2 May 2014

Direct Line results reiterate the importance of checking your insuance renewal carefully

First quater results from major insurer Direct Line indicate their premiums are falling by a lot less than their competitors

Today Direct Line, the insurer who derive over 40% of their income from motor insurance, have said that they are managing to hold premiums at a higher rate than many of their competitors.

Whilst the average premium of comprehensive motor policy in the UK has fallen by 19.1% (source Confused.com/Towers Watson) policies written by Direct Line fell by only 4% with their Gross Written Premium down 10.2%.

Direct Line, who also own the brands of Churchill, Privilege and Green Flag stated that their intention is to put maintaining margins ahead of policy volumes.

Whilst this may be good news for investors (and their share price rose on the publication of these results) it does indicate that that their policyholders who are approaching renewal would be well advised to carry out out a price comparison through MoneyMaxim's car insurance comparison service.

We have seen a number of instances where long standing Direct Line policyholders have made significant savings by changing insurer, and the latest statements suggest that this is even more likely to be the case in the coming months. Direct Line customers are therefore urged to research whether their renewal premium is competitive before accepting the offer.