Direct Line - a particularly special performance

Wynsdale

I want to share this with Internet land as it's very special and I thought where better than MSE.

Long story short with the boring detail omitted:-

I've been with Direct Line for 11 years - had various vehicles and this particular one for 5 years.

We recently moved home and called DL to change address at the time. They amended the details on the pet Insurance and my wife's vehicle insurance but mine wasn't, so renewals were being sent to the old address. So as the insurance expired I thought I'd call back for a new customer quote thinking it would be better than the renewal and I could then challenge them.

Having gone through the process on the phone (including the bit where the system didn't recognised my reg number, despite them having insured it for years, and the call handler trying to insist it either didn't exist or I was giving her the wrong number), we arrived at the quote.......£654 versus my original renewal of £603.

Not what i anticipated especially, but I then fessed up and put in a challenge. Though our personal and driving details are unchanged, she went through the usual reasons why a premium can differ, eg claims history in the area we now live in and so on.......then the special bit......she says the premium can also change depending on the date the policy starts (mine is today).

So I said "great, so if you need a policy to start on the day you get a quote, you think you have the customer by the short and curlies, so can charge extra as we need the cover". She denied this was the case and that it's to do with underwriting and actual dates.

I accept that driving is more risky at certain times of the year, but I asked her to explain how the START date could POSSIBLY affect their risk, all other things being equal. She was unable to answer.

I gave her a short lecture on how much effort DL was putting into trying to lose me as a customer, and with a heavy sense of foreboding at the thought of having to plough through comparison sites, I was about to call it a day when out of morbid curiosity, I said to her that if she was seriously telling me the quote would be different in a few days, I picked a random date - 28th Dec - and asked her to requote. She did so and I was literally lost for words.

£514!!!

I asked her if she was telling me, with sincerity and a straight face, that with nothing else whatsoever being different, if I wait 5 days before taking the policy, they will give me a £140 discount.

Yes she says. So i gave her my credit card details before she could change her mind and on the basis I'm going to be inside a beer glass and nowhere near a steering wheel for the next week anyway, I'm going to park it up, block it in with our other vehicle, take the risk on fire and vandalism and spend £140 on an extra pressie for my wife!!!

Quite extraordinary, and I still can't quite believe it wasn't a joke!

dacouch

What are your thoughts on airlines having different prices depending on how far in advance you buy cover?

paddyandstumpy

The difference between the date of quote and the start date of a policy is called 'quote lag' and is a rating factor for insurance, home and motor.

The reason it's used as a rating factor is that it's been proven (in both the insurers I've worked in in the last 3 years) that it's indicative to policy fraud and increased claims risk.

Now OP, I'm not tarring you with this brush; but you're being grouped by wanting the policy to start same day.

I know the loads for the insurer I work at, and they aren't too far removed from what DL have done to you here.

The one word of caution I would throw at you is that it's a legal requirement to have continuous cover on your car, unless it's declared SORN.

You may get away with it as it's only a few days but equally you may get a letter about it.

Wynsdale

I can see the comparison with airline tickets and many other types of purchase - it's called supply & demand, and I fully support the principle (however occasionally unpalatable it may seem at the time) but DL was clear that it wasn't that.....and interestingly neither was she trying to say it was "lag".

She was pretty clear that it was the DATE the policy was going to start, not the period between quote and acceptance/cover. I can't comment any further as it's not my area of expertise but I asked her a number of times......

Point taken about SORN, thanks.

takman

Wynsdale wrote: »

I've been with Direct Line for 11 years - had various vehicles and this particular one for 5 years.

I think that is your biggest problem there. For someone who is old enough to be with a particular insurance company for 11 years even £513 is a pretty steep premium (obviously it depends on your circumstances).

Have you tried shopping around and using a comparison site?. If you have never done this you have probably thrown away thousands of pounds over the last 11 years.

paddyandstumpy

Wynsdale wrote: »

I can see the comparison with airline tickets and many other types of purchase - it's called supply & demand, and I fully support the principle (however occasionally unpalatable it may seem at the time) but DL was clear that it wasn't that.....and interestingly neither was she trying to say it was "lag".

She was pretty clear that it was the DATE the policy was going to start, not the period between quote and acceptance/cover. I can't comment any further as it's not my area of expertise but I asked her a number of times......

Point taken about SORN, thanks.

The person in the call centre probably wouldn't know it's called quote lag. However, she was correct insofar as the date the policy starts, vs the date you get the quote. That is quote lag!

In your example you ask for quote for a policy to start today, so the difference between quote and inception dates is 0 days. You've then pushed the start date back 5 days, still getting the quote today; so the quote lag is 5 days.

That's what's being rated on.

Believe me. They aren't rating higher because the inception date is the 28th December. It's because it's a certain number of days in advance!

Wynsdale

Yup, well observed and you are right, though whilst I'm, ahem, middle aged with a pretty good driving/claims record, I do choose to take some bolt on's like "hire car of a similar type" and protected NCD, plus I do 15-20K miles pa with "in connection with business", so I'd expect the premium to be a couple of hundred quid higher. And believe me, I dont just accept the quote - I do check and haggle generally and have taken a good few quid off their renewal over the years.

Also DL actually do offer a decent product, and having been burnt in the past by cheaper deals that have poor service levels, exclusions and difficult claims processes, I don't mind paying a bit more for what I feel is a fair deal.......it's when one feels like the mickey has been taken that one feels grumpy!

Wynsdale

Yes I understand that, and I can see the point perfectly.....the issue I had (prior to your post and at that time not appreciating lag was a rating factor, but even so...) was that she was telling me the ACTUAL DATE, not the timing, that was the risk.......

Renewing on 22nd Dec was apparently more risky than 28th Dec........namely even if I'd called on 1st Dec, or the 10th or last week, I would still pay more if the policy was on cover today than next week!

sithemadmonkey

Wynsdale wrote: »

Yes I understand that, and I can see the point perfectly.....the issue I had (prior to your post and at that time not appreciating lag was a rating factor, but even so...) was that she was telling me the ACTUAL DATE, not the timing, that was the risk.......

Renewing on 22nd Dec was apparently more risky than 28th Dec........namely even if I'd called on 1st Dec, or the 10th or last week, I would still pay more if the policy was on cover today than next week!

Call centre staff do not have any pricing, actuarial or underwriting experience. They tell you either what their script says, or make something up on the spot that sounds vaguely convincing. I've been told by DL staff (amongst many other things) that the price can change between a comparison site and their site because they ask the same questions but in a different order :rotfl:

rudekid48

sithemadmonkey wrote: »

Call centre staff do not have any pricing, actuarial or underwriting experience. They tell you either what their script says, or make something up on the spot that sounds vaguely convincing. I've been told by DL staff (amongst many other things) that the price can change between a comparison site and their site because they ask the same questions but in a different order :rotfl:

If true, then that is really impressive seeing as DL are not on any comparison sites

sithemadmonkey

rudekid48 wrote: »

If true, then that is really impressive seeing as DL are not on any comparison sites

They had their Churchill hat on at the time. Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to.