Belairdirect Auto Insurance Reviews

I joined Belair during 2016 when they had their big “Accident Forgiveness” campaign. Now, four years later, after my first collision, I find out that accident forgiveness was not added to my policy and no one at any point told me it needed to be added. Then the person on the phone said I could add it with my next car, forgetting that I JUST HAD A COLLISION and am no longer eligible. She made sure to highlight they’re the only Canadian Company offering accident forgiveness, but that doesn’t matter if it can’t actually get it. Once they pay me out for my car I am likely never dealing with them again.

So I'm going to be frank here, hoping someone would learn from my experience. I signed up after shopping around, and they offered the best price, so I'll give them that, they offered a great deal! Annually I got quoted for 1560, since I paid the entire amount, I actually paid 1540! GREAT! Now here is when the trouble starts. 1) the person who set me up made a mistake, apparently. He included a loyalty discount because I was with my previous company for 3 years. I informed him I was with RBC for 3 years, then moved to TD for the past year - he informed me, "No worries, I'll consider the higher years" - WOW, AWESOME, or so I thought. (April 10) 2) April 13, I get a call with the following: "Oh, so sorry, we can't include the discount since the more recent company is only 1 year" - I argue, well, your agent, he'll consider the 3 years. But meh, 5% increase, 100$, WHATEVER! 3) I get another call, "Oh, we discovered your mom is also a co-owner, we require to show her proof of insurance, and your letter of experience, if you can prove that your mom has her own insurance, it won't impact your rate". FANTASTIC! Both documents provided. 4) On April 17, I receive an email, "We made multiple attempts to contact you, please call Belair", on Apr 17, Belair successfully reached me, and requested a letter of experience to prove that the 2 claims are under my mom and not myself - that was provided. 5) On May 22, I receive a letter, "You owe us 755$ because we backdated your insurance to include your mom since she is a co-owner, and we felt that she is a high risk". I wasn't even aware that my policy was changed or updated. 6) Talked to a supervisor, who ensured that if I get my mom out of my ownership, then it'll be easier to start a new policy with only my name. So on May 27, went to service Ontario, got the ownership updated, had to replace my tires, do safety test, total of 600$ expense to get her out of my ownership. Jun 4 I get a new ownership, provide it to Belair, and started talking about new policy. The new policy was 300$ more expensive than the original policy, because the system generates new numbers and now I don't qualify for even 1 year loyalty, because my previous policy was only for 1 month... I decided to cancel. Only at that point did customer service decide to get everything resolved. I talked to her for good 3 hours, and I got nowhere! So, on April 17, they sent me "We were trying to reach you", and they reached me, but apparently it was a different department who reached me, customer service vs agent, and I was supposed to still call Belairdirect even though they were able to call me and request the letter of experience which was provided. They also sent me an email requesting to be contacted on Apr 17, and I responded to their agent. The agent failed to check and see that they need to inform me about the backdating. So from April 17 - May 22 there was no contact, and I was under the assumption that I'm paying 1540, and not aware they increased my policy because my mom (co-owner) was included in my policy, and they decided to increase the price without communication. Even though multiple agents confirmed "If mom has her own insurance, it will NOT impact yours". So let's do some math: I paid 1540/ 12 months= 128.33$ a month. New rate (wasn't aware of, nor approved, nor agreed too) was set up on April 13, and I communicated with Belair on Apr 17, and they "forgot" to mention the increase because it's a different department (advice: ask if the call comes, if the person is customer service, or agent, and continue calling to ensure that your policy hasn't changed, and they didn't backdate your policy and overwrote what YOU agreed too), back to math: (1540+755)/2 = 190, so when I canceled, they charged me the 190 + 5$ since the month is 31 day and not 30 days. So I paid them extra 70$ because they added 755 without my knowledge. On top of that, I paid 600$ to get mom out of my ownership, and they gave me a higher rate 1 month after. I should have stuck with 1540+755 with mom on policy, would have been cheaper. My experience with customer service was good - the people tried their best to resolve the issue, BUT the underwriting department doesn't know what the heck they are doing, each person makes their own rules, and each person gives you a different answer, you qualify for 5% royalty, no, you don't , your mom won't impact you if she has her own insurance, no, it will increase your rate by 755. We will communicate with you to inform you about any update, oops, the person forgot to mention this detail. Belair department don't communicate with each other, so if someone calls, you should call again and again and again to make sure all the departments are satisfied. Best part was when customer service agent asked me to log in to my customer service profile online, and I was never aware I had a profile to check. From my wonderful experience detailed above, I will NEVER ever recommend this company to my worst enemy, I swear I've had panic attacks just dealing with them, and update all the documentations that they requested.

I was just trying to renew my car insurance with this company, last year was $257.00, they just quoted me for the coming year $868.00, same coverage, no accidents !!!! Increase of over 300percent! Why would anyone want to deal with this company?

