Hi All
Direct Line, have just sent through my renewal for the Vectra, and have more than doubled the premium!!
The car does less than 10,000 a year, 7 Years No Claims, No Convictions, although Its classed as parked on the street, it actually is behind the house away from everyone else – They want £770 full comp.
When I asked the guy on the phone why it was so much the only response was “well you can speak to our retentions if you want”
I asked I should not need to as If you wanted my business surely you should be lowering it, “dunno” came the reply.
So had a bit of look around on various comparison sites, just get a idea but 1st I used Direct Lines site pretending to be a new customer and it only came up £40 cheaper than what their renewal quote was.
The best I could get was about £460 and that’s still expensive but not too bad, so it looks like ill be switching my view is if they want to keep me then they should have lowered it in the 1st place. But I’m aware that they hope you don’t switch so they can make the money this way.
What really gets my goat that probably the reason its so high is that I am properly funding the non insured out there.
I don’t want to copy Rattles previous thread on the same subject, but sorry Direct Line you are going to have to do better than that.
And also apologies I don’t want to appear that im ranting or waffling on - it just seems sometimes so unfair.
What you guys think?
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I think Directline are going through the lets loose a lot of customers, put our prices up a lot, but there will be a heck of a lot less claims to buy out on!.
This time last year me and my dad were both with Directline now. We have both switched.
I am really worried if I have an accident or Admiral decide to increase their prices I could easily be left paying over £400 a month for a car that I do 4-5k a year in.
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I agree, I cant belive for a existing customer they ramp up the prices so much.
Like you and your parents I too will be switching I think.
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Think it must also depend where you are - we just had the renewal through from DL for the Panda and at £256 it was £2 cheaper than last year (parked on driveway, semi-rural part of West Sussex), so we stayed put.
I got a few quotes from various other companies - one of them came in at over £400 and none got within £30 of DL's quote for the same cover spec.
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When I moved to my current residence (2 years ago, last year I didnt get chance to shop around and I stupidly stayed with them but it didnt go up that much last year) out of my house the car is parked round the back of the main road - instead of on the front on the road where it was before.
I moved to the other side of town - and I told DL this and they stung me for a extra £80 + £25 admin fee saying (that ive moved to a higher risk area) I should not have said anything becasue I had only 2 months of my premuim left but i was just trying to be honest
Last edited by: Redviper on Fri 19 Nov 10 at 12:09
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There seems to be a wide variation in premiums given that insurance risks are calculated by actuaries.
Maybe targets come into play, so you get a better quote if you happen to apply when a target is about to be met.
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The AA make me laugh as a customer i get a huge discount like £250 above those go compare prices!!
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Check the small print.
I got an insurance company to confirm in writing it wouldn't automatically renew after specifying this condition, but noticing the opposite in the sent documents.
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>> but 1st I used Direct Lines site pretending to be a new customer and it
>> only came up £40 cheaper than what their renewal quote was.
That's because of the on-line discount. One year when I quibbled it with them, they allowed me the discounted price.
This year though I jumped ship and insured through Tesco instead and saved £133.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=1319&m=25341&v=e
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I could be wrong, but just how many insurance companies charge a cheap rate to get the customer for the first year then come renewal time the price shoots right up to the 'normal' amount.
I still cant see how a driver of x years who never makes a claim costs the insurance company hence the insurance cover will go up every year.
For me, the only time my insurance has gone down is when I have either changed insurer or changed car.
Every other time the insurance renewal comes through and I think I am not being ripped off, I then jump ship.
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Privilege which I understand to be very related to Direct Line LOWERED my premium this year. Not by much, just £25 a year, but the Espero is down to £414 now which isnt bad for a 30 y/o in a 2.0 saloon with a crunch two years ago.
I did GoCompare and nobody could get within £100 of Privilege so for a 5th year running, Im sticking with them.
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Well I have sorted out my Insurance and gone with Hastings
Direct Line would not match my new price saying "we do not price match" but offered to "adjust" my details to try and get the price down - they didn’t succeed.
£530 Per year this is for me and my partner who has penalty points for speeding. my car is parked in a "higher Risk" (according to Direct Line last year) area so I don’t think its to bad.
The lady on the phone sure enough was helpful as much as she can be, but I said that to increase my premium and expect me to pay over £70 a month was outrageous.
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Snap. I have also moved from DL to Hastings. Funnily enough I moved the opposite way 2 years ago.
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>> Snap. I have also moved from DL to Hastings. Funnily enough I moved the opposite
>> way 2 years ago.
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Got out while you could then.
Some parts of DL postcode are excellent - Richmond (DL10) for example.
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Privilege are part of RBS Group along with Direct Line, Churchill, Green Flad etc,
Don't forget that - following the bail out of RBS - all these companies are effectively nationalised.
I find the only way to keep costs down is to switch every year - if you want a good deal on ANY financial product, bank account, savings account, phone etc.
Incidently we were with Privilege for 1 year and the renewal jumped from around £200 to over £500 when I (named driver on the policy in my wife's name)
declared a second speeding conviction - over 4 years between them. There doesn't seem to be any logic in the spread of prices quoted. Another example my son - 20 yrs old 2 yr NCD - was quoted higher premiums for TPF &T than for fully comp when using the comparison sites!
We switched to Endsleigh at about £180 (Group 5 car full NCD) - this is quite cheap but we're both 50+ and the area - Gloucestershire- is low rated.
J
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Direct Line were very competitive with a quotation for my Merc (380 Euros fully comp). However when I waved the quotation in front of my present insurance company they matched it so I didn't change.
My wife was insured with Direct Line when she pranged her Ford Ka in our underground car park causing massive panel damage. Have to say the service we got was exemplary. The car went to the local Ford dealership here round the corner, without question. All paperwork (complicated in Germany) was sorted out by them and we just got the car back, good as new with a follow up phone call to make sure everything was in order. Cost 2 years NCB and my wife still can't park.
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I agree they are probably good but I just cant justify such a hike in the premium i just think its unfair
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Insurance Costs! – You are having a laugh - RattleandSmoke
