Had a bit of a bump

[Dobloseven]

Was in a customers house yesterday lunchtime when I was informed my faithful Zafira parked outside had been run into. Lady next door had reversed her pickup off her drive and into the back of mine, hitting the tailgate and shattering the rear window. She was very apologetic about it. Slightly worryingly she had no rear visibility with a top on the truck and iced up mirrors. We exchanged details and I've contacted Direct Line whose repairers have collected the car this morning and arranged a seven seat C4 Picasso for Monday morning. All a bit strange to me as its a long while since anything like this has happened. 

[Guest]

A few years back someone ran into my wife's Vauxhall Omega, Direct Line's service was first class, collected promptly and dropped off cleaner than it had ever been.  A few years later someone reversed into her Ford Fusion and the service from Direct Line was again faultless.  The only issue was that when it came back they hadn't tightened any of the bolts up properly on the new back door and first time I opened it (to check it on delivery) the door dropped and chipped the paint!  Needless to say I told them to load it back up and sort it out.

[Dobloseven]

My brother in law who is somewhat accident prone(in fact most people say he shouldn't be driving) is a satisfied Direct Line customer as well. 

[BM Bairn]

Another satisfied Direct Line Customer here. Had a fairly serious accident in 2011 when a taxi didn’t stop at a side road and broadsided my 6 month old Audi A5 causing £12k of damage on top of my £3k (genuine) injury claim.

Direct Line dealt with everything impeccably.

in fact I’ve just returned to them after a year away from them.

[Paul1957]

We've had good service from Direct Line, the car will go to a central repairer, possibly many miles away and the hire car will also probably come from somewhere distant. When you get the hire car check it over thoroughly for any marks/damage/cleanliness. We had one a few years ago and it was in what I thought was poor condition for a few months old car and I did not want to get caught out by being blamed since it would also come off our insurance. Our car was taken away for repair from our house and returned back, happy with the service but you need to give it a good check before accepting it.

 

We had a crash repair via a different insurer and their repairer did not do a thorough job, the bonnet would not close again after I opened it, a few bits were missing, a wheel had not been repaired and a part under the bonnet had not been painted so I had them take it back.

 

In the1980s we had somebody set off without defrosting their windscreen and they drove into the back of our parked car, a few doors away from their house so I have experience of people not being able to see when driving.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Paul1957

[Dobloseven]

All seems quite local so far. Car has gone about 15 miles to repair centre, and hire car coming from a similar distance. 

[IanV8]

Many years ago I tried Direct Line and was told ‘we don’t insure Range Rovers’.

 

Ian

[Dobloseven]

18 minutes ago, IanV8 said:

Many years ago I tried Direct Line and was told ‘we don’t insure Range Rovers’.

 

Ian

Wife was told in the spring, that they were unable to quote for the Korando, yet the previous year, I'd insured it with them. Funny old world,a few years back I tried NFU Mutual for a quote and was told they didn't cover our postcode. 

[Dave87]

I was hit by a foreign lorry driver in 2009 and direct line were faultless back then in regards to taking care of the car & hire car etc.. although it did take 10 months to get my excess back because it was an overseas driver. My premium double at renewal so i didn't renew with them. 

 

My latest claim was 2017 when i was rear ended, hastings direct were as smooth as direct line.  They refused to offer me a renewal quote that year.

 

Currently with directline again, not had to claim. They have been the cheapest for two years running by around £300 but will see what happens at renewal at the end of feb.

[hp100425ev]

Been with Direct Line for a good few years now for my car and my wife’s car.

I always get alternative quotes, and also always ring Direct Line when I get their renewal price and ask them if they can improve on it.

They always have done, except for the first time last June, probably because I reduced the mileages due to the pandemic and had reached their lowest premium possible.

Still stayed with them though because there was little difference in price.

 

Only issue I have ever had with them is when someone ran into my car in Southern Ireland a few years back. Young (sounded VERY young) female on the phone insisted I wasn't covered, and even when I suggested she check the territorial areas covered by their policy, which included Republic of Ireland, she insisted I wasn’t covered.

I suggested she checked with someone more senior and she came back saying no problem and gave me a few local repairers to choose from, but not a word of apology.

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by hp100425ev

[Wildwood]

I suspect the Picasso came because they were short of the standard courtesy car. I had an accident with our car some time back and got a phone call saying that the car I should have had needed a service and so would I take a BMW 5 series. Some policies give you an equivalent car, so if you had signed up for that, the Citroen may have been the nearest they could get to yours although it seems an unusual choice.

[jwa]

13 minutes ago, Wildwood said:

I suspect the Picasso came because they were short of the standard courtesy car. I had an accident with our car some time back and got a phone call saying that the car I should have had needed a service and so would I take a BMW 5 series. Some policies give you an equivalent car, so if you had signed up for that, the Citroen may have been the nearest they could get to yours although it seems an unusual choice.

I worked for a company that supplied courtesy cars to customers who had a no fault accident,if they were busy then we would have to supply them with a higher grade vehicle.

 

John.

[Dobloseven]

1 hour ago, Wildwood said:

I suspect the Picasso came because they were short of the standard courtesy car. I had an accident with our car some time back and got a phone call saying that the car I should have had needed a service and so would I take a BMW 5 series. Some policies give you an equivalent car, so if you had signed up for that, the Citroen may have been the nearest they could get to yours although it seems an unusual choice.

