It was a marriage made in heaven - UNTIL I NEEDED THEM! (Direct Line)

Member Name: cmh4135

Product:	Direct Line
Date:	26/07/02 (1238 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good transfer of no claims bonus

Disadvantages: Just didn't deliver the goods

I had hoped that I would never have been in the position to write this opinion. I am. I believe that with things such as insurance, you cannot offer a review until you have had cause to call on the insurance and to check whether “it does what it says on the tin”. I can.

Direct Line, as their name suggests, is a direct sale company. Set up in the 1990s they set out to revolutionise the insurance world by cutting out the brokers (middlemen) and selling insurance direct to you and me, supposedly saving us time and money. Since their humble beginnings Direct Line have diversified into other areas, in each case cutting out the middleman and offering services direct to the public.

After getting married last year we decided that we had need for a second car. My husband car shares to get to work (a journey that takes 2 hours by public transport can be achieved in 35 minutes by car) and I needed a car to get to the station (as I work very irregular hours). Here we acknowledged the first problem that we would face. Although we had chosen a low insurance category car (a Renault Clio) I had never had insurance in my own name, having been a named driver on my parents’ cars or on my husband’s. I had over 10 years of claim free driving yet all insurance companies would only quote as though I had just passed my test and none would take the risk to the market. All that is, except Direct Line. They had a policy whereby a wife (although not a husband) could benefit from her husband’s no claims bonus and thus I was offered a quote based on a maximum NCB (although unlike my husband I was not allowed to protect it). As a result this made Direct Line very attractive as an insurer. They were not only the cheapest we had found at the time (after an extensive search), I would gain a NCB to boot! Just as well as things turned out.

The policy was easy to arrange over the internet (you are able to get online quotes very easily) and a dis
count for using the internet was applied (5%). This was even though we had taken the initial quote over the telephone in order to benefit from the NCB transfer.

Policy documents were sent through promptly and they even managed to arrange for the certificate to be sent straight to the garage that were supplying the car to enable the garage to get the road fund licence.

Where an insurance company really comes into its own though is when you make a claim. How will they handle it?

And so it came to pass that after 10 years of claim free driving I would have cause to call on the insurance. Fortunately, I did not have an accident. Having spent a rather pleasant Friday night at a restaurant with friends I came back to collect my car from the station car park. The car park that I use is visible from the train line on the approach to the station and, out of habit, I look to see where the car is. Funny. It’s not where I left it…mmm…what idiot has abandoned a car like that…I thought of a car parked diagonally half way down the car park.

Assuming that I had just missed seeing my car in the dimly lit car park, but nevertheless feeling a bit unnerved, I took my husband up on his offer to collect his car first from another car park (he had only come out in the evening) and drive me to my car. Well, I’m glad he did. That diagonal car was mine! Some obliging person had moved it ever so nicely down the car park so that I did not have to walk so far. Only problem was, they had done so sideways! Boy, was the car a mess! Both doors were buckled beyond belief (the rear door had about a foot gap between it and the body of the car), the front and rear wings were damaged and there was significant internal damage. Now the fun begins.

The policeman’s daughter in me kicked in at this stage. Touch nothing. Contact the police. So, off down the road to the local police station (it was hardly an emergency at this sta
ge) only to be told that we didn’t need the local police as it was Railtrack land. We needed the British Transport Police. OK. So we report the crime to BTP who are singularly uninterested, tell us to move the car and they will be in touch. This time my solicitor side kicks in. If the police are not going to collect evidence I will.

We go back to the car park with a camera and tape measure recording all details. We then go to the station to ensure that the CCTV footage of the car park is kept. We inform Direct Line of the situation and ask their advice, but, being out of hours (it is about midnight) they say that they can only record the incident and someone will be in contact in about 48 hours! Finally, exhausted and just a little cheesed off, we drive the car home, very slowly as we cannot ascertain the extent of the unseen damage and Direct Line refused to send a recovery vehicle out as the car was not on a road.

Wanting to sort things out as swiftly as possible I called Direct Line again in the morning. Just as well I did. They had no record of my conversation the previous night and I had to go through the whole thing again. I asked about repairs and again was told that someone would be in touch. Two days pass.

I chase again and am told that Direct Line will arrange for my car to be picked up and taken to an assessment centre where they will decide whether to repair it. If it can be repaired the accident centre will do it. At this stage we have had a chance to look at the car in more detail and it is clear that there is some structural damage. The hatch at the back, although not visibly damaged will not open, a sure sign that the car is out of alignment. The passenger seat is almost on top of the handbrake and there is a large crease in the footwell of the front and rear passenger seats. I explain the situation to the recorder and state that I do not want the car repaired in its current state. It is only 6 months old and with les
s than 2000 miles on the clock. We do not know what happened exactly and I was not prepared to take the risk that there was unseen damage that had weakened the car. To Direct Line’s credit, this was noted down. I also questioned them as to the compatibility of the repair centre with the warranty on the car. I was not going to let them throw away my warranty cover due to a non-authorised repairer carrying out repairs on the car. I was assured that it would all be OK. The car was collected the next day.

