In this independent review, we take a look at the different policy types that Direct Line offers, what they do and don't cover, how they compare to other insurers, and how you can make a claim. We recommend that you read the review in full, however, you can jump to specific sections of the article using the following links:
- What is Direct Line?
- Direct Line car insurance key features
- What does Direct Line car insurance cover?
- How much does Direct Line car insurance cost?
- What is the excess on Direct Line car insurance?
- How to make a claim on Direct Line car insurance
- Direct Line car insurance customer reviews
- Pros and cons of Direct Line car insurance
- Alternatives to Direct Line car insurance
- Summary
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What is Direct Line?
Direct Line launched in 1985 with a sole product, car insurance, which could be bought over the phone. Since its launch, Direct Line says it has been committed to prioritising customers and it has subsequently expanded its insurance offering to include home, pet, travel and life insurance. Despite its extensive insurance product offering, Direct Line does not appear on insurance comparison sites. It's car insurance policies are underwritten by U K Insurance Limited.
Direct Line car insurance key features
- Choose between comprehensive or third party, fire & theft car insurance
- Multi-car insurance discount
- Specialist insurance for drivers aged 26 and under
- Guaranteed hire car when your car is being fixed (Essentials policy excluded)
- Optional add-ons including No Claim Discount Protection, Breakdown cover and Motor Legal Protection
- Uninsured driver promise - if you're in a non-fault accident with an uninsured driver, your excess will be covered and your claim-free years protected
- Online claims process
- 5 star Defaqto rating for their Comprehensive and Comprehensive Plus cover
What does Direct Line car insurance cover?
You can choose between fully comprehensive or third party, fire & theft car insurance with Direct Line. Fully comprehensive car insurance is the most extensive with cover for damage to both your vehicle and a third party's vehicle, as well as property. Third party, fire & theft car insurance is less comprehensive as it only covers damage to third party vehicles or claims for your vehicle related to fire and theft. You can also get third party only car insurance but this is not currently offered by Direct Line. More information on the different car insurance types can be found in our article, 'What are the different types of car insurance?'
Direct Line offers a range of car insurance policy cover levels. You can choose between three comprehensive car insurance policies; Essentials, Comprehensive and Comprehensive Plus, and a third party, fire & theft policy. In addition, you can also insure more than one vehicle on a multi-car insurance policy or choose a telematics DrivePlus policy for drivers aged 26 and under. They also provide insurance for vans and electric cars.
In the table below, we compare the different levels of cover with Direct Line car insurance.
Direct Line car insurance policy summary
| Essentials | Comprehensive/DrivePlus | Comprehensive Plus | Third party, Fire & Theft | |
| Replacement car keys | Theft only | Yes | Yes | No |
| Guaranteed hire car | Courtesy car | Yes | Guaranteed Hire Car Plus | No |
| Child car seat replacement | Yes | Yes | Yes | Fire & Theft only |
| Misfuelling cover | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Windscreen cover | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| New car replacement | No | Yes (if car is less than 1 year old) | Yes (If car is less than 2 years old) | No |
| Personal accident | £5,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 | No |
| Uninsured driver promise | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Onward travel | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Motor Legal Cover | Optional | Optional | Yes | Optional |
| Protected No Claims Discount | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional |
DrivePlus Insurance
Direct Line's DrivePlus Insurance is for drivers below 26 years of age. It offers the same level of cover as a Direct Line Comprehensive Policy with the following additional features:
- Telematics insurance that tracks your driving using your phone
- DrivePlus app
- Discount on the first year as long as you have passed your driving test
- Can potentially get a discount at renewal if telematics shows you are driving safely
Direct Line car insurance extra benefits
You can choose to cater your car insurance policy with additional benefits such as Motor Legal Cover or No Claims Discount protection. All these optional extras come at an additional cost. We list the extra benefits below and how they work.
No Claim Discount Protection
If you have a minimum of 4 years No Claims Discount you can choose to protect it with your Direct Line car insurance policy. You must not have had more than one at-fault claim within the past three years in order to be eligible for the No Claims Discount Protection add-on.
This optional add-on will ensure that your No Claims Discount will not be affected if you make one claim during your cover period or have two claims in the three preceding years of insurance. For more information on protecting your No Claims Discount read our article 'What is no-claims discount and is it worth protecting?'
Breakdown Cover
You can add breakdown cover to your car insurance policy with Direct Line. The breakdown cover is in partnership with Green Flag and there are four cover options to choose from, the are 24/7 roadside assistance, cover at home, national recovery and European cover as well as 2 optional add-ons (onward travel and personal cover). More details on the different levels of cover can be found on Direct Line's website. It is worth shopping around, however, to ensure that the price you are quoted by the car insurance for breakdown cover is the best option for you, our article 'What is breakdown cover and how does it work? looks at stand alone breakdown cover, what it includes and how much it costs.
Motor Legal Protection
If you are involved in an accident where you were not to blame, motor legal protection cover will provide up to £100,000 of legal cost to help you to claim. Your claim must have a better than 50% chance of succeeding and not be covered under any other insurance policy. Find out more about how Motor Legal Protection works and if you need it in our article, 'Motor Legal Cover - do you need it?'
