I have been with Admiral insurance for 10+ years and had always been happy with the package offered with their multi-car policy. However this year has not been a good year and I certainly will be looking around for another insurance company when our renewal is up. Firstly this year when our renewal was up they put our price up by £250 which we managed to get down to an £200 but when asked why it has gone up so much they stated that our type of car had high level of claims or was being targeted by thieves in our area. We had never made a claim and have over 15 years no claims, so were really disappointed that our premium had been increased through no fault of our own. Unfortunately in August this year I had an accident and did go through the claims process which I have to say is appalling, this company do not speak to their customers and you feel that you are just a number. I initially phoned to give the details of the accident to the customer service agent and I was asked to take my car to a local bodywork garage for assessment. I took the car in and discussed with the garage how much the potential damage was going to be. They informed me that they were self assessing and that the insurance company would not write off a car with only 45,000 miles on the clock also it didn't have that much damage. A week later I booked my car in with the garage to get the car fixed and picked up a courtesy car expecting to just be notified when the work was completed. Three days later I picked up an email which was a letter from Admiral informing that they had instructed a salvage company in Bedford to come and collect my car (I am in West Sussex), shocked did not cover this revelation. I phoned Admiral and gave them some constructive feedback with regards to the fact that a letter with that information should not just be sent that surely a discussion should be had with regards to the fate of my car, I was not even offered an option to take the car home given that it was drive able. I went to collect my personal belongings from my car and drop off the courtesy car and due to the bumper not being put back on I couldn't have driven the car home even I was given the option. I was then informed by Admiral that I would be given a link to a portal which I would then need to complete all my details and the claim would then be assessed. I had to chase for the link to be sent to me as this took about 2 days. Once the portal link was received I completed this and again it took 3 days (with chasing) for them to even look at the claim and then ask for further information. A commitment was then made that we would receive the settlement figure by the end of the day this was not received and I had to chase for the outcome the next day. You are given the name of your dedicated claims handler and I can honestly say that I was not able to speak to them once and that every time an inquiry was made referring to the claim you were referred back to the portal. Once you have processed all the information on the portal this does not provide you with any further information or updates. I found the way that they dealt with the claim was devoid of customer service or satisfaction - What is wrong with picking up the telephone and discussing the claim by talking, the world has gone technology mad but this is to the detriment of good customer service !!!!! The whole process has taken 2 weeks to get to the settlement figure and payment in my bank and I have been without a car the whole of time trying to organise lifts to work so that I didn't have to take time off. I feel that there was no urgency and that they don't care how these situations affect people's lives and that a snap decision is just made without discussing all the options and certainly disregarding your situation. I have been a good and loyal customer over the years and the claim process has left a bad taste and they have now lost my business going forward which is a shame but they obviously don't care as insurance companies are never going to lose.