Bell Direct is an insurance company part of the Admiral Group offering insuring services
Service
Naturally if you are looking for car insurance you would shop around to look for the cheapest deal. In my opinion the greatest thing the Bell offered when calling around was a complete comprehensive ... Read review
Compare Car Insurance Quotes at
Quotezone? Our quote technology compares
quotes from leading car insurance
companies and brokers in real time, so
you only have to Fill in One Form to
Compare lots of reputable Insurers!
Advantages: Great customer and general speed and services provision Disadvantages: To stay loyal after declaring points is near impossible
Bell Direct is an insurance company part of the Admiral Group offering insuring services
===Service===
Naturally if you are looking for car insurance you would shop around to look for the cheapest deal. In my opinion the greatest thing the Bell offered when calling around was a complete comprehensive detail of the facts in a highly commendable manner. The only downsite was they use 0870 or 0844 numbers which aren't exactly ... ...I think this is where Bell are clever in their subtle wordings in order for people to renew. Bell certainly address customers in such a way that they rather say ok. But when one takes the trouble to look, the premium that goes down is only by a small percentage. For example, 1 yr NCB £527, next year renewal was £489. After the third year (30months) it went to £424. If you go to Bell as a new customer with 3years you would get a cheaper quote (believe ... more
Bell Direct is an insurance company part of the Admiral Group offering insuring services
Service
Naturally if you are looking for car insurance you would shop around to look for the cheapest deal. In my opinion the greatest thing the Bell offered when calling around was a complete comprehensive detail of the facts in a highly commendable manner. The only downsite was they use 0870 or 0844 numbers which aren't exactly cheap. But generally I found the staff very useful.
Price
Bell, are cheap and offer good invitation prices with perks thrown in. Except, I found that whatever promotion to get you to sign up is getting a cheap quote, that cheap policy does not last. And they are cheap to under 25's, the odd penalty points and non- NCB's compared to competitors. When I first took out a policy, they were efficient and cheap offering monthly instalments or pay in full.
Policies
Policies are the usual straightforward underwritten car insurance. That is 3rd Party and Comprehensive. Provided you do not make a claim or incur penalty points you tend to get a good deal especially if you take out legal and personal assisstance. I have had both 3rd party and fully comprehensive insurance with them and generally have been impressed by the clear and concise places of reference for claims and procedures. All your documents are all in one pack ie certificate, schedule, and othe information. One of their policies is that they have is their 10 month accelerator policy ie giving you a full years NCB after only 10. However, this is useful only if you need to build up you NCB pretty fast, but you can be decieved into thinking you premium is cheap since it covers you only for 10 months rather than 12. Per month it costs more. But for that you get a discount built in your NCB the following year.
Renewals
Now this is the clever and efficient bit about Bell. Towards the end of your policy they send out a renewal letter stating your period of cover and the need to renew. But rather than 'troubling' you, they say that we need to do nothing as they will renew automatically unless I wish to cancel. Naturally, people won't want to ring their 0844, 0871 numbers and certainly don't wish for the hassle. Also if there are no claims then the discount is applied and the premium is cheaper.
There is however, one problem, and I think this is where Bell are clever in their subtle wordings in order for people to renew. Bell certainly address customers in such a way that they rather say ok. But when one takes the trouble to look, the premium that goes down is only by a small percentage. For example, 1 yr NCB £527, next year renewal was £489. After the third year (30months) it went to £424. If you go to Bell as a new customer with 3years you would get a cheaper quote (believe me I've tried it!).
Claims or convictions
The one thing great about Bell is how it handles its claims. Speed and efficiency is brilliant with Bell whether it is your fault or not. They will be ready and on hand throughout the procedure to clear an open case whoever is liable. And suprisingly, by making a claim which maybe a 50/50 or possibly personal fault, they take away your NCB by 2 years, but they will do with non-prejudice. ie they will not substantially increase your premium since was not fully established. However, liability if blatantly yours then naturally prices will increaase.
Convictions for Driving Offences. To be honest I was quite happy with Bell, for their customer service and other bits and pieces. But they shoot themselves in the feet over petty and honest declerations, Currently, I have two vehicles insured, one for my business and one personal. The business vehicle is insured for £980 for 12 months with 7 years NCB with another company. The other is insured with Bell with 3 years NCB and just over £400. Both were renewed this autumn. One unfortunate problem though which had to be declared. In the summer I picked two SP30's in as many months. Both in the space of 6weeks of each other on a licence which was relatively clean.
This is the strange thing, which caused me to cancel with Bell. The six points acquired were a problem for the Bell insurance, but not a penny was added to the Business vehicle. Bell reassessed the premium and quoted me a whopping £840 for my car insurance. Naturally, I protested and they went away and tried to discount. They came back with a £66 discount. Relectantly I initially accepted after protesting.
But when I went to the same company who insure my business vehicle for private insurance for my car, they gave me on 3yrs NCB a quote of £356! Wow! I jumped at it and immediately cancelled with Bell.
Final thought
I woudn't necessarly lay the blame squarely on Bell for me cancelling, but the industry generally is competive and works to invite customers in then make the most money out them when they stick. So in essence, when renewal comes up, insurance companies will never give you the best deal, but when you look around you tend to find a much better deal. Having said that, I stuck with Bell because of the level of service and the ease of use, and for that to pay a little extra is not so bad, but obviously within reason. Remember, also that Bell is not a broker, it operates as many companies do under its own underwriting (or Admiral's) which makes things operate far faster than a broker who keeps chasing the underwriting company for processing or decisions. So, in my view, Bell Direct is a great company to have insurance from but limits itself to certain criteria. If you fall outside expect your premiums to be higher than normal, if you are inside then you will normally have a realtively cheap and smooth policy with them, Just don't get points on your licence!!Thanks - Mak 2008
Advantages: Cover is by far the cheapest around Disadvantages: Their customer service is not great
Bell Direct were recommended to me by a friend who found that they were by far the cheapest insurers for under 25s. I gave them a call and found this to be true. At the time (January 2002) I was getting quotes for a 1993 Fiesta 1.1 and they were coming in at £600+ and a lot of companies wouldn't even touch me as I had just passed my test and had no previous No Claims Bonuses. I got a quote from Bell Direct and it was £445 for a 10 month accelerator ... ...complete.
