Admiral insurance group, one of the biggest insurance companies in the UK, has just announced record profits. This is the second year in a row that its profits have beaten all previous years, and the company just keeps on going from strength to strength.

The pre-tax profit for 2010 was announced as £266 million, which represents a 23% increase on 2009 figures. To make things even rosier, it performed better than predicted by £4 million, according to the predictions of city analysts.

One of the most successful areas for the company was car insurance, where it saw a massive growth of over 30%. The UK sector was especially good for the insurer, but its overseas operations were not quite as successful and saw losses of £12.9 million compared to £10.3 million in 2009.

One area in the UK that has suffered is its Confused.com business. It saw a large 34% drop in earnings to £16.9 million during 2010, a factor it puts down to the increased competition in the comparison website sector.

Admiral also announced that it is planning to locate its new headquarters near St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff where it will locate up to 3,000 staff.

Henry Engelhardt, the company’s chief executive, said that it has now generated a turnover of more than £1.5 billion, but admitted that there was a lot to be done in its businesses outside the UK.

He also commented on the recent EU ruling that means insurers can no longer charge different premiums to men and women, claiming that it would lead to increased profits for Admiral.

Do you look after your car properly? According to Sainsbury’s Car Insurance there’s a one-in-five chance that you don’t. After carrying out its own research into how well we look after our vehicles, Sainsbury’s discovered that up to 21% of motorists are not carrying out regular monthly maintenance checks.

The poll of 1,610 motorists found that the tyre tread was the most neglected area of the vehicle with 62% of the respondents saying that they did not check it monthly. This was followed by the water coolant, which 56% failed to check. Windscreen wipers, oil level, lights and tyre pressure were also high on the list.

The research also took regional differences into account and discovered that the fewest vehicle checks are made in London and the east of England, whereas those in the East Midlands, the northeast of England and Scotland were the best at looking after their vehicles.

There were also large differences between age groups. A total of 15% of those aged over 65 failed to make monthly checks, compared to 29% of those aged 18 to 24. Men also seemed to do better than women, with 16% of men failing to check their vehicles compared to 26% of women.

So why are so many people failing to check their vehicles regularly? A full third of those who are not making any checks responded that they don’t think the checks are necessary.

But failing to make regular maintenance checks can be bad news for motorists. If problems are not picked up on early then this could lead to other costly problems when it comes to insurance. For example, failing to check tyre tread could increase the chances of skidding and damaging the car, which could lead to a claim.

Once a claim has been made, insurance premiums can get a lot more expensive, so it makes sense to do all that you can to prevent this from happening, and a few simple checks is all that it takes.