Direct Line Home Insurance

ssrout

Recieved quote thro the post £426 Building // Contents and Family protection
After 4 years with direct line with no claims .
I ran thro new quote over the net and the total was £265 with discounts i could not believe it so i phoned them and the customer relations guy informed us that the best bet would be cancel exisiting policy and open new policy over the net.

I am amased with the difference in price and 4 years with them

Impet_Limpet

I never use any renewal quote from insurance I always shop around, and I usually find even your own insurance company will beat their own renewal price on the net.

Its definitely worth checking to see which is best and then ringing up. :j

veruccasalt

I have had exactly the same now for many years with them. It is quite absurd and actually annoys me considerably.

I even had a situation where my car had been insured with them for a year, and the online quote was about 30% cheaper. So I let my existing policy lapse and took out the new online one.
Unbelievably, I had a letter asking for proof of my no-claims discount from my previous insurer. I rang them and explained they they were my previous insurer so perhaps they could work this out for themselves. THe man insisted I had to ring and get a letter and send it to him.

I toild him I was going to do no such thing, hung up and never heard anymore about it!

billycasper_2

It is common for all insurance companies to hike up the price for existing customers (despite the marketing) in the hope that the convenience of renewing will tempt you to stay. although its a bit of a bind, as soon as you get a renewal quote spend some time fishing for other quotes. if you find any cheaper, ring your existing company to tell them. generally they will do what they can to match it.
I have done this with my car insurance for the last 3 years, this year the renewal quote dropped £70 almost by magic to match the lowest quote i had..

mattymoo

I cannot really see what the fuss is here - and I am not a defender of Direct Line and their ilk normally.

The insurers are simply buying in new business - offering introductory discounts to encourage you to move to them. Typical discount is 20%.
Why do you expect the discount to continue in the second year?

The answer is simply shop around at each renewal.

veruccasalt

But they are not buying in new business if they offer an existing cutomer a cheaper online quote then refuse to honour it on the phone.

All they are doing is p*ssing off existing customers who are then morelikely to look elsewhere.

I have been with Direct Line for car and home insurance, claim-free, for years, so surely it is in their interests to retain their existing, low-risk customers as well as buying new business?

Llyllyll

ssrout wrote:

Recieved quote thro the post £426 Building // Contents and Family protection
After 4 years with direct line with no claims .
I ran thro new quote over the net and the total was £265 with discounts i could not believe it so i phoned them and the customer relations guy informed us that the best bet would be cancel exisiting policy and open new policy over the net.

I am amased with the difference in price and 4 years with them

I have just done exactly the same thing.

The new online quite was £75 cheaper (with more cover) and got £75 quid cashback for going via Quidco .

Going to do the same thing with car insurance next month.

Pantera_Fan

billycasper wrote:

It is common for all insurance companies to hike up the price for existing customers (despite the marketing) in the hope that the convenience of renewing will tempt you to stay. although its a bit of a bind, as soon as you get a renewal quote spend some time fishing for other quotes. if you find any cheaper, ring your existing company to tell them. generally they will do what they can to match it.
I have done this with my car insurance for the last 3 years, this year the renewal quote dropped £70 almost by magic to match the lowest quote i had..

I don't agree with the first part of this post. Premiums are based on risk and underlying ratings. The ratings change throughout the year as the company reviews them and they can go up as well as down, so your renewal premium could be more than you were paying the year before. When you buy online the administration cost is much lower, hence the lower price. When you call up to try and price match you may be given discounts over and above the standard discounts.

Plus as mattymoo said you may of had an intro discont so the price is ikely to go up at renewal.

veruccasalt

are direct line with quidco?

mattymoo

veruccasalt wrote:

But they are not buying in new business if they offer an existing cutomer a cheaper online quote then refuse to honour it on the phone.

All they are doing is p*ssing off existing customers who are then morelikely to look elsewhere.

I have been with Direct Line for car and home insurance, claim-free, for years, so surely it is in their interests to retain their existing, low-risk customers as well as buying new business?

But they are upfront about their online discounts are they not?
When companies like Nationwide (who are saints imho) operate dual pricing structures for new and existing customers then surely it is a fact of modern life. Thanks to discussion boards like this we all know it exists and the way around it so perhaps they will learn one day but I won't hold my breath.

Mikeyorks

veruccasalt wrote:

are direct line with quidco?

Yes - rates here :

£17.50 for travel insurance
£30 for Home Response24
£17.50 for pet insurance
£50 for life insurance
£50 for car insurance (back down to £40 in November)
£75 for home insurance

.... not posting the link as it displays my ID.