with children. This was promised when we took on the cover. If they are busy and we have to wait that is one thing but to be told if we pay even more money there and then and we can have someone sooner is disgusting. Our cover didn't cover us for emergency breakdown. We had to pay more. Playing this brutal game of wanting more money when there are children involved is dangerous and beyond shocking. Never ever use them. There are professional companies out there who care about you safety and who care about your children. Do not use, especially if you are parents. My son has been distraught all afternoon whilst we were waiting. I was just so lucky we weren't too far away from home as after an hour my husband left work early to get to us.
written by on 31/12/2009
If you have a well maintained car the cost of breakdown cover over several years will probably be greater than the cost of paying to have the odd flat battery or puncture sorted out. What you really pay for is peace-of- mind. When my wife's car had a puncture the service provided fell a long way short of this (The breakdown truck didn't carry any tools and couldn't help with the fact that our spare was under pressure by about 7ppsi). When I complained to Admiral they promised to look into it. I received a letter from 'Call Assist'(the company used by Admiral) that didn't address my complaint. On re-addressing Admiral they said that they had passed on the complaint and it was no longer their problem. I will not be renewing my breakdown policy with Admiral.
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As rated by our community of reviewers
Jamesaw's Response to noraacarling's Review
Written on: 16/09/2017
Exactly the same thing happened to us! If you have a family with young children avoid this dreadful service at all costs.