# WTF is wrong with Direct Line



## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

Ok well ive decided i cant live with the new corsa SRI i bought in july to replace my merv vxr so had settled on a Civic type R 58plate low miles deal was okay.
So i ring up up for an adjustment quote,okay sir no problem.

That will be an additional £83 a month .

Now i appreciate the insurance group rise before anyone says that but what i dont appreciate is the fact ive been with them for 5 years and that equates to a premium of £1756 a year.

I can cancel this policy and get another new one for £1100 elsewhere so thats looking likely but i will lose 5 months towards my 5th year of no claims

Anyway whatever happened to loyalty to the customer, a long gone practice it would seem.

Rant over,sorry but im mad:lol:


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## Scrim-1- (Oct 8, 2008)

Wrong section, why not just stick with the corsa till the end of the year to get another no claim then move company's.


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## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

Scrim-1- said:


> Wrong section, why not just stick with the corsa till the end of the year to get another no claim then move company's.


yeh sorry,mods can you pop this into the insurance section please.

Thats not an option Scrim .i HATE the corsa mate:lol:


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## GraemeM (Aug 18, 2011)

Insurance company's don't care about loyalty anymore

Don't some company's give you a years no claims after only a a few months?might be worth checking it out


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

R0B said:


> I can cancel this policy and get another new one for £1100 elsewhere


Did you tell them this? I've given insurance companies details of other quotes before and they've then altered the price.


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## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

DMH-01 said:


> Did you tell them this? I've given insurance companies details of other quotes before and they've then altered the price.


yes mate,not fussed by it at all


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## DanielJames (Jul 6, 2010)

Scrim-1- said:


> Wrong section, why not just stick with the corsa till the end of the year to get another no claim then move company's.


Have you ever driven a Corsa lol they are dire


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## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

Danny S said:


> Have you ever driven a Corsa lol they are dire


amen to that:lol:


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

How old are you? Where do you live? Why did you buy the corsa if you don't like it so much?


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## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

bigmc said:


> How old are you? Where do you live? Why did you buy the corsa if you don't like it so much?


37

Central Manchester

Seemed a sensible choice after years of modified hot hatches.......it wasnt


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

Manc postcode aint helping probably, especially with high risk car like a hot hatch?


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## leachy (Sep 20, 2011)

That's appalling. When I was due to renew in June my insurer, Kwik Fit, sent me a quote for the second year that was TWICE my previous premium. When I got a quote that was the half that and rang to decline their 'generous' offer they said they'd re-quote and only made a token gesture reduction. 

Insurance in this country is becoming an absolute joke, it's becoming un-affordable and almost worthless to have as the financial penalty for actually claiming is too great. It's no wonder that there are so many un-insured drivers on the road and I can only see it getting worse and that's bad news for everyone!


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## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

bigmc said:


> Manc postcode aint helping probably, especially with high risk car like a hot hatch?


Yeh thats true Big.Gone up a lot though lately as we all know

My merv was stage 2 ,230+bhp all mods declared and 840 so its really gone up in 5 months


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## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

my insurance is due next week and i have a 04 corsa sri and im 21. iv been with chirchill for 4 years now and they want £1142 renewal where as iv had a quote off admiral for £584

i know who im goin with


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

R0B said:


> Yeh thats true Big.Gone up a lot though lately as we all know
> 
> My merv was stage 2 ,230+bhp all mods declared and 840 so its really gone up in 5 months


Mine is due in march, I did a comparison quote this weekend and it's gone from £600 to £1000.


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## NorthernNick (Mar 23, 2011)

GraemeM said:


> Insurance company's don't care about loyalty anymore
> 
> *Don't some company's give you a years no claims after only a a few months?might be worth checking it out*


this.
If you check out Endsleigh, they do the 'accelerator' (good name for young drivers insurance eh, promoting safe driving..lol!).
They insured me for about £100 over the lowest on comparison sites..but means i get 1 years NCB for 6 months with them. When i came to renew, they quoted me well and threw in young drivers cover- meaning if i had to claim i wouldnt get the lovely 'young drivers' charge most companys do!

Gonna ring around for cover next renewal and tell them to beat the lowest, if they do - no qualms about going back to them.

