First Direct Car Insurance 10% guarantee

sterlingfriend

Tried a First Direct quotation. My renewal was only 199.30 so I didn't expect a full 10%, but their offer was only 1% better. Not worth sending all the renewal details to them for that!

kampkoala

Direct Line have always given me the best price but refused to match First Line's offer.

Direct Line £269
First Direct £243

I don't imagine that First Direct will manage to be competitive when the policy comes up for renewal next year, but I'll take the saving this time round.

usaf786

I called them up armed with the knowledge that they could beat my renewal by 10%. After giving all my details, I was finally told that they would not insure me because I was too young for the car I drive.

I own a BMW 330ci and I am 27 years old. I have 7 years NCD and a clean driving record. Also owned my car for over 3 years. Go figure!

delboy30

Thought i would give FIRSTDIRECT a go for my car insurance renewal. Wish i hadnt bothered!

After completing the form, it came up with a quote that was 30 quid cheaper so naturally i was over the moon. However, once it asked me to check the "assumptions", i noticed that this was based on 9 years no claims so i changed it to my 4 years no claims and it came back with a response of, sorry we cant quote you!!

This is the kind of response an 18 year old gets trying to insure a subaru impreza, not a 36 year old with a basic rover! Absolutely laughable! :rotfl:

p1nkk1tten

I tried as I work for them, and seeing as the latest tips say a young woman driver should shop around now... everything went fine (over the phone) and theyasked about medical conditions. Explained I am blind in my right eye but DVLA are aware and have never imposed any restrictions. She put me on hold to speak to the underwritters and came back saying they couldn't quote because of my postcode... random seeing as that postcode was given right at the beginning of the call and nothing was mentioned then... and she wouldn't of even needed to refer to underwritters if it weren't for my medical condition... pfft... they could of been honest and said it was because I was blind in my right eye but hey ho!

penninepullman

Filled in details as requested on initial page. This gave a quote with 10% reduction; but when amended (i.e. include business use and additional drivers), as on current insurance the 'system could not provide a quote. Did not proceed

dacouch

Bear in mind the First Direct deal uses an Insurer called Equity Redstar who are at the cheap and not very cheerful end of the market.

Here are some reviews of their service http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews112963.html

cotswoldav

Just tried to change from current insurer to FD. It seems to work fine if it was one person renewing (10% was saved against quote) but when I added my wife and two (grown up) sons who are on my present policy FD were not able to conclude on line requesting a call to their enquiry phone line. Didnt fancy the call centre route so I will stick to Aviva this time round for my renewal.

YorkshireTraveller

We just went down the FD route. The on-line system wouldn't quote (got me a bit worried!). Phoned them and the problem is with their computer system - it doesn't accept Civil Partnerships as being a spousal relationship. This is a known problem to them (so why don't they fix it?). Quick phone call later and all sorted. (Though when policy documents arrived they still said not related - another phone call and will re-issue).

10% saving over current esure policy but FD also include 60 day full European cover which esure don't, so this is an additional saving for us.

Davegeo

I had a good experience with getting cover from First Direct (can't say anything about how easy it is to claim yet).

My renewal price from Aviva was already better than anything from the comparison sites - £394.99 (including legal cover, No claims protection and courtesy car) compared to the nearest from elsewhere at £528!!! (Considering nothing's changed from last year when the price was £363, that shows you how much everything's shot up over the year).

I tried to apply online, but was told I'd have to phone - it turns out their figures (without matching the renewal) were closer to the £528 and they needed to check out the details first. I had to fax through all of my renewal documents then call them a couple of days later.

When I called, it was pretty simple because they'd already got most of my details from my renewal documents. They not only beat the renewal by the promised 10%, but the cover they offered was better - for example the excess for windscreen replacement was cheaper, 60 days European cover was included, as was third part cover to drive other cars and a brand new replacement car for written off cars under 12 months old.

I also added on key cover and a courtesy car for when you car is written off or stolen and they didn't cost much - about £27 extra.

So all in all I got far better cover (again I can't say whether the claiming experience will be better yet) for £10 less!

I think it's worth noting that they are matching your renewal quote and everything in it, including legal, courtesy cars, excess etc... - if you then want anything that wasn't in your original insurance then of course they're going to charge for it.

- Davegeo