I was a car owner 4 years ago. I chose Belair because I knew their rates were supposed to be reasonable. I spoke to the sales staff at that time and they explained I could save money on my policy if I didn't take collision. The way they explained that to me was done so in such a way that I wouldn't have thought to take the collision option. I told them this was the first time I was getting insurance and that I needed help understanding. They just kept telling me it was cheaper and better to go without it. So fast forward to the present. Yesterday I got into an accident due to weather. My car hit ice and spun out of control. I rolled my car and landed upside down. I then find out I am not covered for ANYTHING by my insurance except for injury. I walked away totally fine physically, but my car was totalled. So after paying these people thousands for 4 years, and thinking I was covered for something like that, and then to find out that you aren't? It's deplorable. Help new car owners understand what these terms mean!

Upon renewal my policy went from 69$ to over 90$ /mo.
I have no accident or claims history. Was with CDI since new vehicle was bought. Car was 23k, now less than 5k, why are my premiums higher than when it was brand new, and I was younger, less experienced? I have no demerits.
The agent told me premiums have increased for all drivers becauae of an increase in claims in "my category" last year? What category is that? The one where responsible drivers dont have any claims? Nonsense. I believe this is a result if their acquiring CDI and not having automatic consent to pull my credit bureau upon renewal. My credit history has no bearing on my driving. Ive always paid my insurance.
I requested to have a full accounting of exactly why my insurance increased to $90/mo.
The agent said she would see what she could do about that, no guarantee of return call, email or written explanation.
I will not be renewing with Belair.

I was involved in a collision in which, as it turned out, I was not at fault for the collision in which I was involved. However, the claims department did an extremely poor job at investigating the claim (if that can be called an investigation at all) and they ended up assigning to me the wrong fault determination rule, making me 100%. I spoke with my adjuster, other frontline agents and even supervisors and all seem to be one worst than the other, one more contemptuous than the other. In the end, I had to take the court route to get some justice and that yielded the expected results. The company seems to be dysfunctional from the beginning to the end, it's not just an issue of one rogue employee; it's systemic.

Not Impressed. Belairdirect goes out of their way to market themselves toward students and those who are on tight budgets via promotions like their student discount however their service reflects nothing of the sort. I was in an accident that was not my fault and after being treated like a criminal by the ASSURED Mississauga representative my insurance company sent me to the Belairdirect test and repair centre for a more “polished” experience, they said. It was awesome that when I got to the centre the staff was great at kissing my ass and pretending like they cared about my negative experience. It is unfortunate that none of those niceties could fix my car. Instead, it sat at their office for more than three weeks before they decided to touch it, suddenly; miraculously, the car would not turn on. My trusty insurance company then proceeded to call me to let me know that they were not responsible for my car not starting and wanted to charge me upwards of $1,000 worth of “non-accident related damage.” When I responded with questions – the brain dead staff resembled something of a broken record player repeating, “you are responsible to cover this damage as it is not accident related, your total is…” (pretty cold for a company that markets towards people with low income). When I explained that this was not a possibility for me at that time, they agreed to tow my car home. I find it hilarious that I drove my car there to be fixed and now it is being towed back in WORSE condition than when it started. Cherry on top: They took the rental back and had misplaced my car. I had to walk to work at 5 am for over a week without a vehicle while making car payments for a car I couldn’t even fix or use because the insurance company continued to make broken promises of when they would be contacting me to bring my car home. My car was finally returned to me over a week left with parts they damaged sitting on and staining my passenger side seat. What is the point of paying for insurance if they lose and break the very thing you are trying to insure. biggest scam i have ever been involved in in my entire life. If the goal was for me to walk away without a shred of faith in humanity, the company did their job of not caring! Silver lining: thank you to Belairdirect for making me realize I can make it through life without my car and it is worth every second I save not dealing with their garbage.

They make it seem like the Automerit program is a technological breakthrough but it's just a dumb device that records your speed. The software that analyzes the data determines if your speed increased or decreased quickly within 1 second and penalizes you accordingly. It's such a methodotical approach with absolutely no customization. It's not enough that they treat their customers like numbers... They should open their eyes and realize that drivers brake and accelerate on a daily basis without any risks. The Automerit program is like having a driving instructor looking at a spreadsheet at home and criticizing your driving.

I was involved in an accident where I was evidently not at fault. Sent them photos to prove it as well. Not only they condemned me to being partially at fault and destroyed my clean driving records, but after 10 years of being their royal costumer, they totally disregarded their "no premium change after first at fault accident" and increased my premium by 2.5 times.

I was involved in an accident where I was evidently not at fault. Sent them photos to prove it as well. Not only they condemned me to being partially at fault and destroyed my clean driving records, but after 10 years of being their royal costumer, they totally disregarded their "no premium change after first at fault accident" and increased my premium by 2.5 times.