Insurance /

[C43AMG]

Has anyone had insurance with Direct Line ?

About to renew the insurance on the CL which is currently insured with Admiral.

They quoted £493.00 Direct Line £ 321.00. Admiral re-quoted £352.00

Have been with Admiral for a few years now, never had a claim so don't know how they preform same with Direct Line.

Is it the devil you know or save £ 30.00 ? Many thanks for your input.

 

[Giantvanman]

We used Direct Line for years ( for everything) with no complaints- one small claim on a house policy dealt with easily. Pretty good company…..the only reason for not being with them is they moved away from rewarding loyalty and into enticing new business. Hence, sometimes we use them, other years we have no policies with them at all.

Edit: We have used Admiral in the past but really don't like the online for everything business and having to pay premium rate to speak to someone.

 

[automaniaman]

Having just settled a claim with direct line, I rate their customer service as poor!

 

[dinoy]

my friend use peter best in colchester classic insurance specialist with agreed value all other companies will do market value.

always always use classic provided u can store car away overnight ;-) and mileage is not high

ask for di their no 01376 573033 u will be surprised at costs and remember agreed value is just that and it is not how much u paid for the car but how much a replacement from trade will cost you

if u need more info pm

 

[st13phil]

IME, Direct Line used to be very good. I have used them pretty much since they started in the 1980's for various insurance products and had received good service from them, including when making a claim.

However, the customer experience now seems to be very variable, which would suggest that it's not run as well as it used to be. My last involvement with them just over a year ago involved them complicating the process when I swapped my E350CDI to an E63 to such an extent that I decided to cancel my policy and take my business elsewhere.

I work on the basis that if they can't get it right when they're taking my money, there's a very low likelihood that they'll get it right when they're supposed to be giving me theirs.

 

[Dryce]

Used Direct Line on and off over the years and they were straightforward to deal with.

Currently use Privilege - which is part of the same grouping. So far they've been equally straightforward to deal with.

 

[Dryce]

I work on the basis that if they can't get it right when they're taking my money, there's a very low likelihood that they'll get it right when they're supposed to be giving me theirs.

Sadly I suspect simple logic like this doesn't actually work in practice.

Chances are they farm out their claims handling.

Same goes for any assumption regarding the price vs service relationship in this sector.

Many moons ago I got bumped and my insurer's claim line turned out to be an organisation that appeared to be a third party outfit which was a branch of a non-fault accident handler. On discovering that my heart fell and I thought I'd be messed around by a bunch of cowboys. Turned out to be the smoothest claim handling experience we ever had and we were proactively informed all the way though it as to what was happening and when.

 

[GP801]

Have used Direct Line on/off over the years. They were excellent when our sons 300e-24 was written off by a drunk driver in Valencia. The assessor contacted Charles Ironside to value the car and basically gave us what Charles advised. They even gave him back his excess when they worked out that would be much simpler and less costly than chasing the Spanish culprit.

 

[C43AMG]

Yes I have, in the £400.00 range. I will PM you my mobile. If you can beat the £321 that would great.

 

[whitenemesis]

I've been with Direct Line for many years/cars and had a couple of claims through them. All dealt with quickly and hassle free.

Last year the renewal letter on the CLS came in at £400. The Gocompare type quotes were significanly cheaper so I called them and they suggested I did their own online quote form and it came back with £198! They honoured it without quibble.

 

[Alps]

I used to be with them years ago, no hassle and any claims were dealt with quickly.

I only moved away from them because of premium prices.

Im with Aviva now and they are very good too.

 

[s500colin]

I've been with Admiral for years and if I find a cheaper quote they have always matched it without any argument.
Normally I get a cheaper quote from Elephant.co (Owned by Admiral) and hey presto Admiral always match it

 

[gaz_l]

I'd tell Admiral to do one. If they can provide cover for £350, why didn't they quote that in the first place? They were trying it on.

I always shop around before renewing policies, sometimes the prices are reasonable and sometimes they aren't. I've just renewed the Panda policy which is with esure, their quote was some £10 more than the cheapest one I got so not worth the bother of changing.

Cheers,

Gaz