I'm on my third year of being insured with direct line. I went with them as they were one of the best quotes I got when I first looked at insurance and were really friendly and helpful on the phone. They did try it on a bit with my renewal quote, offering me a far worse deal than a new customer, however they did cave eventually and match a quote from LV who seem to gave some very mixed reviews.

To me the test of a good insurance company is how they manage when you have an accident. In that second year I had the pleasure of my shiny new car being trashed by someone driving out a side road and a kamakazee cyclist smashing one of my rear lights.

In the first accident the other party admitted fault. Direct line were very helpful. When I didn't choose to go with their nominated garage (the other side of the city from where I live) they arranged a inspector to come out and agree the work quickly. The other party then went quiet and they kept me up to date regarding chasing payment. It got to the stage where they had to send me a court form and explain re recovering the damage. This was all prompt and helpful. It also seemed to put the wind up the other party who promptly paid up.

I had to do the repair on the light incident myself but notify direct line as the police were called. Again they were agreeable and helpful.

The best came at renewal. I've heard a lot of stories re insurance shooting up through non fault incidents and this was reflected in the quotes I obtained. However my direct line quote went down considerably, even though the first incident involved £2000 odd of damage.

As a result of all this I will stay with direct line if at all possible!