Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Admiral Insurance (Gibraltar) Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss B complained about Admiral Insurance's handling of a motor insurance claim following damage to her car in June 2025. The approved repairer failed to complete repairs satisfactorily over several months, requiring Miss B to source alternative repairs. Miss B, who has disabilities, experienced additional distress from issues such as a dirty courtesy car and poor communication. Admiral upheld her complaints and paid £875 in compensation, but Miss B sought further redress. The ombudsman found that while Admiral provided poor service, this was not discriminatory and the compensation already paid was reasonable given the circumstances and Miss B's particular vulnerability to the impact of these failures.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

While Admiral and its approved repairer A provided poor service with numerous mistakes, omissions and failures, the ombudsman found these were borne out of poor administration, customer service and workmanship rather than discrimination based on Miss B's disabilities. Although Miss B's disabilities likely made the impact of these mistakes worse for her than for others, the service failures did not arise because of her disabilities. The ombudsman determined that the £875 compensation already paid was reasonable, moving the impact from 'considerable' to 'substantial' distress given Miss B's circumstances, and that compensation is assessed on overall impact rather than on a tariff basis per individual failing.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website