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Direct Line Car insurance: poor breakdown cover deal!

Hi,

I have just got my car insurance through Direct Line. During the online process, there was an option to opt for a Green Flag Breakdown cover (same company as Direct Line) for a so-called promotional/discounted price.

I selected Level 2 (Rescue Plus), and this added about £59 to the car insurance bill.

However, I went later on to the Green Flag website, and it quoted £45 for the very same cover, and the same price for level 4 (Recovery Plus, much better)!

I called Direct Line, and they couldn't give the same price, but they have removed the breakdown cover from the policy.

Therefore, be careful with buying your breakdown cover through Direct Line, even if Green Flag is the same company!

Seb

Comments

  • From memory, so I could be wrong, there are fundamental differences between the pricing for Greenflag direct and when its an add on to a motor policy. For the former it is underwritten, so make/model/age of car impacts the price where as when its an add on either to another RBS company or a non RBS company it is a simple flat rated price irrespective of what your vehicle is.

    Given the different pricing methodologies it is certainly possible for it to be cheaper one way for some people and the other for others. I dont think there are significant terms differences but its probably 3 years since I last checked
  • sebtomato
    sebtomato Posts: 1,110 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Yes, but Green Flag was purchased by Direct Line (in 1999), so you would expert not to pay more when they bundle car insurance and breakdown cover from the same company! In my case, I could either get a much cheaper breakdown cover, or a much better level by buying separately!
  • To the best of my knowledge it is still priced differently because one is flat rated and the other is underwritten so you will get circumstances where its cheaper for some and more expensive for others.

    If they did a rated product for DL and flat rate for all non-RBS companies then you would also get a strange situation where it would be cheaper to buy GF bundled with a policy from XYZ Insurance than it is from Direct Line Insurance. Likewise, GF will not want to lose all the partnership business and so wont want to simply allow its sister companies to sell it cheaper than its other distributors possibly could.
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