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Direct Line is offering me the best price on insurance. Anyone have happy or unhappy experience with the company when claiming? More generally, other than requesting two quotes for accident repairs, am I legally obliged, under any insurance policy, to take my car to a repair centre of the Insurance company's choosing?
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A good friend of mine found their customer service after a prang useless. Phone calls not returned, etc etc. They coughed up in the end though. Seemed to be poor organisation rather than anything deliberate. An awful lot depends on the individual you deal with rather than the company itself.
No doubt others will have experienced the opposite. Expect all insurance companies to be crooks and you won't be disappointed, only pleasantly surprised occasionally.
I prefer high street brokers where you can deal with the same person face-to-face, that's worth an awful lot when there's a problem.
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I've had no probs with DL. I only had to take my car to one place for a quote when a hit and run Motorcycle clouted the side of my previous Car (Cavalier) and caused over £900 worth of damage. The place I took it to subsequently ended up doing the repair, although they were not one of DL's prefered repairers.
In fact DL were more than happy for me to take it for an estimate/repair of my own choosing rather than doing it themselves, as it would have involved them arranging to have the car collected by transporter, driven 30 miles to their nearest approved centre, get the estimate, then return the car back to me until the garage could book it in for the repair.
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Apart from a little accusation of insurance fraud, they were fine after my accident.
Even let me have the car (a Fiesta) repaired in a specialist coachworks that deals almost exclusively in Mercs and Porsche, most of which cost in the region of £50K - £100K.
You can't say fairer than that, plus I got a Mercedes as my courtesy car. :) Everyone at Uni was well impressed. :)
Blue
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I have always found DL very competitive and efficient.
I made a successful claim a few years ago for personal injury via their legal protection add-on on a TPFT policy.
They were very helpful when I had to get a days insurance on my old car (whilst having cover on the new car) to get it to a local DVLA office for inspection for a cherished transfer.
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My sister just had her car written off and she is insured with Direct Line. She said they were really helpful, Customer service was fine and they paid up within five days!
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Excellent service from them when rear ended on the M6. Continued my journey and called them from mobile. They completed the paperwork on the phone, and the car was booked into their recommended garage next morning, courtesy car provided.
Quality of repair was a little dodgy (boot leaked!) which had to go back two times before they got it right, but repairers were really trying to please (AND, I suspect, avoid me complaining about them to DL)
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No complaints, when I got new (to me) car, swapped cover over and asked about covering old car till I got rid - they gave me three weeks cover on the old one for nothing. Competitive premiums for me as well.
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I've used them for car insurance before but never made a claim so I can't comment on the service. We do use them for travel insurance though and when SWMBO was injured wilst away last year they were very good. All expenses claimed were refunded promptly and without arguement. Generally they are one of the first companies I visit when renewal time comes round (beaten by Admiral this year though)
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Thank you each very much for the replies.
Well, the general consensus seems to be that my Direct Line quote is worth pursing. (Incidentally, the quote, including legal protection and courtesy car, was £50 cheaper than the nearest rivals Churchill and Hill Hammond, and ranged from £100 to £300 less than quotes from other national brokers). Also, I see from the October 2002 Which? Magazine car insurance report, which I read today, that Direct Line are among the companies recommended for my category insurance. I take on board, however, the fact that efficiency of service is sometimes down to the person handling your claim, rather than the company per se.
Thank you again for the feedback. It is very much appreciated.
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I have no experience of Tesco as a customer but as a quotee they seem to use very similar criteria to Direct Line, but are usually a little cheaper again. No idea what their service is like though.
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IIRC, Tesco Insurance is "Direct Line" branded under Tesco name; just as "Sainsbury" Insurance is actualy Esure.
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"Incidentally, the quote, including legal protection and courtesy car..."
Eh? I'm with Direct Line and my policy doesn't give me a courtesy car - have they changed their terms and conditions?
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Martin
Thats caught me out as well - I have a direct line policy and seeing here that they now give access to a hire car is the first I heard of it!!
I checked their website and it is an option - would cost me about 15 quid extra over the year - you get it delivered to and picked up from your home address or any other nearby location.
You have the car for up to 14 days and then they'll pick it up from you and (hopefully)return your newly repaired one back at the same time!
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...hmm! This would have been nice when the recently had my car for two weeks to repair it - but I guess that you have to pay for this at renewal time and not at claim time!
Ah well, you live and learn - still, it would have been nice of them to inform me of this new optional extra....
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>> Eh? I'm with Direct Line and my policy doesn't give mea courtesy car - have they changed their terms and conditions?
You'll find that getting a courtesy car will depend on the bodyshop you used. Some have them - some don't. Always ask before agreeing any work to be carried out. Plenty out there, if one bodyshop don't have them, the one around the next corner might.
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Martin -- I signed up online. The menu provides the option to take out legal protection and/or 14-day courtsey car. Each option costs an additional £16.
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I don't understand why you should have to pay for a courtesy car.
After my accident I took the Fiesta to a local place that had courtesy cars, and I got one for free, don't think they billed DL for it either. Plus it was a Mercedes. :)
Blue
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