This was returned to Bell Direct and I received correspondence from them to say that they had decided that I was to blame. I called to discuss this and the person I spoke to was adamant that I was to blame but misquoted the details that I had filled in on the form and even though the other driver left the scene of the accident after hitting my car and then had not reported it to the Police as I had done. I felt they were basing a decision ...
ruth23 07.05.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bell Direct
Advantages: Competetive prices, covers imported vehicles Disadvantages: Sometimes there is a phone queue
...new home in the UK, Bell direct is not one of those. Bell will not only give a competitive quote on the chassis number but will offer an incetive to you in the form of extra no claims bonus on other vehicles you own if you transfer them across as well.
The staff are extremely helpful and it does not matter how many times you say the word 'import' it is like water of a duck's back. All their car insurance policy include European cover. All you need ... ...is a chassis number and collection date in due course.
Bell Direct are on a freephone 0800 140 181 and they also do 10 month starter policies which, if you renew at the end gives you a no claims bonus.
All in all, I was very pleased with the service. ...
tazzii 13.09.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bell Direct
Advantages: Good service Disadvantages: Cannot think of one.
...well for young drivers.I was getting qoutes for a 1988 BMW 320i of £600 until i got one with bell of 299 which also included protected no claims bonus....bit of a bargain.
I would recommend people to try them and pay by credit card....you save an extra 10 percent!! ...
bazza1603 03.12.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bell Direct
...when my car would arrive, Bell had not informed them I should recieve a car so they hung up - which left me having to contact Bell (again) and wait several days for the paper work to be completed, then chasing (again) for the car to be sent out - this was pretty indicative of the customer service in general...
They may be cheap, but if you are unfortunate enough for anything to go wrong you will spend literally hours and hours on the phone. Worse ...
nickandzoe 07.03.2008
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bell Direct
Advantages: Very competitive rates, excellent customer service, very efficient Disadvantages: None
Bell Direct are an excellent company, with extremely good customer service and very competitive prices, certainly for young drivers (under 25's) like myself. When i bought my new car at 18 i hunted around and got the cheapest quote i could (not Bell Direct), and i was reasonably happy with it, but when next year came, and it was renewal time, they sent me a renewal quote for over £200 more than i paid the previous year. So started to hunt around ... ...that Bell Direct were the cheapest by quite a long way, and they also do a Bonus Accelerator scheme, for people who haven't achieved there maximum no claims bonus yet. Basically this is where you pay and receive 10 months of cover, but after that 10 months you get a full years no claims discount (official), which is a good idea. So although i had not heard of Bell Direct before, i decided to go with them, and was very happy with the level of service, ...
Mikebabs1 06.09.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bell Direct
Competitiveness of APR
Comprehensiveness of ra...
Product package
Efficiency of service
Value for money
Online - Content/organi...
Online - Reliability/sp...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Bell Direct"
Advantages: Cheap Disadvantages: Not cheerful, inefficient
A subsidiary of Admiral is a company called BellDirect. They insured me in respect of my car until recently.
Unfortunately, the company proved wholly incapable of getting anything right - they got confused as to the length of my policy (giving me a 9 month instead of 12 month duration), they completely messed up my address, they lost my certificate of insurance when I eventually cancelled and they took ages to send a refund of premium to me following the policy's cancellation. All in all not very satisfactory.
It would nice if an apology would have been forthcoming but that was elusive as well. At least they were the cheapest when I obtained quotes but it makes you think what would have happened if I had cause to make a claim!! ...
KerryC 14.08.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Admiral
Advantages: Price and possibly a household name Disadvantages: Unfair Terms & Conditions
The Admiral Group comprise BellDirect, Hastings, Admiral, Elephant.co.uk and Diamond amongst their better known names.
I was insured with Admiral in 2001 for my MINI Cooper and admit that I didn't bother to read the Terms and Conditions.
Admiral have a clause called the "Standard Parts Replacement Clause" which is used by all their variant named companies. OK so what does this mean? Let's take my MINI as an example. The base price of a MINI Cooper is £11,300. With various options it pushed the price to over £15,000. Admiral would charge an additional premium for the larger wheels and other options, BUT, in the event of a claim they would only pay out for a standard car. So if I totalled my MINI in the first year, Admiral would only give me a standard £11,300 MINI without any options that I had paid the additional premium to cover ...
dietcokeplease 01.07.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Admiral
Advantages: Cost, good customer service Disadvantages: Site is a little slow
I have recently obtained insurance for my supposedly high risk car - an Elise Sport 160 which lies in insurance group 20 (the highest unfortunately). Some of the quotes received made me regret buying a car which I otherwise love.
Elephant is a company within the Admiral (Insurance) group. Perhaps surprisingly, Admiral and BellDirect (also a group member) all have similar on line quoting facilities. All of the quotes received were competitive but Elephant was substantially cheaper. Elephant is also the only one which is soley internet based.
The site itself is let down by being fairly slow. However, the beauty of on line quoting is that different options can be examined - it was, for example, cheaper for my fiancee to be a named driver on my policy than for just me. This seems bizarre but is true!
Eventually the quote ...
Kristian 22.05.2001 (23.05.2001)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Elephant.co.uk
