Today I called Direct Line, and waiting for twelve minutes before abandoning my attempt to speak to someone about my car insurance renewal. I just needed to make one (beneficial) amendment, and get a final price before looking around. I considered that £284 was not very cheap for a 1.0 litre car considering a 5-year no claims bonus and no extras like legal cover, hire car, or insured no claims. Also, with a £250 excess and £75 windscreen excess, I was wanting to challenge the cost. I was, however, not that hopeful, after last year, Admiral was £50 more than Direct Line.
The annoying hold messages while my brain cells fidgeted were simply winding me up, and so I aborted the call and went to the website. I entered the rather simple details in the 'get a quote' facility, and was amazed to see £179 displayed as my premium. I called again. After a 'magical' eleven-and-a-half minutes [I'm being sarcastic] I got to speak to someone. On this call, I had mistakenly assumed a speedier response after selecting the option relating to "thinking about cancelling your policy" and it's clear that the slow response is unilateral. This time, though, the wait was going to be worthwhile - £105 saved - 37% less than the 'renewal' rate !!!
I explained, and was pleased to get confirmation from the woman that she would be able to match the Direct Line website quote - noble, indeed, eh? I changed the expected mileage and she confirmed the website price of £160 I'd established some fifteen minutes earlier.
So, if the call centre response had not been atrocious, I'd not have gone online to get a quote. I'd intended to look around anyway, but would not have included Direct Line in the shopping exercise. As it is, I've got a good result, but no thanks for any (intentional) input by Direct Line. Luckily their dodgy tactics were foiled because of an awful call response and it serves them right.
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