Direct Line Car Insurance Review

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Alexandre Desoutter updated on July 7, 2022

This is the ultimate review to guide you through Direct Line car insurance.

You might already know that Direct Line offers several car insurance policy options.
Some are great, others not so much.

So if you want to get:

  • Better value for money for your car insurance
  • Indicative quotes
  • Tips to lower your insurance premium, then you might love the following article.

Let’s dive right in.

Is Direct Line the best car insurance provider?

Getting the best car insurance deal is not all about the price. Indeed, focusing on just getting the cheapest deal might be a bad calculation when it comes to getting a good payout if you ever have an accident.

We’ve studied in detail Direct Line car policy terms and conditions and given our own ratings based on different criteria.

3,9 Safe overall rating for Direct Line

Our ratingOur opinion
Customer service & satisfaction

24/7 Customer Care availability
Online chat agent available to answer questions
High customer satisfaction rate from TrustPilot
Duration of time needed to sort out claims is not clearly stated

Cover provided

Unlimited cover for windscreen, windows and sunroof
Uninsured driver promise
Total loss courtesy car cover included in standard coverage
Unlimited onward travel cover with comprehensive

Value for money

No admin fee charged for amendments to already existing policies during the year
Unwarranted increase in price of services

Financial strength for pay out

Average financial capability

Technology

100% online availability
Use of new technologies (Black Box, online subscription)

Safe rating for Direct Line

Expert and customer reviews on Direct Line

We compiled expert and customer reviews from independent institutions, to give you an overall idea of Direct Line's reputation.

Review organisationConsumer satisfaction rates for Direct Line
Defaqto expert rating for Direct Line
defaqto 5 stars
TrustPilot
4,1/5 based on 2593 opinions
Consumer satisfaction rates on reviews for Direct Line

To check if Direct Line is the right car insurance for you, you can use our free comparison tool and finally compare coverage features, optional extras, excess, admin fees and customer rating without having to give any personal information.

Finally, compare best car insurance in less than 20 secs without giving your email.
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Our review on Direct Line car insurance policy

Direct Line is one of the leading car insurance provider in the UK. The company has been awarded top provider (4th) by Which.
Direct Line seems to be a very customer friendly and intuitive company. The Company was presented with the Financial Services Forum Awards in 2016 for Customer Loyalty and Retention. The comprehensive car policy is recommended. It covers up to £5000 as well as fair claim commitment, vandalism promise, medical expenses in the case of an accident, used car replacement, uninsured driver promise. To take advantage of the discount provided, the Black box and Online subscription options are recommended.
The downside of Direct Line is that they do not provide lost key cover as standard.

What does Direct Line car insurance policy cover?

Are TPO, TPFT and Comprehensive covers available at Direct Line?

Car insurance policyAvailable at Direct LineCoverage in a nutshell
Third-Party Only
  • Passengers and third party covered
  • Policyholder is not covered for any injuries or damages
Third-Party Fire and Theft
  • Replacement of your car if stolen
  • Damages caused due to theft or fire
Comprehensive
  • Cover third-party fire and theft
  • Covers injuries to you and damages to your car
Car insurance level of cover available at Direct Line

Keep in mind that you can always add optional extras to your policy.

Main guarantees at Direct Line explained in details

Let's find out what does Direct Line covers in its car insurance policy.

Breakdown cover at Direct Line

  • 24/7 Roadside assistance guaranteed all year round
  • On the occasion that a car cannot be driven after an accident, up to £150 provided for accommodation for a single person (£250 for more than one person)
  • If the approved repairers cannot fix the damaged car in seven days, a fee of £10 would be paid daily until the job is done.

Keycare cover at Direct Line

Will cover cost of repairs for:

  • affected locks or parts of the alarm/immobiliser
  • repair or replacement of the lock transmitter/central locking interface
  • affected parts of the alarm and/or immobiliser, if it can be established to reasonable satisfaction that the identity or garaging address of your vehicle is known to any person in possession of your key.

Windscreen cover at Direct Line

  • Windscreen, window or sunroof repair is included in comprehensive cover
  • Not available for courtesy car.

Motor legal protection at Direct Line

£100,000 of legal cost is provided so long as there is a 50% chance that the claim will be successful.

Personal policy injury available at Direct Line

Coverage abroad at Direct Line

When you have Direct Line Car Insurance, a maximum of 90 days of Foreign Use is offered during each year of your coverage policy and this is only available for cars less than 16 years old. On the case of a breakdown, if the car cannot be fixed, up to £850 is provided for a hire car and £500 for hotel accommodation (maximum of £45pp per day). The list of EU countries covered by this abroad coverage is not listed.

