direct line insurance

[poochie]

my husband an myself have been fully comp insured with direct line for over 20yrs each. It has meant to be one policy for both cars.
they knew one car was mine and other car was hubbies but we paid for seperate policies.
recently we got new car for me and decided to shop around for insurance and got great deal elsewher with same benefits.
anyways, my problem is this....

we got told with it bein a double policy (which I would have thought would be one payment per month isntead of 2 seperate payments which we have paid all this time) we would get seperate no cliams discounts because I am named driver on one car and hubby on the other so we would get our own no claims benefits.
they sent out no claims form the other day after we cancelled my insurance and it shows m husband has 3yrs no claims bonus for one policy and 5yrs no claims protected on the policy we still paying for, which is hubbys car.
why have they not sent no claims discount in my name if I was payin seperately from husband for my insurance?
And why do we just find out now that the no claims bonus for 3yrs which was my car (even tho I have never had accident in 20yrs of drivin), is only usable with direct line to get my husband a discount if I want to insure with direct line again?
the no claims bonus is no use to me in his name, even tho I was named driver on his policy all these years and vice versa.......
is this all correct?...can they do this even tho we paid seperately and both policies where in his name, but I was named driver for my car and he was named driver for his car......
it now seems in all my years of drivin I have accumulated no claims bonus and if I hadnt put new insurance under husbands name then my insurance would have cost over £700 with other insurance firms...... this seems so wrong and I feel duped by direct line all these years and they made me assume we would both get no claims bonus in our own names.

any advice or help would be much appreciated

[Caspar]

Re: direct line insurance

Did you have one policy document or two separate ones? In your annual renewal it always tell you your no claims entitlement. It would be worth looking back at these.

I'm a bit confused by your first paragraph which states, "It has meant to be one policy for both cars.
they knew one car was mine and other car was hubbies but we paid for seperate policies."

This hints that you meant it to be one policy, but you each made a payment towards this.

The easiest way to resolve it would be to phone Direct Line and ask them to explain.

Read more at: direct line insurance - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum

[poochie]

Re: direct line insurance

the confusion may be that we only had one policy for his car and one policy for my car. Direct line knew we each drove our own cars.
Wen I phoned a few years ago about them taking 2 payments for each policy by mistake(which they refunded as it was computer error), the guy started goin on about joinin the policies to make one policy instead of payin 2 policies..
i agreed to this etc and we were told to expect new paperwork thru and discount on joinin both policies together etc coz we have home insurance with them as well as building insurance etc.....
we never got new paperwork and nothin changed really and I forgot about it all until just recently wen we bought me a new car and I had to change details of car with them.
thats wen I noticed both policies in his name which meant I was gatherin no "no claims bonus" in my own name which is basically the only thing that changed after that call.
this is why im furious because I have gained no claims bonus for 3yrs, but its in hubbys name coz he the named policy holder for both cars.
how can they do that?...they changed my policy to a policy in his name with me as only a named driver on the policy?......
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
when i spoke to lass wen changin car details and basically cancellin the car policy that I had in hubbys name, the lass said the only change in policy details she noticed was change of name to hubbys name and I was only a named driver so therfor not entitled to no claims bonus in my won right even tho I been with them for 20yrs and had never had any accidents in all that time....... im not happy at all
we both pay our own car insurance and it has been this way since day one....... we had 2 policies and paid 2 policies every month........

[Caspar]

Re: direct line insurance

Why not say you never asked them for the name to be changed and could they please provide proof that this was the case. If they quibble, SAR them and see what they hold about you. If the SAR provides no evidence of you having asked for it to be changed, then surely they have to accept it was their mistake.

Sadly this is of little immediate use to you in getting your car insured now, but you may be able to force them to backdate it, explain the situation to your new insurance company and make sure they write accurate screen notes (ask them to read them back to you!) asking them to review the whole policy cost if you can prove your NCB in one or two months time.

[poochie]

Re: direct line insurance

I have spoken to new insurers already and they have given me a 3mth goodwill grace period which means if I can get direct line to prove my no claims discount then they will back date any discounts on my new policy with them.
I have written letter to direct line asking them when I asked for name change and what information they have regarding this etc before I seek advice on this. I told them, even before name change then I would have accumulated no claims bonus but the people on phone seem unintersted and just garble about speakin to managers and wen I request this I end up gettin cut off........
I will do as you say and wait and see if we can sort this but I am insured with new car with new company and thats the main thing. I am just so angry at how they have done this and how stupid I have been in trusting them with their calls etc and believein they were offerin us bargains as good customers who have been with them years, and then not checking any paperwork which I have checked thru now and cant find anythin datin back over last 7yrs requestin change of name on policy....... Its ridiculous this, how many other customers have they done this to?...... but thanks for your help dear, much appreciated

[WendyB]

Re: direct line insurance

If there is only one policy, then the no claims bonus would usually only be for the person named on the policy (although didn't Direct Line have an advertising campagn about named drivers building up no claims).

We have had one policy for years, with 2 cars on it. Because the policy has always been in my name, then it's me who has the no claims bonus, not my husband. I am anaed as the main driver on one car, and OH as the main driver on the other one, but both cars are insured in my name and I've got the NCD.