Direct Line Having A Laugh...

LuckyBenski said:
Just for Direct Line?

I had same as OP, 550 one year for my boss with me as named driver. Called them to renew and they wanted 1100, complained and they recalculated and it went UP!

Moved elsewhere for similar to the original price, obvs.
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Yes, insurers all have their own underwriting criteria based on how much risk they want to take on. This is generally based on things like how much they've had to spend on claims in the last 12 months and claims statistics
 
I had similar with my insurance company. I like being with them because they offer a unique add-on. However this year they added almost 50% to the premium quote.

Did the 'shopping around' and found a quote ~£100 less than current premium so called them to cancel the renewal. When they asked why told them the quote from the other company and they said "Oh that's our sister company, if you'd like we'll match that now".
 
Doobedoo said:
So they should it used to wind me up having to waste my time phoning around to inevitably get it slightly cheaper than it was.
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It's a weird thing us humans get worked up about. Savings on car insurance can often be in the hundreds. To earn the same hundreds we'd need a salary of a grand a year or something extra. It's definitely time well spent doing cost saving activities versus being indifferent about it.

Edit: periodic getting cross at @Rroff for paying monthly :D
 
dLockers said:
It's a weird thing us humans get worked up about. Savings on car insurance can often be in the hundreds. To earn the same hundreds we'd need a salary of a grand a year or something extra. It's definitely time well spent doing cost saving activities versus being indifferent about it.

Edit: periodic getting cross at @Rroff for paying monthly :D
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It’s knowing the inevitable, the outcome could’ve been the same without me having to waste my time.
 
Fuzz said:
Why are you wasting time phoning around when there are internet services that do it for you?
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I often prefer speaking to a person that way you can ask questions and get real-time answers, also i do a lot of that sort of thing during work hours and I don’t work at a desk, I’m on the road the majority of the time.
 
Doobedoo said:
I often prefer speaking to a person that way you can ask questions and get real-time answers, also i do a lot of that sort of thing during work hours and I don’t work at a desk, I’m on the road the majority of the time.
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But you've got time to waste on overclockers :p :D ;)

But seriously, once you've set it up, next year you get automated "best quotes" and reminders that its due in 30 days then 7 days, etc
 
My renewal came through last week... 480 up from 420 the previous year, but the comparison sites can't beat 480 so will stay put...annoying hike really, driving 30 yrs , never made a single claim..
 
Fuzz said:
But you've got time to waste on overclockers :p :D ;)

But seriously, once you've set it up, next year you get automated "best quotes" and reminders that its due in 30 days then 7 days, etc
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Another reason is because I was with Adrian Flux for years and to my knowledge they didn’t have an online portal or appear on comparison sites.

I’d get a silly quote, ring them up to laugh at their silly quote, at which point they would ask me what’s the best quote I’ve got… My reply would be just give me your best quote and we can get this done now… sorry sir we need a best price. It was a waste of time. I’m staying with you because I know your competitive and it saves me having to faff around with no claims bonuses and what not.
 
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When you ask to cancel an auto renewal that you never wanted and tell them you can get a better price elsewhere their response is always we can't match that price but X price which is still more, "would you like to proceed in renewal?" :cry: :rolleyes:

My last house insurance said they'd not auto renew on the paperwork, and yet they still renewed despite zero contact with me. Mental.
 
dLockers said:
It's a weird thing us humans get worked up about. Savings on car insurance can often be in the hundreds. To earn the same hundreds we'd need a salary of a grand a year or something extra. It's definitely time well spent doing cost saving activities versus being indifferent about it.

Edit: periodic getting cross at @Rroff for paying monthly :D
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Same with bank switches.

You can bag 150-200 for 10 mins work. Don't understand why people don't do it more
 
413x said:
Same with bank switches.

You can bag 150-200 for 10 mins work. Don't understand why people don't do it more
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I've done this a few times now and it's usually perfectly straightforward, but the latest one with Santander proved to be a pain. Mostly thanks to Santander being useless.
 
leoncuprar said:
My renewal came through last week... 480 up from 420 the previous year, but the comparison sites can't beat 480 so will stay put...annoying hike really, driving 30 yrs , never made a single claim..
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Everything else has gone up insurance will be no exception I guess.
 
Vern1961 said:
Direct Line Customer services now shut this time on a Saturday evening so unable to give anyone a rocket immediately, but it will be happening Monday morning.
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Completely rational thing to do... Stewing over something so menial for 2 days just so you can unload on a random advisor who has had no input to your problem...

Get a grip and do what other have suggested - take the best quote for you and move on with your life.

john_smith said:
Direct Line - "We're not on comparison sites"


You've had your pants pulled down for several thousand pounds.
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Not necessarily.... Direct Line have been cheapest for me for the last 2 years. Renewal letter likely to drop this month. I'll do what I normally do and get quotes from comparison sites and then decide which one is best.
 
leoncuprar said:
My renewal came through last week... 480 up from 420 the previous year, but the comparison sites can't beat 480 so will stay put...annoying hike really, driving 30 yrs , never made a single claim..
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Phone them anyway.

My renewal from Admiral for multi-cover came through recently and I shopped around but couldn’t find a deal for 2 cars and home insurance that beat it.

Admiral called me on Friday because I don’t have auto-renewal enabled, and they started discounting the renewal without me even asking. Managed to get ~£400 off in the end.
 
As a postscript, then, not a happy ending for Direct Line.

First off they seem to have removed all telephone contact numbers from their web site so it was necessary to ferret around and try and find the inevitable 0345... number to contact them.

Three attempts made and each time dumped in a queue with goddamn awful elevator music playing. No answer after 10 minutes on each occasion so just hung up.

Finally resorted to the "chat" feature on the site. Presumably talking to a human operator I explained the situation but they would not budge on a price £30 more than I paid last year. On stating this was still not acceptable and unless they could at least match last years premium the chat was abruptly terminated. So picked one of the quotes from Go Compare, not the cheapest but even after chucking in legal protection and the hire car option, £30 cheaper than DL last year and £60 on their quote this year, the ultimate irony being the provider is Bank Of Scotland... who are the parent company of Direct Line!!
 
Vern1961 said:
As a postscript, then, not a happy ending for Direct Line.

First off they seem to have removed all telephone contact numbers from their web site so it was necessary to ferret around and try and find the inevitable 0345... number to contact them.

Three attempts made and each time dumped in a queue with goddamn awful elevator music playing. No answer after 10 minutes on each occasion so just hung up.

Finally resorted to the "chat" feature on the site. Presumably talking to a human operator I explained the situation but they would not budge on a price £30 more than I paid last year. On stating this was still not acceptable and unless they could at least match last years premium the chat was abruptly terminated. So picked one of the quotes from Go Compare, not the cheapest but even after chucking in legal protection and the hire car option, £30 cheaper than DL last year and £60 on their quote this year, the ultimate irony being the provider is Bank Of Scotland... who are the parent company of Direct Line!!
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You seem overly angry over the cost of a decent takeaway for two, the person you spoke to can't change their underwriting criteria.

Bank Of Scotland isn't the Parent Company of Direct Line either and as far as i'm aware have never been involved, RBS used to hold 400+ million shares but sold them 9 years ago.
 
Cool story, so you basically did what everyone else does every year? Apart from giving the online chatbot a right ticking off of course! You got the best price which is good I guess?
 
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