Courtesy car at Direct Line

A replacement car will be provided for 21 days if the vehicle has to be fixed, has been written off or has been stolen.

No-Claim Bonus (NCB) at Direct Line

A driver is only eligible to apply for a No Claims Discount Protection when he/she has a minimum of 4 years no claim discount with no more than one fault claim for close to three years.
If the damage has been caused by any of the following, the NCD would not be affected:

  • Potholes or bad road maintenance
  • Theft
  • Accident while the car is parked
  • Damage as a result of flood.

A claim would affect your No Claim Discount when more than one claim is made during the current period and also when more than two claims are presented within the span of three years.

At Direct Line, you can apply for the NCB protection. The NCB protection allows you to make a certain number of claims within a period without losing your No-Claim bonus.

NCB protection claims (number per year): 2 claims in 3 years.

Good to know

A No-Claim bonus is a reward that you get from driving during a long time (at least one year) without making any claim. The more years you drive without claims, the higher your NCB rate gets hence the higher the discount on your insurance premium.

Direct Line car insurance terms and conditions

How much does Direct Line car insurance cost?

You'll find below indicative car insurance quotes at Direct Line:

Drivers'ageMonthly premium
18 years old
£103,70
40 years old
£42,76
60 years old
£31,53
Quotes above are for a comprehensive car insurance - eco car, clean record driver, Liverpool

Costs of Direct Line insurance car policies vary widely based on different factors such as:

  • The driver’s age
  • The date on which they received their driving licence
  • The type of car
  • Expected repair costs if the car is damaged
  • The performance, safety and security of the car
  • The driver’s address and how busy the streets in the neighbourhood are
  • Who drives the car (any additional driver on the policy)
  • The driver's record of accidents and claims (number of injuries, No Claim Bonus etc.)
  • Insurance taxes.

Good to know

The higher risk you represent, the more expensive your policy will be.

Is there any promo codes or discounts available at Direct Line?

Direct Line provides a multi car discount which is meant for people with more than one car in their house or family. The discount covers claims.
Discount is also given to first time drivers who have gotten their licences. Apart from this, a considerable amount of discount is given to "Safe drivers" i.e. Drivers who have a high driving safety score the safety score can be obtained from the data generated from the black box installed in the driver car.

Discount typesComment
Discounts
Discounts are given at the first year of policy and also when new service products are added to the existing ones. Amount is not stated.
Discounts and cashbacks available at Direct Line

If you want to get a cheaper car insurance policy, another good way to do so is to never auto renew and always compare car insurance quotes.

Save more on your car insurance checking out our 13 tops tips to cut your insurance premiums!

Direct Line car insurance policy summarized

Guarantees

At Direct Line
NCB benefit
Yes
Uninsured driver NCB benefit
Yes
Loss or theft of keys
Market value / insurer's discretion
Personal belongings
£250
Audio equipment

No

Medical expenses

£100

Liability limit for property damage
£20,000,000
Legal expense
£100,000
Courtesy car benefit

As standard

Courtesy car cover

Duration of repairs or up to 21 days if total loss

Coverage abroad

90 days

Guarantees at Direct Line

Excess

At Direct Line
Fire excess
£150
Theft excess
£150
Accidental damage excess
£0
Windscreen replacement excess
£10
Young driver excess

£400

Excess at Direct Line

Admin fees

At Direct Line
Interest charged by payment installments

Variable

Renewal fees

£0

Cancellation fees

Cancellation fees during cooling off period: £0
Cancellation fees outside cooling off period: £48 (£11,20 for breakdown cover)

Modification fees

Adjustment fee: £0
Duplicate document fee: £0

Admin fees at Direct Line

Other car insurance policies available at Direct Line

Direct Line multi-car insurance

The Multi cover insurance from Direct Line offers flexibility and saves cost.
When more than one car is insured at the same address, money can be saved by adding extra policies to the already existing ones as opposed to taking out new ones. The cars are under one policy and there are discounts associated with this.
There is an introductory discount attached to every additional car that is registered under an insurance policy with Direct Line with the maximum of 10 cars per address or household.

Direct Line black-box insurance

Direct Line offers a black box policy.
A small plug in is attached to the driver car and it monitors driving speed and performance. At the end of a specified period, these results are analysed. If the driver falls on the safe side i.e. if the driving is safe, he/she would be eligible for a discount at the time of policy renewal. The higher the score, the lesser the amount to be paid and invariably, the higher the discount rate. Once the driver has passed the safety driving test, an upfront discount would be given at Direct Line.

Direct Line short term cover

Customers at Direct Line can add, up to 90 days, temporary vehicles to their policy. However, there is no temporary car insurance offer existing as a full policy.

