Direct Joke (and not a very funny one) (Direct Line)

Member Name: Bodski

Product:	Direct Line
Date:	25/02/05 (802 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap premium

Disadvantages: Poor claims service, Leave cars in a dangerous state, the assessors moustache left

My experience of direct line on the whole, they are very cheap. The problem with them is that when you need them (in the event of a claim) they let you down badly. In my opinion they cut costs on claims to produce cheap premiums. Be very aware of what you are signing up to and research everything! Especially the courtesy car rules and exceptions!

Insurance is your safety net for when you need it, you need to think about reducing your stress in the event of a claim not necessarily having a cheap premium. I know that I will never ever insure with them again regardless of how cheap they come out at!

I first signed up with Direct line when I had just passed my test and had bought a trusty F reg 1.2 Vauxhall Nova. Although I wasn't a high risk driver with that car Direct line where the only people to come out with a very reasonable quote. So I signed up on line and stuck with them for a year. The following year, having changed to a much fiestier car they again came up trumps with my renewal so again I handed over my cash.
Everything was going along fine (I hadn't needed to call on them and as such had minimal contact with them).
Unfortunately in Jan 04 I had a minor incident. Running late for work, I could hear sirens and could see ambulances in the opposite direction so was checking all angles to see if I needed to move when too late I noticed that the car in front had performed an emergency stop, having no abs I locked up and piled straight into the back of them.

Curiously there was no damage to the other parties car (Volkswagen must build those new beetles out of tank material!) but my car which pretty buckled. When I locked up I hit them on an angle, my passenger side front corner impacted the middle of their back bumper. My poor car had buckled bonnet, buckled left wing, broken bumper, broken lights and was very poorly.

Managed to limp it back home to make the dreaded call to the insurance company. Never having made a call before I wasn't sure what to expect, they wanted a quick sentence on what happened and who I thought was at fault and the other drivers details. Immediately I told them that I was at fault and they said that there was no need for claims forms or details of what happened (rather strange I thought).
Anyway the next day they collected my car and took it to one of their approved crash repair centres.
I asked about a courtesy car and was told that I couldn't have one (which isn't what the adverts imply). I have since found out that they will only give you a car if they can recoup the cost i.e. if it wasn't your fault and hence they could charge the hire car to the other parties insurers....beware.

Two weeks later I hadn't heard anything (assuming that my car was almost fixed) I called the garage to find out what was happening only to find out that they hadn't even started work on it yet (which is great when you don't have alternative transport and no courtesy car).
Work then started (spurred on by my call I'm sure) and after 4 failed attempts to collect the car (they rang me on four consecutive days to say the car was ready, only to then call just as I had arranged a lift to say that it wasn't).

On the final day that I went to collect my car I was just so pleased to finally get it back. I jumped in and went to drive away. As I went off down the road I was aware of a loud banging noise and shuddering of the car when it braked and when in 3/4 to full lock the left wheel connected (rather loudly with the wheel arch). I turned the car around and took it back, insisting that the Direct Line assessor and the garage rep took it out to investigate the noises.
When they came back they advised that they could hear the noises but that it as nothing to do with the repair work they had undertaken??????
You have to understand that this car was my baby. I always had it serviced at the main dealer (which it had been only 6 weeks prior to the accident) it flew through its mots and if it ever needed anything (however minor) doing to it I took it straight to the garage. Also the car had a full warranty on it so if there had of been a major problem with it I would have had it fixed.

Anyway the assessor told me that in his opinion he thought the brakes were worn, I advised that the service notes advised no such thing so he put the car on ramps to have a look.
Next thing I know, I am given a courtesy car from the repair centre (not because of the mechanical faults that I had brought to their attention) but when the car was on the ramps they noticed that the paintwork they had carried out was below standard.
Strange I thought but I reluctantly gave them the car back having never really had it back in my possession after so much time.
Before I left I asked him if I could be given the cd changer "cassette" out of the boot with my cd's in it. A few minutes later I saw a spanner monkey walking towards my car with an array of tools (thought nothing much of it) until he came up to me and asked if I wanted the whole changer unit removed! In shock I pointed out that I merely wanted the cassette!!!!!

Two days later they rang to say that it was now ready to go. Again I got in it and drove it away only to find that the scary noises and shuddering were still there. I took it straight back again only to be told that they refused to look at the mechanical damage and deal only with the cosmetics for this type of accident.
The direct line guy then told me that there couldn't possibly be any mechanical damage from me shunting the other car. I asked him if he knew any of the details of the accident to which he replied that he didn't (as if the damage on the car didn't show how the car was impacted). I pointed out that the car had taken most of the impact on the passenger side corner to which he replied "you hit them straight on didn't you" erm hello if that was the case why why my left wheel arch all mashed! Plus it was the left side that the shuddering noise and scraping was coming from.
He told me that the noises where purely a coincidence and hadn't caused by the crash. I advised that the car had had a full main dealer service six weeks previous and everything was fine (let alone the fact that had there been this noise I would have had it fixed either on warranty or by returning the car to the servicing garage).

He maintained that noise must have been there before and that I just hadn't noticed it!!!!
I told him that I considered the car to be dangerous and wasn't happy driving it and he said that my brake discs were badly worn and corroded and that the garage should have noticed and that he wouldn't let his wife drive around in a car like that.

Quite shocked by his accusations I decided to take the car back to my main dealer and advised them that my insurance company alleged that they hadn't serviced it properly and that the brakes where dangerous. Upon checking they advised that the exhaust was loose so they rebracketed if for free. They advised that it would have most likely have broken its brackets as a result of the crash.
I also asked them to check the brakes (at which point my partner was present) they found by measuring them with the correct calipers that the brake discs only had 20% wear on them and were far from needing changing.
Both my partner and myself went back to confront the direct line guy who by now I found to be quite condescending.

I told him about the exhaust to which he only wanted to comment that at least it was fixed now and I didn't have to pay for it. I pointed out that the brakes where absolutely fine and what did he base his observations on and he refused to comment. I also pointed out that the tyre still made contact with the wheel arch (That they had fitted) when on full lock. His response (this is a classic you need to be ready for this one) its because I had low profile tyres fitted on the car!!!!!!!!
In my opinion the tyres most defiantely weren't low profile and were the tyres that were on the car when I bought it 18 months previous. Hence if they had scraped with the wheel arch don't you think I would have noticed??

At this point he refused to look at the car any more even though we took him outside and easily reproduced the scraping noise of the wheel on the arch.
In order to fight it further I was informed to get an independant engineers report (at my cost) to prove that these faults and any other unseen/unheard damage was caused by the crash and not just a coincidence as he put it.

I pretty much lost the will to live by this stage and not having the money to get the report and fight it further I gave in. A couple of months later I decided to get rid of the car as it just wasn't the same any more. When its MOT was due, guess what, the passenger side front tyre was completely threadbare and illegal (all the others were fine) from where the alignment was totally out and there was damage to the wing.

All in all a pretty bad experience with the most ridiculous, condescending man I have ever had the bad fortune to deal with.

Insurance is there for when you need it. Direct line don't like dealing with claims and would rather send people out in dangerous cars then rectify the faults. However they do have a rather large book of excuses : the brakes are dangerous, the tyres are low profile, its just a coincidence etc etc
If you dont believe me go and do a search on watchdog, they only list one car insurer out of all of the companies that they could report on, guess who!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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