Admiral offer COVID-19 ‘Pandemic Rebate’ – more to follow?

ADMIRAL motor insurance is the first UK insurer to provide £110m worth of rebates to motor insurance customers. The move is to pay back premiums to those unable to use their vehicles as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown.

The move has come about after pressure grew on UK-based insurance companies from lobby groups and market disrupters.

The Admiral rebate is reported to equate around one month’s worth of the company’s inbound insurance premiums or around a third of the company’s 2019 profits.

Cristina Nestares, CEO of UK Insurance at Admiral, commented: “The Admiral Stay At Home Refund was launched to recognise the considerable efforts people are making by staying home as much as possible and as a result driving less… “There may be fewer cars on the roads at the moment, but for many NHS and emergency services workers, their cars are vital for them to get to work. At the best of times, it’s stressful if you’re involved in an accident, so we’ve implemented new measures to take some of the pressure off and ensure they can stay on the road.”

While the Admiral move is not specific to motorcyclists, as admiral only insure cars, vans, and homes, it could lead to other insurers following suit in the coming weeks and months. The insurance is a fickle business that is mainly run by brokers, sitting in front of the insurance underwriters. The brokers are likely to be pushing for such change while the underwriters (who actually payout on claims) might be less keen.

That said, nobody in the insurance industry would like to be the only brand not offering such refunds, when one goes, it’s likely others will follow suit.