We’re pleased to be giving back £110 million to our car and van insurance customers in recognition of you staying at home and driving less during the UK-wide Coronavirus lockdown.
A £25 refund of premium will be automatically given to all customers in the coming weeks for each car and van which was covered by us on 20 April 2020, a total of 4.4m vehicles.
We’re giving our customers the refund to reflect that there have been fewer cars on the road during the lockdown and our customers are driving less, which we expect to result in fewer insurance claims.
You don’t have to take any action to get the refund, we aim to automatically credit it to you by the end of May. We’ll contact you over the coming weeks to explain how you’ll get the payment.
The refund and other initiatives pass on the savings from reduced claims we may otherwise have benefitted from during the lockdown. It isn’t our intention to benefit from the lockdown and we’re returning our best estimate of the savings to our customers.
You don’t need to contact us or do anything at all at this stage, we’ll be in touch between now and the end of May with more details about the refund.
We know you may have some questions about the refund so we’ve put together a comprehensive list of questions and answers below. Scroll down to find out more.
People are driving significantly less than before the lockdown, and this has led to a fall in the number of claims we’re seeing and therefore, the level of risk we are covering. We want to do our bit too so we're giving a £25 refund of premium for every car and van on cover with us on 20 April 2020.
This is to recognise our customers for following government advice and staying home as much as possible during the UK-wide lockdown, when we’re all working together to slow the spread of Coronavirus.
As one of our 4.4 million car and van customers, the refund you receive aims to provide an equal share of savings among all of our customers, making the total payment £110m.
We wanted to make this fair and considered a number of options. We considered this the best solution to give something back to our customers as soon as we could, while making sure all customers had an equal share in the savings made from the expected reduction in claims.
Everyone's lives have changed as a result of Coronavirus; key workers still need to drive to work, people still need to drive to the supermarket and some people aren't driving at all.
We're all in this together and wanted to give our customers an equal share of these savings. A flat sum of money was the simplest and quickest way to get money back to our customers.
Nothing – You don't need to contact us or do anything at all at this stage. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, we have less staff than usual answering the phones so you may experience longer than usual wait time. We'll be in touch between now and the end of May with more details about the refund.
We aim to issue all refunds by 31 May. There's no need to contact us as we'll be in touch over the coming weeks to confirm when you can expect payment.
Your refund will return to the payment method we hold on file.
If you pay by card it'll go back to the card that you paid most of your premium with, and for Direct Debit it will be returned to the account you used to pay most of your premium from.
Unfortunately, we can't take new payment details for this refund due to Money Laundering and Fraud rules. If you used a third-party payer to pay for your cover, the money will go onto their card.
Anyone can fall victim to fraud, we'll never call, text or e-mail you asking you for your bank account details for this refund to be processed.
In most cases where a card has expired the payment processors will still be able to ensure the payment reaches you, especially if you continue to have an account with them.
In a small number of cases the payment will fail and be returned to us and in that situation we'll issue a cheque to you. We'll be in touch if necessary and there's no need to contact us around this point.
All car and van customers will get the refund as long as your cover is active on 20 April 2020.
Yes – a refund of £25 will be made for each car and van on cover with us on 20 April 2020.
Yes - the refund has been calculated based on the lower driving frequency we're seeing, so all policyholders are eligible, including those who still need their car.
You'll get the refund if your policy was still active at any point on 20 April 2020. You won't get the refund if your policy was cancelled or ended before this date.
Yes - providing you have insurance on 20 April 2020, you'll get the £25 refund.
No – the £25 refund per vehicle includes add-ons such as Motor Legal Protection or Breakdown Cover.
No – We'll issue the refund regardless of your decision to renew, as long as your cover was active on 20 April 2020.
As this is being done for all our motor customers, we need to process this as an independent payment so cannot be included in the renewal offer.
We've taken the step to refund £110m based on our best estimate of the amount we would save compared to claims that would otherwise have been made.
In calculating our refund amount we didn't anticipate a return to business as usual in May. It's too soon to say what will happen if the lockdown continues, and we don't know how long it will continue and in what format however Bell has always been committed to doing the right thing for its customers and we do not intend to benefit from reduced driving due to the lockdown.
We also want to further reward customers who choose to renew or join Bell and will also continue to reflect changes to claims rates in our prices.
No. This refund will not directly impact your future price.
Yes, all customers with active car and van insurance on 20 April 2020 will get a refund. It doesn't matter if you've made a claim.
Yes, we'll process the payment via BACS credit where there's no active mandate.
As the refund will be made in May, it's likely the first Direct Debit instalment will have been received. If so, we'll issue the refund to your bank account. If we still haven't received this instalment, we'll issue the refund to the card details used to make the first payment.
In total we have put together a £190m package of actions in response to Coronavirus; the £110m refund is the centrepiece. In addition to this we've also:
Bell is a trading name of EUI Limited. (Reg No: 02686904). EUI Limited is a subsidiary of Admiral Group plc and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm reference number: 309378). These details can be confirmed by visiting the Financial Services Register, www.fca.org.uk/register. EUI Limited acts for, and on behalf of, other regulated insurance companies. Further details may be provided on request.
Admiral Group plc is registered in England and Wales at Tŷ Admiral, David Street, Cardiff. CF10 2EH (Reg No: 03849958).