On reading the policy document I realised that I did have a choice as to where the car would be repaired but not once had this been made clear to me during our conversations. Further investigation made it apparent that I would have invalidated my warranty had the car been repaired at a non-authorised repair station. However, Direct Line had my car and all I could do was to wait and hope.

Eventually the assessor came back to me and said that he thought the car could be repaired. I was devastated. I explained the whole situation and said that I would be very unhappy driving the car after this. The assessor said that he had a few further checks to go through, offered me some words of comfort along the lines of “we won’t repair unless it is perfectly safe” and left me to sweat for a few more days (enter Auto Trader stage left… I do not want this car!).

Eureaka! I took a call from the assessor saying that they were able to write the car off! As the car was under a year old I was entitled to a brand new replacement and this time I had read the policy documents thoroughly so when I was asked how much I wanted for the car I was ready with my reply. “I don’t want the money, I want it replaced”. A little taken aback, the assessor then stated that someone from Direct Line would be in touch.

Another two days go past and I am getting a little fed up. I call Direct Line and get put through to a very
helpful team who start arranging a replacement car for me. This is to be done through the Car Replacement Service, a part of JamJar.com.

From here on in things go smoothly. I let them know what colour and trim I want (identical to the car I have just had trashed) and they give me an estimated delivery date. They keep me appraised throughout and two months on from the accident I have a brand new car, delivered on a covered trailer to my door on a Sunday morning.

One of the main things I look for on car insurance is the availability of a courtesy car. You have seen the Direct Line adverts. “Oh, I’ve been hit by a Direct Line Driver – doesn’t matter, they will repair both cars and give me a courtesy car in the meantime” – or word to that effect. NOT SO. When I took out the policy I was told that courtesy cars were offered. No mention of any restrictions were made.

I enquired about a courtesy car as I am quite reliant on a vehicle. “Sorry madam, you can’t have one as you cannot identify the driver of the other vehicle!” Direct Line will only supply a courtesy car where they can claim the cost back from another party. In this case, as I was not present, I could not have a courtesy car. The same would have applied had my car been stolen. To my mind this was deplorable. I was in a situation that was not of my making, I could prove, through the use of CCTV footage that I was not present at the time. Unfortunately, however, the quality of the CCTV footage was only good enough to identify the make of car (and give us a very good picture of the driver) but not to pick up the registration plate.

I incurred significant cost during this period with taxi fares (no local bus route) and considerable inconvenience. I also lost two years NCB and my excess. Despite giving Direct Line all the relevant info, despite our chasing the police and despite our having paid extra for legal cover, Direct Lin
e did absolutely nothing to help us track down the culprit. Our call to the legal advice line was a joke. “If you can’t identify the car madam, we can’t help.” What about the Motor Insurer’s Bureau, I enquired. “That’s something you would have to do” was the response.

Here is what the website says legal protection covers (amongst other things:

"By taking this option we'll help you if you have an accident that's not your fault by working on your behalf to recover things not covered by your policy, e.g. excess, personal injury and loss of earnings."

That’s the last time I pay for additional cover with Direct Line.

Searches of insurance policies after the event have been revealing. ESure will not deduct an excess or cause you to lose your NCB if you are hit in a car park. Tesco’s is now offering much cheaper insurance.

Would I go with Direct Line motor insurance again? Not on your life.

To sum up:

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THE GOOD
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Ability to use your husband’s No Claims Bonus

Fairly competitive on price

Flexibility on whether to write a vehicle off and then how to proceed

Very good car replacement service

@~@~@
THE BAD
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Inability to communicate to each other

No courtesy car if it is clearly not your fault but you can’t identify the culprit

Legal Advice line that is about as much use as a washing line at giving advice

Failure to offer the most basic of assistance

Misleading information about repairs and their effect on warranties

Loss of NCB in situations where other insurers would let you off

Slow to communicate with the customer

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~
THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

The thirty-something b@st@rd who bashed into my car with his white Y reg Ford Focus that Friday
night.

You owe me mate!




Contact details - should you be so brave:

http://uk.directline.com/motor/welcome.htm

or call 0845 246 8701 Lines open: 8am-8pm Monday to Friday and 9am-5pm on Saturday.



Happy motoring

Claire

Summary: