A £25 refund will be automatically given to all customers for each car and van covered with Admiral as at April 20, a total of 4.4 million vehicles.

Admiral is giving its customers the refund to reflect that there have been fewer cars on the road during the lockdown and it expects this to result in fewer claims.

Customers don’t have to take any action to receive the refund, it will automatically be credited to them by the end of May.

Admiral will be contacting customers over the coming weeks to explain how they will receive the payment, but they can find full details about the refund by visiting the Admiral website.

The combined initiatives in total are equivalent to roughly a month’s premium income, or a third of its 2019 profits, and passes on the savings from reduced claims the company may otherwise have benefitted from during the lockdown.

Admiral has said its intention is to return estimated savings to its customers rather than benefit from reduced driving during the lockdown.

Cristina Nestares, CEO of UK insurance at Admiral, said: “During this challenging period, our main priorities have been helping our customers, supporting our local community and protecting the wellbeing of our staff, which is why we have introduced these initiatives to give something back to the customers and communities we serve.

“This is an unprecedented time when people across the country are driving significantly less than before the lockdown, and we expect this to lead to a fall in the number of claims we are seeing. We want to give the money we would have used to pay these claims back to our loyal customers in this difficult time. We have also already reflected this change in driving behaviour in our pricing for customers and will continue to do so.

“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. Customers don’t have to contact us to receive this, we’ll be in touch with them in the coming weeks to explain how we’ll refund them.

“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.”

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