The Garrulous Jay – Insult And Injury

Last week I received a letter (copy below) from my insurer, Direct Line, telling they didn’t want to insure my properties or provide me with travel cover any more.

I have been a Direct Line client for 15+ years having been attracted to the ‘Select’ policy by the facility it provides for me to pay a single monthly premium to cover all my buildings and contents, motor, breakdown, pet and travel insurance needs under one plan.

Not having to use a different insurer for some or all of these covers was a service I was happy to pay extra for. At the moment I pay Direct Line just over £1,000 per month.

Over the years we’ve made the odd claim: it’s bound to happen when you live in a house that accommodates rodents that chew through water pipes, and young drivers. But I am still pretty confident that Direct Line have done well out of me as client.

So I was pretty miffed when I received this letter.

The pretext seemed spurious… I’m not sure if my primary residence has too few or too many bedrooms or bathrooms. Do I now need to live in a two-bed flat or Buckingham Palace to meet their underwriting criteria?

Nor do I understand why this precludes them from insuring “any of my properties” or providing me with travel insurance.

Whatever the reason, they have lost me as a client, even if they generously state “all other products are unaffected”.

I’m now talking to a specialist broker, initially sold on their “flexible, bespoke policies” offered through “a single master insurance programme with a single renewal date”.

My hope was that, like my Direct Line ‘Select’ policy, the broker would serve as a one-stop shop for all my insurance needs: I own it, they insure it.

Alas no… Gemma, the friendly broker, informed me early in the conversation that they do not offer pet insurance. I would have to look elsewhere to secure the protection I need against Dudley, Flo and Lucozade’s ever-inflating vet’s bills.

Then we had the issue of my motor insurance. The Shippam family motor fleet currently runs to four cars, all of them modest, practical vehicles. In total I estimate they have a value of £23,500.

When I described the cars to Gemma, there was a hint of nervousness in her response. She told me that to qualify for the High Net Worth Team’s service, the lead vehicle alone needed to have a value of at least £75,000: the equivalent of twelve ‘Shippam cars’!

To be fair, she said the broker’s Personal Lines Team would be able to source cover, but I already felt like I was being passed around…or passed off.

There is a unifying feature between Direct Line and the insurance broker I have approached since: they are defining their serviced by what they want to offer not what the client needs.

That should be no way to run a successful business.