Car Insurance - Without Drive Assist!

Sunday_Morning · 8 January 2008 at 8:25PM

Jue_xx wrote: »

Incidentally, Sunday Morning, did you manage to find an insurance company that doesn't use Drive Assist, as my insurance is up for renewal this month and I don't want to risk having to use DA again either!

I'm with Budget at the moment, who definately DOES use Drive Assist, and apparently Marks and Spencers insurance do too, because a friend of mine uses them and has also been through the now familiar DA story, so that's two to cross off the list.

Does anyone use an insurance company that doesn't use Drive Assist?

Sorry to be so long in coming back.

I recently received my renewal quote from Zurich UK and so went looking to see where I could get a better quote. The first place I tried was Direct Line which I thought would give me a good indication of what was out there.

Now I'm not sure that Direct Line don't use Drive Assist themselves, but that was something to inquire about if I got a quote which was near the Zurich one. You see, I was determined to pay even a little bit more for my insurance if it meant I would not have dealings with Drive Assist again.

However... lining up the quote on Direct Line's website to match the details of my renewal....DL's quote came up over 60% dearer!!! Over £800 as against just under £500!!

Now I regard myself as a man of principles...but I also regard a wise man as being one that does not bound himself by his principles! So, assuming Direct Line's quote would represent a competitive one among any other company I tried, I have decided, despite all my ranting and raving about this issue, to swallow my pride, eat the whole humble pie and declare that I will after all stick with Zurich UK. :rolleyes:

Only next time...should I need another courtesy car for whatever reason, I shall make sure that I capture the processes of collecting the car and returning it on video

Sunday_Morning · 15 January 2008 at 7:16PM

Just backtracking on my last response. I thought Direct Line would be representative of other quotes, but it turns out to be nigh on double a lot of them.

I went into moneysupermarket and found cheaper quotes than the one i had. What surprised me was that a quote never came up from Zurich, my own company, because of the number of convictions involved.

I checked the renewal notice only to find they had neither me nor my wife down for any previous convictions, despite the fact that I am absolutely sure they had the information before!

Lesson one....check the renewal notice thoroughly! When I informed them of the convictions we both had (two SP30's each) it cost me another £10 for the remaining two weeks of this year's cover and an additional £56 on my quote!

Lesson Two... inform the insurance company of any SP30s when they are received not when renewal is up!

Above all...Lesson three....trust Martin, he's knows what he's saying. Now I find that there are some companies out there who will offer me insurance on similar terms at upto £200 cheaper.

Not made my mind up yet, but certainly looks like I won't be staying with Zurich....and so will, potentially, be getting away from Drive Assist!

Funny thing is...were it not for Drive Assist and my experience with them, I probably would have not bothered looking around for other quotes and stuck with Zurich!

zokes · 15 May 2008 at 1:06PM

I have just dealt with Drive Assist, and just had the car picked up. I've just received an e-mail from them detailing that fuel was almost empty (actually 1/2 way between empty and 1/4, as per delivery, but initial report says 1/4 full), and that the inside and outside are dirty. I cleaned the inside myself, and considered it to be more than satisfactory. The outside was no dirtier (bar the odd seagull dropping that had happened since I cleaned the inside, and since i'd arranged for collection). I'm guessing at the very least they're going to try to sting me for fuel at a ridiculous rate, and probably cleaning too.

Is it likely to be a long and fruitless fight, or should I just put up and shut up?

jennik · 23 May 2008 at 2:29PM

2 weeks ago i had my car written off whilst it was parked outside my house. Drive assist provided me with a vehicle until the insurance companies sorted out compensating me. when drive assist delivered the vehicle i was shown on a hand held pda all the damage that was on the vehicle - this happened very hastily and the drivers words were:

'it's peppered with marks, scratches and chips, dont worry it's all on here and will be on the paperwork that comes through to you, sorry i've not had chance to wash the car but the carwash at the garage was broken'. i signed for the car. i used the car to travel 8 miles a day (to and from work) for 6 days.

on wednesday (21st may) i requested that drive assist collect the vehicle. the 2 drivers spent nearly 40minutes going over the car finding damage that had not previously been recorded. they noted that the damage will cost £658 but that i'll only be liable for £250 - the excess that i wasn't told about. i have certainly not caused any additional damage

i spent the afternoon in tears - on teh roadside with the drivers collecting the vehicle and most of teh evening - i am now beginning to realise that this seems to be their way of operating and a way of generating revenue.

does anyone have any advice as to how to approach this issue?

for info: the use of drive assist by insurance companies and brokers will be a criteria that i use in future when obtaining insurance as i want no future dealings with this company.

stevie19uk · 14 June 2008 at 3:53PM

Hi guys i am very interested with all your posts, some being quite a while ago.
Firstly drive assist do not get a kick out of taking money from you.
We would like to give you the best service as possible so if in an accident a second time, you would be happy to deal with us, and us happy to recover costs back from third party insurance companies.

We attepmt to arrange a vehicle out for you and recover the costs back, and this is what we do.

poormansfoot · 16 June 2008 at 10:27AM

Please to have found this thread.

Been in a no fault shunt. Drive Assist very keen to provide me with a car (unlikely)

More intriguingly, The repair company (ACM ULR) want me to sign a Credit repair agreement to get the car fixed - which states that if after 50 weeks they are unsuccessful in recovering the monies from the third party then I have to pay for the costs (plus the cost of credit) which seems very strange

Anyone come across this before?

