About Us

Welcome to Adelaide Insurance Services Ltd.

We are a UK based insurance company providing personal insurance for car, motorcycle, home and travel to:
1. Motorcyclists UK-wide and in the Republic of Ireland;
2. Teachers, Leaders and Managers in education;
3. The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) UK-wide
We also provide car and motorcycle insurance to IAM members in the Republic of Ireland;
4. London Neighbourhood Watch Association (LNWA);
5. UK LGV (HGV) drivers.

We’ve arranged preferential rates with tailor-made insurance benefits from leading insurance companies for each of these groups of customers.

Adelaide Insurance Services was founded in December 1991, as part of the Charles Hurst Group (the leading Northern Ireland motor group). Charles Hurst recognised that being able to provide insurance to their customers would be an advantage whilst selling new and used cars and motorcycles.  They already had relationships with many insurance companies since their foundation in 1911 through their large body-shop, handling vehicle-repairs.

Charles Hurst therefore began developing these relationships and transacted business through the formation of a subsidiary company, Adelaide Insurance Services.   Adelaide’s role was to provide an insurance brokerage for the group’s dealerships i.e. Nissan, Renault, Citroen and Rover. Adelaide implemented a free insurance scheme and was the first insurance company to successfully develop and market 3 years insurance within the United Kingdom.

Ownership structure

In 1996 The Charles Hurst Group was sold to Lookers plc and Adelaide was bought by Woodchester Investment Brokers (part of Woodchester Finance) who became Cornmarket Group Financial Services Ltd in 1998 – a subsidiary of Irish Life and Permanent plc. Cornmarket own 100% of the equity in Adelaide. Since January 2008, Irish Life & Permanent plc now own 100% of the equity in Cornmarket.

Adelaide restructured in 1997 turning our focus to Affinity Groups and niche markets

The objective was to increase customer service and provide quality private car, home and motorcycle insurance supported by a panel of insurers who could offer this.

On 1 July 2000, Adelaide moved to their own premises at Boucher Plaza, Boucher Road, Belfast.  With employee capacity doubling over time, we expanded & refurbished our offices in May 2006.  IT hardware and capacity needs were also upgraded resulting in Adelaide becoming a “paperless” office.

Our customers:

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) for whose members we have been the official insurer since 1997.

Since 2005 we’ve also been providing members of The Ulster Teachers’ Union with insurance.

Ever since Adelaide and the IAM set up their first insurance scheme for members in May 2005 the relationship developed rapidly culminating in Adelaide being appointed the IAM’s sole UK insurance provider for member’s personal insurance in October 2007.

We’ve been providing motorcyclists with insurance since 1992 in Northern Ireland, expanding UK wide in 2006 and then into the Republic of Ireland in 2007.

In May 2008, we were appointed the official insurer for AMiE, the leading trade union and professional association for leaders and managers in schools and colleges across the UK.

In June 2011, Adelaide secured an agreement with the “London Neighbourhood Watch Association” (LNWA) to promote car and home insurance to the 2.4 million householder Neighbourhood Watch members throughout Greater London.

Adelaide received the ultimate accolade when we were voted “the UK’s favourite motorcycle insurance broker for 2008”.  This annual “Rider Power Survey”, conducted by the renowned “RIDE” magazine claims to be the largest survey of its kind in the world.  We achieved first place for customer service and scored the top rating for claims handling and won the overall number 1 ranking.  This is a surprising achievement when you consider we’d only been in the UK-wide market since 2006 and were up against all the longstanding UK companies.

Culture and brand values

In 2011, Adelaide was honoured in the UK’s leading awards for our road safety programmes and was among a small group of businesses to receive Business in the Community’s (BITC) coveted National Big Tick for our “motorcycling and young driver road safety initiative programmes”
(Click on image, right, for more information.)

Adelaide has always striven to be socially responsible in the conduct of our business.  We’ve been actively involved in road safety since 1997 when we began working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland to promote BikeSafe, which provides a critical appraisal of motorcyclists’ riding skills through a short, free assessment of ability in key areas.  www.bikesafe.co.uk.  Many bikers who successfully complete the BikeSafe assessment go on to complete the IAM safety assessment www.iam.org.uk and Adelaide rewards bikers who successfully complete either of these assessments with further discounts on their insurance. (Subject to insurers’ normal acceptance criteria and minimum premium.)

The Roadwise safety driving test was conceived, developed and administered by Adelaide.  This safety programme is aimed at 17 to 24 year old car drivers. Once these drivers have successfully completed the Roadwise test, they’re normally entitled to preferential rates on their car insurance with Adelaide. To ensure the development of Roadwise across the UK, all rights and administration of courses was taken over by the IAM.

The IAM awarded Adelaide Insurance Services “The Dominic Fox Award” in 2004 for our major contribution to road safety.

Adelaide have sponsored the “Safety Award” at the Irish Racer Awards in Northern Ireland on various occassions commencing in 2005.  This award recognises those who’ve made substantial contributions to road safety each year.

Adelaide sponsors all staff who must take their IAM car or motorcycle test.

To cope with the demand for more advanced rider training in Northern Ireland, the IAM charity joined forces with Adelaide on 9 September 2010, to form the “Adelaide Advanced Motorcyclists Group,”adding another Group to the over 200 volunteer IAM Groups across the UK.  Northern Ireland bikers can now apply to do the IAM’s advanced riding programme here

Adelaide is also a member of “Business in the Community” (www.bitcni.org.uk) – a membership organisation which helps companies to meet their responsibilities towards society by developing good practice towards members’ staff, the planet and the place where these companies operate.

The charities we support:

Global Schoolroom

Institute of Advanced Motorists

Special Olympics Ireland

Transplant Sport UK

The charities we’ve supported

RNLI

£53 000 for Marie Currie by raffling a Harley motorcycle in their centenary year and the year that Marie Curie won her Noble prize.

Children in Need

Down Syndrome Ireland

Ireland Air Ambulance