Direct Line 4x4 insuarnce c#ck up!

Buckaroo8

Well-Known Member
Direct Line 4x4 Insurance c#ck up
About a week ago I bought a 4x4 van –03 Nissan Terrano 2.7 TD SWB to be exact. I will use it for work and for a bit of light off road lamping duties etc- nothing extreme. I bought commercial insurance on it with Direct Line who I have used for several years. I thought I’d put the girlfriend on the policy temporarily just until she gets a new car…. so I ring Direct Line. “No problem” they say and I pay them £15.90 for 30 days cover for her. As the phone call comes to a close the miserable woman on the other end of the line asks me:

“anything else I can help you with?”
“actually, I was also thinking of upgrading the tyres to some all terrain tyres and was wondering if it counts as a modification?”
Her voice tone suddenly changed to one of great excitement…..
“what do you need those for?” she asked quickly
“why would I not need them? I will probably have to drive across muddy fields at some time…..it is a 4x4” I say
“oh, umm, we can’t insure you for that!” she says making no attempt to conceal her delight…..It was now obvious that I had been put through to the Chief Inspector of the Tyre Police! so I explain that I’m fully aware that I would only be insured whilst actually driving on the road and any damage from driving on empty fields would be my loss.
“let me put you on hold a moment please” she says

20 minutes of ****e keyboard “music” later (yes TWENTY) and just as I’m about to hang up the phone she comes back on and this time she’s clearly ecstatic:
“I’ve just checked with somebody and I’m afraid we can’t insure you with this vehicle anymore because you admitted to me that you’re going to use it for off-roading! We are cancelling your insurance policy!”

There she was, sitting alone in some greasy nicotine-stained office room in a tower block, phone in one hand, tapping her truncheon on the desk with the other.… the shiny silver badge on her black uniform reading: UK TYRE POLICE “Ah Ha!” she thought to herself “I’ve caught you red handed! Attempting to enquire about the possibility of upgrading your tyres is an offence and now you must pay the price! Ha Ha”
You can probably imagine how the conversation went from here.

I have seven days to find insurance cover.
Needless to say I won’t be dealing with the Direct Swine again…..

What is the matter with these people? Did they think that I would fork out for a 4x4 and then just drive the kids to school with it or something?? Idiots!!!!

Now, could somebody please point me in the general direction of a sensible insurance company ????

Thanks
 
Try the van insurance quote section in the Go Compare website. After being with the NFU for years I have halved the premium I was paying for a comparable if not better policy. I have a Navara Double Cab and paid just over £200 with about 30 insurance companies all quoting less the £300 per year
 
Used flux but will try nfu again they said they would match fluxes price next time I renew .
norma
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far guys, keep em coming. Just noticed I spelt Insurance incorrectly in the title...:doh:Idiot
 
Some of the lads in the scottish land rover club had the same problem a while back.
One of them phoned his insurance company to let them know that he would be taking it off road, they canceld his insurance there & then gave him 7 days to get a new insurance.

Try NFU.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far guys, keep em coming. Just noticed I spelt Insurance incorrectly in the title...:doh:Idiot

Can we presume they would not have paid out on any claim made after fitting them had you said nothing? What do these people think you were going to do with an off road vehicle for gods sake, the clue is in the name.
Any Forum members work in Insurance that can explain this one.

Yorkie.
 
Try the van insurance quote section in the Go Compare website. After being with the NFU for years I have halved the premium I was paying for a comparable if not better policy. I have a Navara Double Cab and paid just over £200 with about 30 insurance companies all quoting less the £300 per year

I very much doubt the insurance is comparable in real life. I have known half a dozen farmers have Landrovers stolen by using the keys, often left in the vehicle, in a door pocket/visor and each time they have paid out. I don't believe a single other insurer would.

I ignored NFU when I got a Disco because I heard they can be more expensive, but it is because they pay out! Had a year with Adrian Flux who were cheapest but I never made a claim to test them. Any changes to policy had an admin fee.

NFU at renewal were hundreds of pounds less than Adrian Flux, insured me for everything, not bothered about modifications etc. If I have a problem I ring the local office and they sort it. No fees to update things (going to put a private plate on). Expect you to go off road and you are insured if things happen off road.

The cheap insurers tend to be cheap for a reason.....
 
I am afraid that my experience of NFU Mutual is rather different to others. One night I was driving my Nissan D22 p/u home on a two lane road , as I approached a sharp R/H bend a car travelling at high speed from the other direction appeared on my side of the road and skidded sideways on into my truck. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt but the engine on mine was hard up against the footwell and one of the rear wheels from the other car broke away and came through my windscreen. It transpired from the driver of a following vehicle that they were two teenagers racing each other. Anyway NFU mutual had the cheek to suggest that as it was a narrow country road we should settle on a 50:50 basis. In due course the other driver was convicted of a number of serious driving offences, banned and ordered to take a retest, I was exonerated by the police report from all responsibility. At this point - around 3 months after the accident NFU Mutual started to grudgingly cooperate and I was fully compensated for the damage with no loss of NCB. atb Tim
 
I have used NFU for a couple of years and one of the main benefits is that they will also include a young driver on the policy, handy when you've got a 22 year old son who can't get cover on anything with an engine larger than a lawn mower in his own name but the NFU put him on as a driver for my Audi Avant A6 1.9Tdi, OK it was an extra £50 a month but they insured him. They are also very good when it comes to making changes on the policy without "admin charges", I've added and subtracted vehicles, added and subtracted drivers and apart from adjusting premiums up and down, I had no problem at all, all done by phone and in five minutes in most cases. Won't go anywhere else unless the NFU cause me a problem down the line.
 
I think for some reason we all like the cheapest insurance we can get, even though in most other areas we look at quality before price, I have NFU commercial insurance and it covers all sorts of things that lesser policies don't, like tools, trailers and of course off road driving. I could get cheaper but whats the point if it isn't fit for purpose.
 
Try tesco insurance I also have a terrano 2.7 van and I really struggled to get insurance for it because it was a commercial and I had 6 points at the time every website I tried just came away with ridiculous figures and I tried tesco and they were by far the cheapest all done online and managed to use club card points to get it even cheaper
That's just my experience.
 
report them to the Ombudsmans Service.
motor insurance


by the time they have finished tying them up in red tape and enquiries you can guarantee you have ruined their day!!
"f$%k you very much"!

i just did this to Vodafone. marvelous
 
I'm insured with NFU, I switched from Adrian Flux because I pay monthly for my insurance. NFUs interest rate is about 2% where Adrian Fluxs was closer to 30%! It made better cover cheaper. I'm insured off road, I'm insured to move things out of my way and I'm sure there's something about my moving my neighbours sheep!
 
Left NFu for aviva exactly the same cover , half the cost, I think when sayin your going off road, they assume that you are going on a awd course, not driving around a field
 
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