Higsta · 12 July 2008 at 6:37PM

I currently have a car from drive assist and was just thinking to myself it all sounded a bit dodgy that they wanted a credit card from me and that they wanted me to take out insurance of £4 a day whilst i had the vehicle incase of any damage and also a one off insurance of £25 to cover the cost of hire of the vehicle incase they couldnt recover it from the 3rd party that had admited liability. I thought what a scam trying to get more money out of me and declined.

I was wondering would i be within my rights to get the people who come to collect the drive assist car to sign some sort of acknowledgement that they are collecting the car in the same condition that it was delivered.

It concerns me that they will collect the car and then they have to drive it 70miles to Newport in South Wales back to their base and any damage it incurs on that journey will probably be credited to me.

I was alos thinking along the lines of getting the camcorder out when they come and following them round on the inspection and asking is everything ok beofre i sign their PDA.

Any ideas or advice

angelvsdevil · 23 August 2008 at 9:31PM

I have just returned a car to Drive Assist following hiring of their car after a non-fault accident.
When I hired the car they also requested daily fee to protect me against any damage to the car. Thinking i'd better be safe than sorry I decided to pay these fees and they took my credit card details for weekly payments to be deducted.
I contacted drive assist to collect their car, the car was cleaned inside and out and was immaculate.
On collection their driver confirmed there was no additional damage and I requested the driver sign to this effect but he refused under company policy!!! Then he was unable to get his PDA to connect, and due to this and that I couldn't see what I was signing I refused to sign his machine.
Today I get a letter from them stating there was additional damage to the vehicle and the interior was dirty and also any additional damage I will get charged for.
My point is - what did I pay the damage waiver for? what is the situation as I did not sign their machine? how can they get away with telling complete lies about the damage and how unclean the car was?

mikos_2 · 4 September 2008 at 7:52PM

Hi, thought I would document our experience. My wife was run into by a van. We rang our insurance company, Nationwide, who referred us to Grehound Ford, Accrington for repair and we were told we would have a courtesy car. The garage rang and said they would pick up the car and that a company would ring to arrange the courtesy car. Drive Assist rang, wanted a £250 excess and would charge us £4 per day if we wanted to avoid this. Also said that if other party did not admit liability we would be responsible for all hire charges. Something did not seem right so I rang Nationwide who said, no, I should be getting a garage courtesy car. They rang the garage for me and then the garage rang to offer a courtesy car! Obviously Greyhound Ford referred our details to Drive Assist, getting a bit of commission. I was told by the garage that by having the courtesy car I could not be guaranteed a car similar to mine (ford focus). I said I would rather have that than all these extra costs! Interestingly the garage never gave me the option of the courtesy car until my insurance company rang them.

Anyone else had similar experiences?

Reeny27 · 12 September 2008 at 12:31PM

Hi, I've just joined as I usually lurk but don't post but wanted to share my ongoing saga with Drive Assist and see if anyone can give me any advice.

I was involved in a car accident which wasn't my fault and so was offered a hire car via my insurance company Halifax who forwarded my details onto Drive Assist. I arranged through Drive Assist to have a hire car and, like the others, was given the option of the £4 a day insurance to cover for any damage but decided to decline. I was told I would have to give my bank details to secure the hire car which I thought was a little strange but having not had a hire car before thought it was the norm. I was also told there would be a £250 max fee for any damage to the car.

The car was dropped off as normal and I had the car for about a week in total and made sure I looked after it with my life and even put £10 of petrol in the day before it was collected even though the guy had said to put a fiver in. The same guy came to collect the car and asked me how it had been and a bit of idle chit chat. He spent around 10-15 mins checking the car inside and out, I said to the guy "is it all alright then?" and he said "yeah everything is fine, just sign this" and so I signed the handheld device and off he went. I felt happy that everything was over and done with and I could get back to my own car.

Imagine to my horror when two days letter I recieved an invoice to the amount of £205 for damages to the hire car with 'payment recieved with thanks' at the bottom and my signature from when I signed the car over so it looks as though I have agreed to the fact that I damaged the car when all I did was sign to release the car or so I thought. It also stated that the car was dirty inside and out and that the petrol tank was empty which I know isn't true as I'd put £10 in the day before. It took me a few moments to realise that this had actually come out of my own account already. The invoice stated that there were two new bits of damage which had been added to a long list of damage already on the front of the car prior to me having it. I was in total shock as I know for a fact I had not damaged the car and plus the driver who picked the car up checked the car over and said it was fine so how can they say I damaged the car? Surely he should have pointed out any damage whilst he was with me? How am I to know if there is any damage at all? They've provided no proof whatsoever that there is in fact any new damage.

I got straight onto Drive Assist who said I would have to put everything in writing in order for them to deal with the matter. I put it all down in writing and sent it off to which they acknowledged and said they had 28 days to respond. Fast forward 28 days and I didn't hear anything from them so again got in touch with them to say I was still awaiting a response. They then replied saying the matter was taking longer than originally thought and they would be in touch again soon. That was around two weeks ago and I've still heard nothing and when I try to ring them they say the dispute team don't speak to people on the phone only in writing! I've written to them again saying I'm still waiting and over a week has passed and still nothing.

Can anyone suggest what action to take next? I just really want all this sorting out and to hear from them either way so I know whether or not to take the matter further.

Thanks for listening.

Car Insurance - Without Drive Assist!

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