Pros: Cover is by far the cheapest around
Cons: Their customer service is not great

Recommend to potential buyers: no

Full review
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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 policy (this is where you pay for 10 months but it is the equivalent of a full years no claims bonus at the end of the term) I thought this was a good idea because the sooner you build up a decent amount of No claims the cheaper your insurance becomes.
You can pay monthly or pay in one go.

Obtaining a qoute:
You can either call them direct on 0800 140 180 or check out the web site www.belldirect.co.uk. Both methods are quick and relatively painless. The website is simple to use and the staff are very helpful so the choice is yours.

Ways of reducing the premium:
I found that if you add a named driver to your policy (someone who has a clean licence and hasn't made any claims in the last 5 years) it actually reduces it slightly. I think I saved an extra £40 by adding my Dad to the policy. You can also get a further 10% discount if you pay by credit card

Customer Service:
I found the advisers to be very helpful and the service provided was excellent. After arranging the insurance my pack containing all my documents arrived the next day in a proffesional and helpful wallet.
I was so impressed with the service I received that I renewed my policy after my 10 months were up.

However:
During my second policy I had an accident and someone drove into the side of my car and drove off. I reported it to the police and informed my insurance company of what had happened. The woman was helpful, noted all the details and said an accident form would be sent to me to 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 on incorrect information and asked for the accident form to be looked at again by a supervisor, but they still came back with the response that it was my fault.
In the end the Police closed the file because no one had come forward. This only, to me, supported the fact that the accident was not my fault.

I think the reason why I was so dissapointed was because you pay a premium so that if anything happens you have something to fall back on, but they were so quick to point the finger at me based on the wrong information that it seemed a way for them to get out of any costs they might incur for fighting a claim made, but because it never went any further than that I cannot base that on experience.

I cancelled my policy after that because of the way I was treated. With something as important as insurance I would rather pay a bit extra and know 100% that I would be taken care of by a company. It is something to bear in mind when buying insurance that the cheapest option is not necessarily the best and it really is a shame because up until that point I would have recommended their services to anyone.

Thanks for reading

Ruth

More details
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Competitiveness of APR Average
Comprehensiveness of range of products Average
Product package Good
Efficiency of service Good
Value for money Good
Online - Content/organization of site Good
Online - Reliability/speed of site Good
Online - Ease of applying for products Good
Online - Pre-purchase information Good