Direct Insurance

An insurance policy bought by you directly from the insurance provider is called direct insurance. In this type of insurance, no one besides you and the insurance company is involved in the purchase of the policy. With direct insurance evolving into a strong insurance industry, this type of insurance is now available for categories such as life, home, contents, ski, travel, pet, holiday, medical and commercial vehicles.

Factors to Consider in a Direct Insurance Company

While choosing a company for buying direct insurance, consider the following factors:

An insurance policy bought by you directly from the insurance provider is called direct insurance. In this type of insurance, no one besides you and the insurance company is involved in the purchase of the policy. With direct insurance evolving into a strong insurance industry, this type of insurance is now available for categories such as life, home, contents, ski, travel, pet, holiday, medical and commercial vehicles.

Factors to Consider in a Direct Insurance Company

While choosing a company for buying direct insurance, consider the following factors:

• Coverage options: Check the number of coverage options offered by them. A good direct insurance should offer all types of coverage for all types of policies.

• Support services: These services include technical support and customer service. While the company should provide courteous, prompt, informative, patient and helpful customer service, it should also be clear, concise, understanding and accommodating while providing technical support.

• Payment options: While there are some insurers who do not offer customers the choice of paying their premium through direct debit, others offer only the annual premium payment option. This causes immense inconvenience to customers, especially those in the middle- and low-income groups. Choose companies that offer various payment options, such as immediate, periodic and annual, and allow payments through direct debit, cash and credit card.[br]

• Products offered: Insurers dealing in single categories offer limited service and discounts. Search for direct insurers  that offer a range of insurance products, such as travel, medical, dental, property, home, contents, car and vehicle. Insurers offering multiple insurance policies and products often give attractive discounts if their customers buy more than one insurance policy from them.

• Discounts: Several direct insurance companies offer various discounts to gain a competitive edge and attract more customers. These discounts could be offered to old and new customers. Discount options include online discounts, no-claims discount, home emergency discount, more-than-one pet discount and winter-sports discount. 

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Benefits of Buying Direct Insurance

 

The demand for direct insurance is increasing. The following are the reasons for this shift from the traditional method:

• Independent agents are in this business for money. They usually add their profits into their insurance quote. Their fees are directly proportional to the market position of the insurance company. If you buy your insurance policy directly from a company, you will end up saving the costs associated with these middlemen.
• Although these middlemen provide several services at low costs, the overall cost of all these services is significantly high, if you consider the higher rate you are paying for the same insurance coverage.
• When you buy an insurance policy from a middleman, you are always dealing with him/her and rarely do you have any interaction with your insurance company. With direct insurance, you would have direct access to and communication with the insurance company, you would be aware of various services, such as emergency pick-up vehicles and tie-ups with car service centers. With the removal of the intermediate layer, you can receive benefits of these services without delay, whenever you are in need.
• By opting for direct insurance, you might be able to work out cheaper premiums and flexible payments schedules, in case of need.

You may also receive additional covers, apart from the standard covers that your policy provides.

With the rising popularity of direct insurance, several insurance companies have started providing this facility. To receive the best direct insurance policy, you need to research before making a decision.

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Direct Car Insurance

Direct car insurance is the insurance that you purchase directly from a car insurance firm rather than through a broker. Depending on your requirements, direct car insurance may cover physical injuries, damage to your car, collisions and theft.

Factors that Influence Direct Car Insurance

There are various factors that play an important role in deciding the cost of direct car insurance, such as:

• Car model: Expensive cars attract theft and thus are seen as a risky proposition. Insurance companies often hike the premium for expensive cars.

• Residence: The kind of locality you live in and its traffic conditions let the insurance company calculate the probability of accidents.

• Marital status: Statistics show that single people tend to be reckless drivers and therefore insurance companies charge them a higher premium.

• Credit history: Drivers with bad credit history are considered to a risk in terms of timely premium payments. Therefore, car insurance companies increase the premium to balance the risk.

• Driving record: Driving recklessly reflects badly on the driving history and such drivers are charged higher premiums. 

   

• Claim record: Owners driving safely or taking care of maintenance and petty repairs are given no claim discounts. Also, checking the claim records gives an insight into the kind of accidents or repairs that have been done on the car.

• Car usage: Longer distances increase the probability of accidents. Therefore, higher premiums are levied on vehicles that are used for longer distance.

• Gender: Women are considered safer drivers and insurance companies give them some leeway in premiums.

• Age: Drivers younger than 25 or older than 60 are considered risky by car insurance companies and therefore their premiums tend to be higher.

Direct Car Insurance: How to Save Money

There are different ways of decreasing the premium of your direct car insurance. The first way is to decrease the amount of distance the car is used for and get safety equipments installed. For this, one should always check the list of approved security equipments to ensure that the investment in installation is not wasted.

Another way to decrease the premium is to buy other insurance policies from the same company that issues you the direct car insurance.