Following the very positive reports on NFU I decided to get a quote.

Would have been happy to pay a £50-100 premium over other good insurers for the benefits of their high quality customer reputation.

They were about double the cost! It is clear you get what you paid for. Other companies largely compete on price - low price and hassle free fair insurance are incompatible.

Direct Line are not alone in unfair pay outs. Just try and prove what is fair from a customer standpoint.

As any schoolteacher will tell you, the concept of fairness can be hard to agree on. Insurance companies have to be sure a claim is valid before compensating their client for any losses. I am sure you would not encourage another rash of contrived rear-end shunts at roundabouts ?

Surely Car and house insurance are a bit different. Car insurance is legally compulsory and house insurance is not and you would be foolish to not insure either. As to car values for insurance well this is often difficult to assess a bit like valuing you car as a trade in. The mileage and condition play a big part in its value. On a car claim your cars mileage and therefore value plays a big part. You would however expect to get near to a RETAIL VALUE so you could buy another... One can only imagine that the body monitoring car claims have had many complaints about Direct Line. DL incidentally do not appear on comparison websites but their premiums must be comparable. Who ever the insurance company is I cannot imagine one being over generous and all will be very diligent if you have to make a claim.