Did someone say Admiral?
... Brace yourself! (think... Mr Bean to the kid in the ride)
I wouldn't touch admiral with a barge pole!
I had a non fault accident (driver failed to give way at a roundabout). They "fixed" my car, a week later I had a blowout and both NEW rear tyres replaced two weeks before the accident. They were now shredded on the inside edge and the tracking was noticeably out of alignment and pulling left quite badly.
To cut a long story short it turns out out some of the billed repair jobs (including tracking etc) were not actually completed and the tyres were (in my opinion) worn and damaged as a result..
They turned around and said 'Erm ok get it fixed and we will pay for the stuff you should have had done and was billed for'... So I'm MY OWN TIME I had to go get my car sorted, I had to buy new tyres out of my own pocket too as they refused to recognise the relationship (even though their own damage inspection report all tyres were good condition on arrival).
Then... There was extra labour to repair and loosen the tracking bolts which some were sized - guess that they refused to pay for that element as well. (which is like saying if it had been a broken shock they would have paid for the shock but none of the work to get to it!)
It went all the way to the FCA and turns out that when I called I was offered a type of claim process.. (from here on you can suggest the following is my fault) because the other driver was to blame and has admitted fault they could process the entire claim on their insurance rather than mine so wouldn't even need to pay the excess... but according to the FCA, what I did by agreeing to that was I relieved myself of any relationship with the accident entirely (and therefore did not meet the requirements for the FCA to even open an investigation) - admiral did pay £50 for the inconvenience and recognition that they did not do their due diligence in checking the "repairs" by their 3rd party so admitted they didnt fix it!
Putting the issues with the company aside and the fact I can't complain...
The point is, they put stuff on my 'repair invoice' that they did not do... They cut corners (they lied to me saying it was done, then admitted it hadn't) I believe that caused further damage to my car and could (in extreme circumstances) have killed my partner who was driving down a county road when the tyre went, I'm probably about £700 put of pocket putting my own car right after they returned it to me "fixed".
Make your own mind up as everyone has different experiences, but personally will try to stop every £1 I can going their way. They will never get another penny off me, in fact they couldn't give it to me - Utter Asshats.
I hear you ask "why not go to your own repair shop?"
This was my first ever accident so have learned a lot - I trusted the "system" and paid the price...
IMO They conned me into having a "lifetime" warranty with the repairs via their network which felt like a good deal on my daily (not the Zed), then in the next sentence offered up a policy "solution" that then took that away from me when I waived my relationship with the accident, opening the door allowing them to almost do as little as possible.
End of rant