Car Insurance - Without Drive Assist!

dacouch

You have to love people that sign up and then take the time to SEARCH MSE for a post about Drive Assist in the early hours. Only the one post as well...

A sceptic might think that someone is trying to manipulate Google so that a when you google Drive Assist this story comes up instead of then many many reports on MSE about how they have had problems with Drive Assist.

How about Crowmanuk and UKtyler and the many other people who have had problems copy and paste their problems onto new posts so if anyone does google Drive Assist or search MSE then their posts come up.

Interesting choice of name...

When you pick your pay cheque up again ask Stevie Binch why he has stopped posting up here. Was it something we said?

Crowmanuk

Ooh a new post, or so I thought, i'm still waiting on the FO, they were about 5 weeks backlogged when I checked last, thanks for bumping it

andygb

I am amazed at how much publicity DriveAssist has had on the net - and all of it bad (well, most of it), so my story will just help to dig the dirt on them.
I am insured through Direct Line, and back in March a neighbour's visitor's car slipped off a drive causing damage to our car. No worries, insurance details exchanged, liability admitted in front of independent witnesses.
I phoned Direct Line the next day and registered the claim. They told me that they would arrange for my car to be repaired and put me in touch with DriveAssist for a courtesy car. Less than one hour after phoning Direct Line, both DriveAssist and the garage who Direct Line had nominated to do the repair both phoned me. I explained that liability had not yet been confirmed by the other side, and as my car was drivable we would continue using it. Over the next few days I had numerous calls from different "pushy" people in DriveAssist, trying to get my card details from me, and arrange for me to accept a courtesy car. It eventually took three weeks for the other side to admit liability.
I then phoned the garage and DriveAssist, to arrange a courtesy car, and for my vehicle to be repaired. I was told about the "optional" damage waiver at £4 per day, and I phoned Direct Line to try to claim this from the other side. Direct Line then told me it was purely optional and would not be needed. I told them, that DriveAssist had featured on Watchdog, regurlarly charging customers for "phantom" damage.
The DriveAssist car was delivered, the interior had not been cleaned, and the exterior was covered in muddy spots where they had "cleaned" it. The driver very quickly ran through the various marks (quite a few, including stains on the upholstery), and I signed the little hand held device. We had the car for two weeks, and the bill came to £56, which I still am not happy about, because the accident was not my fault, so why should I be out of pocket, as I am insured fully comprehensive, and have never had an accident.
Before dropping their car off at the garage, and picking up my repaired vehicle, I vacuumed the inside and washed the outside, leaving it looking a lot better than when it was delivered to me.
At the end of April, I was sent a letter from DriveAssist, including a "Vehicle Condition Report". I compared this with the one I signed for when the vehicle was initially delivered to me. The original sheet says that the vehicle was clean inside and out, which was not true. On the latest sheet, they say that the vehicle was returned "dirty" on both the exterior and interior. In the "Comments" section the latest sheet says "Matts in front only" - are they suggesting that I have stolen the rear "Matts" which were not there to start with?
To sum up, if I had not taken out the "optional damage waiver" at £4 a day, then I would now be facing a very large bill, for invented damage, including - 1 bumper chip, 4 bonnet scratches, 2 bonnet chips, 1 bumper scuff, 7 paint scratches, 1 windscreen chip.
I am not going to renew with Direct Line, because I don't trust them any more, and I will search around for someone who does not use DriveAssist, because they are in my opinion a bunch of criminals

dacouch

Strange how Direct Line did not offer you one of their own basic courtesy cars, I wonder if the £150 commission Drive Assist pay them had anything to do with it...

zkw29

andygb wrote: »

I phoned Direct Line the next day and registered the claim. They told me that they would arrange for my car to be repaired and put me in touch with DriveAssist for a courtesy car.

Just out of curiosity... did you have the Guaranteed Hire Car option on your policy? I was under the impression that Direct Line used Enterprise for their hire cars so I was just wondering whether they had changed that or whether they only use DriveAssist for customers who have no cover for a replacement vehicle.

andygb

uktyler wrote: »

I can't say I blame you, however I would let Direct Line know the reason for not renewing, if enough people complain they will drop Drive Assist, and use a more reputable company in future.

I did speak to a supervisor at the time (at least they said they were a supervisor), and told them why I was so unhappy. It was like talking to a brick wall, so they can obviously afford to lose £300 a year, plus my home and contents insurance on the house.

andygb

dacouch wrote: »

Strange how Direct Line did not offer you one of their own basic courtesy cars, I wonder if the £150 commission Drive Assist pay them had anything to do with it...

That is interesting, and would explain how DriveAssist have grown so quickly. I was told that there were no other options available to me.

andygb

zkw29 wrote: »

Just out of curiosity... did you have the Guaranteed Hire Car option on your policy? I was under the impression that Direct Line used Enterprise for their hire cars so I was just wondering whether they had changed that or whether they only use DriveAssist for customers who have no cover for a replacement vehicle.

A couple of years ago, a van driver went into the back of my wife's car, and during the repair stage, the courtesy car was provided by Enterprise, a company who I would not hesitate to recommend because of their efficiency, and the condition of their vehicles. On this occasion, Direct Line said that they no longer deal with Enterprise, because they were too expensive!!!
The guy who runs DriveAssist is worth in excess of £65 million, and that does not surprise me in the least.

Crowmanuk

Well i've just got a letter from the Financial Ombudsman saying that my case is now registered but they are snowed under with complaints and it could be a maximum of two months before a case officer gets in touch with me, so it drags on...

Atermis

Unfortunatly, dont expect a swift resolution from FOS, i would look 12-18 months from their instruction to resolution.