My dad was insured with Saga for his bmw at £900+ (bad area lol) and Engsleigh quoted him £500 for the exact same cover..:thumb:


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## ivor (Sep 24, 2008)

lol Direct scam I recently had an accident and told them i had new stainless exhaust recently fitted due to the old one falling apart wanting one that lasted so they kindly charged me £215 for this mod the whole policy brand new was £230 as for doing deals not a chance of that they like to say they are independent and have standards lol


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

First off this is a "mid term" adjustment so there are a few considerations you should make before deciding on cancelling the policy.

Put the bonus accelerator scheme out of the equation, this is for new drivers to earn the equivalent of 1 years NCB after 6 months and not designed for people already earning NCB. Often these are only a "tie in" with a non transferable NCB anyway meaning the insurer gets to keep you for 18mnths.

First off you need to find out the "short period" cancellation scale from Direct Line. This is the rate charged if the policyholder decides to cancel the insurance contract before the 12 months are out. To give you an idea, the norm is usually around 30% charge for 1 months cover, 40% for 2, 50% for 3 etc. So if you have had 5 months cover already, you could be looking at a 70% time on risk charge.

To put this into a simple equation, if your premium was £1200 (ignoring instalment charges), you would be paying £100 per month over 12 months. If you cancel after 5 months, you would have paid £500 toward the annual premium. You will therefore owe a balance of £700.

The time on risk charge will be 70% of £1200 which is £840 meaning you will get a refund of £360 to put towards your outstanding balance of £700. So you will owe Direct Line £340 (plus any other charges as detailed in their TOBA). This will be payable in a lump sum.

Next you need to look at the difference between the best price of a policy on 4 years NCB (starting a new policy) and on 5 years NCB (staying with Direct Line and then replacing it come renewal). But for the 5 years NCB quote, you need to account for your age at renewal, so if you if you have a birthday in the next 7 months, the 5 years NCB quote will be on a year older. You will obviously need to base the 5 years NCB quote on the current rates and be prepared for an rate changes between now and the 7 months away, but it will give you an idea of how much the extra years NCB is worth to you.

If you are due a birthday in the next 7 months, again you need to take into account the fact that if you cancel and buy a new annual policy now, you will be paying the full 12 months based on your current age.

When you have all these costs to hand, you can then make an informed decision if financially it will be better to bite the bullet and stay with Direct Line to renewal gaining 5 years NCB in months time, or cancel now and take a hit on the cancellation charge an wait an extra 5 months to reach 5 years NCB.

I know that the horse has bolted, lesson learned etc, but i would always recommend to someone that they check the score with their current insurers before buying a car, or carrying out a modification etc so there are no nasty surprises.


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## hoikey (Mar 9, 2011)

I bought a swift sport 10 months into a policy and the insurer couldn't insure me on it so cancelled the policy. Lost 10 ******* months no claims


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## PugIain (Jun 28, 2006)

R0B said:


> £1756 a year.


Holy crap and I thought the £380 a year Im paying at my age on my 407 was robbery.


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## alan_mcc (Oct 28, 2008)

I pay more than £1756 on a 15 year old rusty fiat with a fire breathing 1.1 engine..

count yourself lucky :lol:


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

Being 37 Rob, you would expect the car insurance to drop down, its rather shocking the car insurances have gone up the roof this year, everything is going up in price.


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## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Got 3 point sp30 first in 12 years and been Direct line 10 years no claims and when was due to renew wanted to charge me £350 more for my SP30 just about burst out laughing now with esure they could not have cared less i was leaving no loyalty is bang on


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## tmitch45 (Jul 29, 2006)

Unfortunately its the same with any service these days they are always looking to attract the next customer rather than keeping existing customers.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

I'm going to stick up for Direct Line a bit here in the case of the op's situation. This isn't a new business quote or a renewal invitation, it is a mid term adjustment.

Now the op took out an annual contract with Direct Line as they were the most competitive on the car etc he had. The op has now changed the terms of the contract by changing his car and Direct Line have revised the price. The fact they are no longer competitive is not Direct Lines fault, they can't be the best price on every car. I wouldn't expect them to price match mid term, it is unreasonable. 

Whilst I agree the "direct" insurance market seems to be a case of buy in customers (a cheap marketing book) and forget them at renewal, you can't apply this philosophy mid term when all they have done is rerated a risk as a result of a change made by the policyholder.


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