Car insurance - Co-operative or Directline?

Wammer

We have had both cars insured with the Co-operative for the past year and they are both coming up for renewal soon.

A decent company is more important to me than price and I changed from Aviva to the Co-operative last year.

I was going to switch the DL this year if the renewal was a lot higher than last year. However both are only £20 more this year than last so I am tempted to stay with the Co-op. That is even with OH having a non-fault accident.

However, I understand that the Co-op uses Albany Assistance in the event of a claim and this is now putting me off. I have checked with DL and they handle claims in-house.

I would appreciate any opinions or advice to help me decided which company to go with. Are Albany that bad that they should be avoided at all costs?

mikey72

Insurance companies are using claim management companies across the board now. They get a healthy commission from them for passing on customer details, it's just another source of revenue. There's no guarantee direct line won't shortly, pay your money and take your choice really.

adamc260

Direct Line deal with all repairs in house but farm you off to Drive Assist (Shocking company) or Enterprise for Credit Hire in a non fault accident.

Albany Assistance are poor at best mind.

Wammer

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I will have to call DL again and ask specifically about the courtesy/hire car.

OH was involved in a non-fault accident last year. The other party was insured with DL and it was all handled with very little hassle. Had the courtesy/hire car for over 3 weeks as the accident repairer was a bit of a pain always waiting for parts, but that's not DL's fault.

From what little I've read on here, Drive Assist sound worse than Albany Assistance. Does that sounds about right?