Directline is a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland and revolutionised car insurance by doing it all by phone and post – thereby cutting costs and keeping premiums down. They also do household insurance, and if you take out both motor and house insurance policies with them – they will give you a discount! (music to my ears).

Contacting them is pretty simple. You keep one of their little blue cards in your purse/wallet giving numbers of their regional centres for motor and household insurance. They are open 7 days a week and you can ring them until about 8pm or so in the evening. The great thing is not having to remember your insurance policy numbers – they just take your postcode and house number – and up come your details on their systems.

The other finger they have in a pie is vehicle recovery. Directline now own Greenflag – and of course they give you a great service for much less than the AA or RAC. I have written an opinion on Greenflag (I would heartily recommend it – but I would – wouldn’t I).

Anyway, back to the plot. My Wife and I have been fortunate enough not to have been involved in any vehicle accidents for over 6 years. Then last week, some prune reversed their car out of their driveway in the wing of our car – causing a big dent !

Having been told, my first reaction was to call Directline for a claim form. My second reaction was the inconvenience of getting various quotes from local garages and the wait for a garage to book my car in for the repairs. Pah – Directline don’t bother with all that bureaucracy! My Wife gave details of the incident over the phone (it took about 20 minutes). No forms, no diagrams – zilch.

The next day; a local repair centre telephoned us to arrange a time when we could take our car to have its damage assessed. Rather than dealing with 2 or 3 garages, Directline (like many other insurers) have established
a network of garages that handles all their repairs. I confirmed a time for the visit, took my car along, had the damage assessed and booked it in for repair. My little red Corsa (again there is a gem of an opinion on it – please read it – I have a family and mortgage to feed!) is in for repair next Saturday.

Then there is the loan car. I mentioned to Directline I wanted a replacement loan car. Although they said they did not normally arrange these – we received a phone call on Saturday from a company instructed by Directline to sort something out. There will be no cost (providing it’s not our fault) – so I do not have to shell out lots of dosh up front.

And there you have it. Crash occurred last Thursday. It’s now Monday and paperwork has been completed, damaged has been assessed, car is booked in for repair and loan car is being sorted as I write. I call that fast.

** Interlude ** I’ve also tried out DirectLine’s household insurance claim system. Last year, our portable TV came away from its wall mounting and crashed to the floor. The TV was deceased – like the proverbial parrot. I took it back to the shop from where it was purchased and had to pay for it to be checked out. This confirmed that it was US. Directline asked for written confirmation that the TV was beyond repair and the replacement cost. This I provided and along with a cheque for a new TV, they refunded all my other costs. All in all it took quite a long time to get it all sorted – but there were no problems or quibbles about replacing the TV.

So on the car insurance front, I’ve been mightily impressed. The whole process has been streamlined and it’s so much quicker from the time of accident to getting the repair made. Having a damaged car can be stressful and/or inconvenient and in the past – I’ve had to wait weeks to get it into the garage for repair. Directline have realised thi
s and have tried to reduced the hassle with these new procedures.

I’ll update this opinion as and when I have more news.