Direct Line car insurance review
Direct Line car insurance review
Direct Line has been a market leader for car insurance since being launched by Peter Wood as the first telephone insurance provider in 1985. It floated on the stock market in October 2012.
It’s part of the Direct Line Group, along with Churchill and Privilege, and its policy is underwritten by UK Insurance Ltd.
What does Direct Line car insurance cover?
Elements marked with a ✔ are covered as standard, those marked with a ✖ are not covered as standard. Elements marked with a £ can be added to a policy as optional extras for an additional cost.
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✓ Courtesy car
Provides the policyholder with a car to use while repairs are carried out on their vehicle as part of a claim
✓ Personal accident
Covers the policyholder and passengers if they are injured in an accident
✓ Stolen keys cover
Covers the cost of replacing keys and locks in the event that your car keys are stolen.
KGM – as standard (otherwise, varies by insurer)
£ No claims discount (NCD) protection
Allows the policyholder to make a specified number of claims over a period without affecting their no claims discount
£ Motor legal protection
Covers legal expenses for legal action you may take as the result of an accident
✓ Lost keys cover
Covers the cost of replacing keys and locks in the event that your car keys are lost
KGM – as standard (otherwise, varies by insurer)
Does Direct Line offer the best car insurance?
Here’s how Direct Line scored in our latest car insurance survey:
Direct Line Car Insurance review
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Our Scores
Overall Which? score
Our total score score combines ratings from real customers of the provider, and our expert analysis of the provider’s policies. The total score is made up of 50% of the Customer Score and 50% of the car insurance policy score.
Which? customer score
Which?’s rating for customer satisfaction, based on feedback from real customers who recently made a claim. The score is made up of a customer’s overall satisfaction with the brand, and how likely they are to recommend that brand.
Policy score
Which?’s rating of the quality of this company’s car insurance policy. We analysed 73 features of its cover to calculate the policy score.
To help you find the best car insurance policy, we go the extra mile to sort the best from the worst.
How we analyse car insurance
We analyse and rate 73 key elements of standard car insurance policies to come up with the overall policy score. We assess how important each individual element is to drivers when choosing and using a car insurance policy, and weight it accordingly when calculating our total policy score.
Initially, we score all of the product elements out of five, reflecting how competitive each provider is in this area compared with other insurers. Weightings are then applied to the higher and lower element scores to enhance/reduce their impact in the overall product score.
Direct Line’s car insurance policy: is it good or bad?
Direct Line is a Which? Recommended Provider of car insurance.
What makes a Which? Recommended Provider?
To be a Which? Recommended Provider, an insurer must:
- Be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
- Be available to the general public
- Have received responses from 30 or more customers in our survey
- Achieve high scores in our customer satisfaction survey.
- Achieve an average or above policy score.
Direct Line achieved a policy score of 71%, placing it 11th out of 49 policies we analysed.
Direct Line’s policy has no excess for accidental-damage claims, allows named drivers to earn no-claims discount (NCD) and includes as standard a guaranteed courtesy car in the event of a claim.
It also covers for lost car keys and includes a total-loss courtesy car
Unfortunately, the policy offers only £200 cover for medical expenses.
Fair claim commitment
With Direct Line your no-claims discount will not be affected by a claim for potholes or poor road maintenance, theft from or of your car, being hit while parked, floor damage, if you hit or are hit by an animal, or are hit by an object or debris (excluding vehicles). An excess applies.
We’ve rated hundreds of policy details and picked out the best and worst elements of this cover.
Members can log in to read our full policy analysis. If you’re not already a member, join Which? and get full access to these results and all our reviews.
In detail: every part of Direct Line’s car insurance rated Select a table:
Table last updated in February 2022. Next update in February 2023.
To see how Direct Line’s car insurance compares with other policies, check our guide on the best and worst car insurance.
Also available to drivers is the Direct Line Comprehensive Plus policy, which scored a high 76%, placing it third out of 49 car insurers policies we scrutinised.
This policy features unlimited cover for sunroof damage, comprehensive cover to drive overseas, and a higher level of cover on audio equipment, compared with the standard cover of £2,000.
How did customers rate Direct Line’s car insurance?
As well as looking at how Direct Line’s car insurance policy stacks up against others, we’ve also analysed how customers who have recently made a claim feel about it.
Direct Line’s car insurance scored an outstanding 79% for customer satisfaction, placing it fourth out of the 13 car insurers we received sufficient responses for in our customer survey.
This helped it to become a Which? Recommended Provider of car insurance.
Members can log in to see our range of customer service star ratings and read about individual customers’ experiences. If you’re not already a member, join Which? and get full access to these results and all our reviews.
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Direct Line’s car insurance customer satisfaction.
Table last updated in February 2022. Next update in February 2023.
“-‘ represents where we have insufficient sample size (less than 30) to generate a star rating
How can you save money on Direct Line car insurance?
The first offer an insurer makes isn’t necessarily the best they’re able to provide – especially if you’re renewing. So before you commit, check what other insurers are offering for comparable cover and ask if your current insurer can better it.
Carefully consider what’s optionally included in the quote. You might want the confidence of an all-singing, all-dancing policy – but certain add-ons might not be for you, or could duplicate separate cover you already have.
Where you buy your cover can sometimes make a difference to what you’ll end up paying, which is why we recommend checking prices through multiple comparison sites (where available) as well as trying the companies direct.
Direct Line’s car insurance policy is not available on price comparison websites, but there are other ways to save:
✓ Multicar discount
Save 10% for every extra vehicle you add to your policy. Discount doesn’t apply to optional extras or at renewal. Applies to Aviva policy only – excludes Aviva Online and Aviva Premium car insurance.
✓ Joint car and home insurance discount
10% discount on the second product
✘ Dash cam discount
A discount to your premium for owning a dash cam
✘ Membership discount
A discount to your premium for being a member of an organisation
Above information correct as of December 2021
What is Direct Line’s car insurance claims number?
If you need to make a claim with Direct Line car insurance, call 0345 246 8471.
You’ll need your policy number and documents, your vehicle registration number and crime reference number, if applicable.
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