Direct Line business car insurance

The business car insurance that Direct Line provides allows you to drive wherever your work takes you. When you buy car insurance on Direct Line’s website, business use is automatically included in your policy. This means you and your spouse/partner are covered for work purposes if you live at the same address, unless either of you are:

  • Retired
  • A housewife/househusband
  • A student
  • Unemployed
  • Working in the motor trade
  • A chauffeur working on a hire and reward basis
  • A courier/driver working on a hire and reward basis and/or delivering goods that they or their employer do not own.

In these cases, the vehicle may only be used for Social, Domestic and Pleasure (SDP) purposes.

If you have business use, your documents will state Class 1 Business Use. But if you require additional drivers to have business use on your policy, you might need Class 2 Business Use.
On the business car policy, you can include another colleague as a driver if they use the same car when visiting clients. This policy is good for travelling salesmen.

Direct Line van insurance

In the event of a van written off in an accident, Direct Line for Business Van Insurance can either help find a replacement similar to the damaged van, or give the owner the money for the van in cash or even buy a better version of the van. In this case the customer would have to pay the difference in price.
All of this is in subject to availability and the van insurance excludes theft claims.The minimum amount in terms of purchase price that can be considered for a van is about £3500.

How to contact Direct Line auto insurance?

Direct Line phone numbers

You will find all important phone numbers to contact Direct Line car insurance:

Contact numberOpening hours

Customer Service

0345 246 8701

8am-9pm Monday to Friday
9am-5pm on Saturday and
10am-5pm Sunday

Claims

Motor Claim Team: 0345 835 8471
New claims: 0345 303 1714
Existing claims: 0345 600 2136

For new claims:
Monday to Friday: 8am – 6pm
Saturday: 9am – 2pm
Sunday: Closed
Bank holidays: 9am – 5pm
For existing claims: Monday to Friday 10am – 3pm

Make general enquiry

0345 246 3761

8am-9pm Monday to Friday
9am-5pm on Saturday and
10am-5pm Sunday

24-hour accident recovery hotline

0800 269 015

24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Complete quote online

0345 835 3500

8am-9pm Monday to Friday
9am-5pm on Saturday and
10am-5pm Sunday

Contact numbers at Direct Line

Direct Line other contact details

You'll find below Direct Line main contact details:

Contact details of Direct Line
Email address

no

Customer account with Direct Line login

My account

Social media
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.
Chatbot
Available.
8am-11pm Monday to Friday
9am-9pm on Saturday and
10am-9pm Sunday
Contact details at Direct Line

You can also contact them by mail by writing to Direct Line car insurance:

The Headrow,
Leeds
LS1 8HZ,
United Kingdom.

How to claim at Direct Line?

You can report a claim at Direct Line either using the claim online form or by calling the claim management team.

ServiceCar claim
Claim online

Claim form online

Claim by phone

Motor Claim Team: 0345 835 8471
New claims: 0345 303 1714
Existing claims: 0345 600 2136

Claim process at Direct Line

How to cancel your car insurance at Direct Line?

You can always cancel your car insurance policy at any time. However, some fees may apply especially if you cancel it after the 14 cooling-off period after your contract's anniversary date.

Since car insurance is a legal requirement, Direct Line as well as other insurers will renew your policy automatically at the end of the policy period without any notification from your side. However, Direct Line has the obligation to send you a renewal notice within 7 to 21 days before your contract comes to an end. You will therefore have 14 days - the cooling off period - to cancel your policy at reduced cancellation fees.

For the same reason, if you cancel your car insurance policy, you must sign up to a new one immediately. Find out more on car insurance legal requirement.

You would need to have various documents ready such as:

  • your policy number (right hand corner of your documents);
  • your bank details; and
  • your payment method in case there are cancellation fees.

Direct Line could also refuse to cover your car any longer if you don't pay for your premiums within the time allocated, or if they find out that you omitted important information that was required by the company such as your driving experience or you if have committed a fraud of any kind. This act is known as ‘fronting’.

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Alexandre Desoutter Redactor in chief
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Alexandre Desoutter has been working as editor-in-chief and head of press relations at HelloSafe since June 2020. A graduate of Sciences Po Grenoble, he worked as a journalist for several years in French media, and continues to collaborate as a as a contributor to several publications. In this sense, his role leads him to carry out steering and support work with all HelloSafe editors and contributors so that the editorial line defined by the company is fully respected. and declined through the texts published daily on our platforms. As such, Alexandre is responsible for implementing and maintaining the strictest journalistic standards within the HelloSafe editorial staff, in order to guarantee the most accurate, up-to-date information on our platforms. and expert as possible. Alexandre has in particular undertaken for two years now the implementation of a system of systematic double-checking of all the articles published within the HelloSafe ecosystem, able to guarantee the highest quality of information.