Guaranteed Hire Car Plus
With the Essentials policy you will get a courtesy car which will be provided by the garage repairing your car and is subject to availability and if your car is written off, stolen and not recovered you will not benefit from a courtesy car.
A Guaranteed Hire Car is included with Direct Line's Comprehensive policy where you will be provided will be a small hatchback or similar and can
-
- Keep the hire car until your car is fixed with one of Direct Line's approved repairers
- Keep the hire car for 21 consecutive days if you choose to get your car repaired at your preferred garage or if your car is written off or stolen
- Up to £500 of travel costs (max of £50 a day) for 21 days following your claim if you have an accident and are unable to drive due to injury, if there are no hire cars available or your car had been professionally adapted for a disabled driver or passenger and a suitable hire car isn't available
With Guaranteed Car Hire Plus you benefit from the above but you will be provided with a car similar in size to your own. You can add this to your Comprehensive and Essentials policy and it is included with the Comprehensive Plus policy.
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How much does Direct Line car insurance cost?
According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) the average cost of car insurance between April and June 2024 was £622 a year but as with all motor insurance policies, the premium paid will depend on a number of factors, such as your age and driving record as well as the make, model and age of the car to be insured.
Our article, 'How much does car insurance cost?' has more information on what affects the cost of car insurance and how much you can expect to pay for car insurance.
Are there any Direct Line car insurance admin fees?
There are no administration charges if you want to make a change to your Direct Line car insurance policy. You can make changes to your policy via the online portal, over the virtual chat or by telephoning Direct Line.
If you wish to cancel your policy after your 14-day cooling-off period you will need to to pay an administration fee, the exact details of how much can be found in your policy documents.
What is the excess on a Direct Line car insurance policy?
The excess is the amount you need to pay when making a claim on your car insurance policy. There are two types of excess; compulsory excess and voluntary excess. The compulsory excess is the amount set by the insurer and the voluntary excess is the amount chosen by you when getting a quote. Usually, increasing the voluntary excess can reduce the cost of your insurance premium, however it does increase the amount payable when claiming. More information can be found in our article 'Car insurance excess explained'.
When completing a quote on the Direct Line website the voluntary excess amounts ranged from £0 - £500 in £25 increments and a compulsory excess example was £300. This, of course, could vary for individual policyholders and is dependent on what you are claiming for.
If you need to make a claim for windscreen repair or damage the excess payable is £25 for repairs and £115 for replacement unless your policy started before 28th April 2023 and then the excess payable is £10 for repairs and £75 for replacement.
How to make a claim with Direct Line
If you need to make a claim on your Direct Line car insurance policy you can do so online or by calling 0345 246 8811. You will need to have your policy number, car registration and details of your claim to hand to help the claim process as efficiently as possible.
If you are making a claim for damage to your windscreen you can do so directly with Autoglass and they will process the claim on your behalf.
Direct Line car insurance customer reviews
Direct Line is rated as 'Great' on independent customer review site Trustpilot, with a score of 4.0 out of 5 stars across over 23,500 reviews. 60% rated Direct Line as 5 stars citing good customer service and a simple claims process. 19% rated it as only 1 star, citing high renewal prices and problems with some claims. It is worth noting, however, that not all reviews are based on Direct Line car insurance policies but Direct Line insurance as a whole.
Pros and cons of Direct Line car insurance
Pros
- Multi-car insurance discount
- Specialist telematics insurance for drivers aged 26 and under
- Guaranteed hire car when your car is being fixed (Comprehensive and Comprehensive Plus policies only)
- Online claims process
Cons
- Low personal injury cover with no option to increase the level of cover
- Does not appear on comparison sites
Alternatives to Direct Line car insurance
One of the quickest and easiest ways to compare car insurance is via a comparison site. Comparison sites allow you to compare multiple policies at once to find the best deal. We have partnered with Quotezone* so that you can search and compare quotes from over 120 UK car insurance providers. Do consider, however, that not all comparison sites are whole of market so you may miss out on some of the best deals.
In the below comparison table, we compare Direct Line to two other car insurance providers; Aviva and Churchill (who are also part of the Direct Line Group and underwritten by U K Insurance). For further comparison between car insurance providers, read our article, 'Best car insurance in the UK'.
| Direct Line | Churchill | Aviva | |
| Underwriters | U K Insurance | U K Insurance | Aviva Insurance Limited |
| Policy types |
|
|
|
| Uninsured driver protection | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-car insurance discount | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Temporary car insurance policy | No¹ | No | Yes |
| Optional breakdown cover | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Defaqto rating | 5 stars (3 stars for Essential policy) | 5 (3 stars for Essential policy) | 4 & 5 stars |
¹No separate temporary car insurance policy but you can add a vehicle to your existing policy for up to 90 days
Summary
Direct Line is one of the biggest car insurers in the UK and offers a wide range of policies with additional optional extras. Direct Line caters for younger drivers with its DrivePlus 'telematics' insurance policy, as well as offering a multi-car discount for households with more than one car. Direct Line, however, does not appear on comparison sites which means if you want to compare the cost of a policy you would need to visit the Direct Line website directly.
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