Not at all, I need something similar to a Zafira as a work vehicle. Car is being supplied as a credit hire vehicle by a company called Auxillis. 

[Fenester]

2 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Not at all, I need something similar to a Zafira as a work vehicle. Car is being supplied as a credit hire vehicle by a company called Auxillis. 

My experience of Auxilis when someone else dented my car in the carpark . Their process is highly bureaucratic with lots of e enabled loops and turns. It did the job - but "my" was it hard work for the sake of 10 days replacement vehicle. 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Fenester

[Mr Plodd]

If it’s not your fault then, to save any aggravation, it worth considering getting a “Claims management company” involved. They do all the work for you and claim the costs back from the “at fault” drivers insurance.

They supply courtesy cars as part of the service. I speak from personal experience. 

[Dobloseven]

On 10/01/2021 at 16:53, Fenester said:

My experience of Auxilis when someone else dented my car in the carpark . Their process is highly bureaucratic with lots of e enabled loops and turns. It did the job - but "my" was it hard work for the sake of 10 days replacement vehicle. 

Not my experience so far. Auxillis got on to me just after the repair company had given them my details. Sent me an online form to acknowledge which was easy enough once I realised they'd sent it. Soon as I'd done it I was contacted by phone to ask if a Picasso would suit and given a time slot for its delivery. Car arrived today, just dropped off with nothing to sign, said they'd put the key through the letterbox if I wasn't in. Car turns out to be a 2 year old C4Space Tourer which replaced the Picasso. All good so far then. 

[ReggiePerrin]

2 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Not my experience so far. Auxillis got on to me just after the repair company had given them my details.

Had Auxillis when our unoccupied car was hit in a Tesco car park... Luckily, ‘er indoors was walking back to the car and saw it happen and had the presence of mind to get loads of photo’s clearly showing the reg and damage to both cars.  The third party even sent her a text with insurer details and a profuse apology.

 

Everything was seamless up until the third party insurer (and the insured driver)  refused to pay the courtesy car costs.   They maintained that we should have had a little city car instead of the like for like we were offered (a Ford Edge auto & very nice thank you).
 

Then it became a county court thing - me (not Auxillis)  vs the third party - that dragged on for months.  As I recall it got to within a couple of days of the hearing date when the third party settled and it was all done.  

In fairness, Auxillis were pretty good from start to finish - did all the legal stuff and kept me informed throughout.

[Dobloseven]

Haven't had any accidents for about 13 years but had a bad patch with 4 in about 2 years. For the 2 that were my fault, I just got  small Peugeot 207 courtesy cars, supplied by the repairer. For the 2 that weren't, I had like for like vehicles supplied by credit hire companies working with the repairer, as is happening at the moment. Problems can occur when the repair drags on and with the hire car often costing  hundreds of pounds per day, the total costs start to exceed the value of the damaged vehicle. Usually a policy can be taken out to cover the cost of the hire car can't be recovered from the third partys insurer. 

[Dobloseven]

All done and dusted. Car was returned yesterday morning, and hire car collected today. Everything looks good. The rear washer now works, which it didn't before and some bumper and tailgate damage which I'd caused myself have disappeared, so a good result so far. Wonder how much the premium will go up though, even though it wasn't my fault and I've got protected no claims? 

[ad210358]

On 09/01/2021 at 10:00, IanV8 said:

Many years ago I tried Direct Line and was told ‘we don’t insure Range Rovers’.

 

Ian

 

LV told me similar, when I bought a Disco, they gave me one week to get another insurance company and refunded the remainder of my premium.

 

On another insurance issue , one of our work vehicles was recently hit whilst parked at a hospital by an NHS vehicle, our insurance company (Aviva) were very good, could not do enough, the insurance of the NHS vehicle were also keen to check everything was good, offering  us a courtesy vehicle and take care of our own vehicle. 
Aviva sorted everything, damage was headlight, bumper, grill and a wing.  What is baffling is whey the repairers which are owned by Aviva, removed all the vehicle trim and badges of both doors, and we now are missing those badges and trim as they are on back order.

Edited January 21, 2021 by ad210358

[Dublad]

16 hours ago, ad210358 said:

What is baffling is whey the repairers which are owned by Aviva, removed all the vehicle trim and badges of both doors, and we now are missing those badges and trim as they are on back order.

So they can charge more for the repair, at a guess.

[Griffy]

17 hours ago, ad210358 said:

What is baffling is whey the repairers which are owned by Aviva, removed all the vehicle trim and badges of both doors, and we now are missing those badges and trim as they are on back order.

The reason is so the new paintwork can be blended into the existing paintwork. 

[664DaveS]

My wife was sitting outside supermarket in her company car talking to the boss when an elderly gentleman drove into the car.

He could not remember  the insurer but knew it was on TV with a red telephone!

They exchanged details and she got a call next day from Direct Line. They sent a courtesy car on a transporter and  took ours away. Pretty good service.

It was repaired quite quickly too. Just a bit of filler and respray to  front bumper.

[Dobloseven]

1 hour ago, Griffy said:

The reason is so the new paintwork can be blended into the existing paintwork. 

Might  be nice to replace them afterwards though! 

[Griffy]

1 minute ago, Dobloseven said:

Might  be nice to replace them afterwards though! 

As ad210358 states they are on back order which most likely means they were damaged being removed.