Admiral vs Elephant: Compare Car Insurance

Admiral and Elephant are two insurance brands of the Admiral Group, who are the largest car insurance company in the UK. Run by the same motor insurance company, let's see how they stack up against each other.

Quick Overview: Admiral vs. Elephant Car insurance

Elephant and Admiral are two different brands of the same company. To see how their car insurance policies compare, our NimbleFins car insurance experts have read through their policy wordings, looking for specific differences in which features are included and coverage levels.

After this analysis, we've discovered that Elephant car insurance is virtually identical to the 2nd to lowest tier of Admiral comprehensive car insurance, which is referred to simply as 'Admiral car insurance' (as opposed to 'Essential', 'Gold' or 'Platinum'. Admiral offers four tiers of comprehensive car insurance: Admiral Essential (which is somewhat new), Admiral, Admiral Gold and Admiral Platinum.

Below we recap some of the best features of Elephant and Admiral, so you can see for yourself.

What we like about Admiral

Admiral, rated 4 out of 5 stars by our editors, is superior to Elephant for the following notable reasons:

We view offering the higher tiers and the lower tier as 'pros' because customers have a wider choice of cover. And for those on a tighter budget, the Essential brand can be appealing because it is comprehensive cover, but fewer 'optional' covers result in a lower price.

What we like about Elephant

Elephant, rated 3.5 by our editors, essentially offers an identical product to Admiral comprehensive car insurance.

Here's a quick, high level comparison of how Admiral and Elephant compare on cost, features, customer service access and customer ratings.

Admiral vs Elephant Overall Review

When comparing the levels of cover Admiral and Elephant provide, it is clear that Elephant is virtually the same as the standard Admiral tier of comprehensive cover (that is, not the budget 'Essentials' tier and not the higher 'Gold' and 'Platinum' tiers, but the standard 'Admiral' tier).

Neither offers cover for the 'alternative transport & hotel after accident', or a courtesy car in case of theft/write off (unless you buy an add on). Or a courtesy car for repairs if you don't use an approved repairer.

Otherwise, their cover is pretty good and equivalent. One minor difference we found is that the basic Admiral plan covers £200 of belongings while Elephant covers up to £200 for personal belongings AND up to £300 (any one incident) for sports equipment. So in this respect, Elephant offers a superior product to the standard Admiral cover.

However, with Admiral you have to option to buy a higher tier of cover (Gold or Platinum) to get cover for alternative transport & hotel after accident, or include motor legal as standard, or get higher belongings cover. Or you can go cheaper with the Admiral Essential tier.

How much can you save with 'Admiral Essential' vs 'Admiral' or an Elephant car insurance policy? NimbleFins tests have showed that for a sample driver with a typical profile, Admiral Essential would be roughly 6% cheaper than the standard Admiral or Elephant policy. In fact, Admiral Essential consistently ranks in the top 5 of our bi-weekly cheap car insurance UK survey. But you do miss out on a few features with the Essential policy, compared to the standard Admiral or Elephant policy—e.g. no windscreen cover, no personal belongings cover, no aftermarket electronic equipment cover, no comprehensive cover in Europe, and no new vehicle replacement.

Admiral vs Elephant Cost Comparison

As you might expect by now, Elephant's comprehensive cover is pretty much on par with the standard Admiral plan in terms of price, at least for our sampler driver.

Here are sample quotes so you can see how Admiral car insurance quotes compare to Elephant car insurance quotes:

These quotes are based on a 45-year-old male driving a 2017 Ford Fiesta, 5,000 miles a year. He parks at home. He has been driving for 20 years and has 5 years of no claims. Car insurance quotes are extremely sensitive and very case specific. For example, car insurance costs vary by age quite significantly. Please ensure you get your own quotes before making a decision.

Admiral vs Elephant Reviews and Ratings Compared

When it comes to customer ratings, it's a bit hard to read into them because Elephant has only a few hundred reviews compared to tens of thousands for Admiral. But here are the ratings anyway (none seem spectacular, but the Admiral Trustpilot rating will be most reliable with over 72,000 customers having left a review):

Admiral vs Elephant Cancellation Fees Compared

No one expects to cancel their car insurance—it could mean you've had to sell your car—but you may have to. Or you may move house and need to make a mid-term adjustment to your policy. If that is the case, knowing your fees is important.

Looking at the table below, you'll see that, just like the section before, Admiral and Elephant are almost identical —not a surprise, really:

Important Phone Numbers

Admiral and Elephant have identical customer service and webchat opening times! Excluding bank holidays which are 'subject to change' for Elephant. From what we've gathered, it's different for each bank holiday.

Admiral Contact Numbers

Elephant Contact Numbers

Policy Documents

More information about Admiral car insurance policies can be found by reading their policy documents.

To view your documents online, log into your customer portal or access the policy documents here.