Belairdirect Auto Insurance Reviews

Canadian Direct sold out to Belair - never had a claim or violation over 50 years. Belair more than doubled the premium. Without your approval, they try to go into your credit check - no reason for the check but no one ever authorized. This company is from HELL

... I am done with these idiots ( sorry for my language ). They are nothing but time wasters. Used to be a very happy client in QC with BelAir but when I moved to ON, I noticed they were more expensive. Ok, no hard feelings. I tried the following years again and we never got back together. On the weekend I went on their website and, whoops, they were $ 1,000 lower than my present insurer. So I called just to be on the safe side and all of a sudden the price goes up by $ 500. Still cheaper but I do not like to be screwed around. Living in Brampton, ON is already punishment enough from these insurance thieves. Anyway - NEVER EVER will I deal with BelairDirect.

So I'm in BC, my rate was 45 a month. This year on renewal I get a 57% increase. No explanation of why on renewal. Calling customer support is fruitless. Oh, rates have gone up across the board. I ask specifically why and they tell me it is proprietary. (Best excuse ever) I say what are the factors? Run around, they say, maybe the car is expensive to fix (2010 matrix), maybe it is my postal code. How about we try to increase your deductible to save you money? I went to ICBC, which is the most expensive, and their quote was for less. Mind you, they were pleasant when telling me no info and they didn't have a long wait. Is this enough? Um no...

Terrible company, their rates SUCK and their customer support is REALLY BAD! So I recently had an accident claim that wasn't even my fault and instead of calling me to discuss it, they send me a letter saying they won't renew my insurance, so guess I'll call instead to find out what's going on? Yeah, I'm disputing the accident now and have to wait for some lazy rep to call me back. I wouldn't bother with this terrible company and find something better than this garbage insurance.

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.

My wife's -15 rating and no accidents and no tickets and 33 years of driver experience yielded a renewal increase on her Lexus of over 30% due to start this coming July. I thought there must be an error and called. The excuse was everyone's going up and luxury cars are expensive to fix... insisting there was no error on the premium. And the young man had a real negative attitude towards customer respect. I also have a spotless record, -15 with 38 years licensed and insured. Was with Canadian Direct since they started up and got pushed over to Belair with the take over of CDI. During that transition, I got hosed for over 15%. I am currently shopping as I plan to leave these guys, 2 autos and home insurance. Retiring later this year and I feel uncomfortable that they will continue to raise rates. I do not trust Belair after this second hike in premiums.

Got 'stuck' with Belairdirect when they took over Canadian Direct. When it came to renew, I had to fight for a comparable premium rate through many emails and phone conversations. Very reluctantly, they finally agreed to the minimum mandatory liability in Alberta of $200,000. Time to renew this year and they have increased my premium a whopping 30.5% for no reason! When I complained, they cited 'statistics' (everyone knows statistics can be manipulated) but my research on the internet does not support any legitimate increase of this magnitude. I am so tired of insurance companies trying to screw over the customer just because they can (no regulatory body monitors their business practices) and they also spend tons of money to woo brokers to recommend their business -- instead of just being transparent, ethical and reasonable with their customers. What a frickin' scam!

Worst customer service. Worst Management, worst company I ever see in Canada. Please take a movement to read and know more about this company if you want to avoid high Blood pressure and save your money. DON’T believe and don’t trust those people. I had been more than six years with CDI. Unfortunately, one day they switched me to Belairdirect. They promised that everything will be the same. But that never happened. The same day they raised up the price 20% for two auto policies. When I called, they said everyone rose up. The second year the same happened: they raised them again another 20% although I never had any claim or any tickets. I walked in and discussed with one of their agent. I asked why you raise up the price without any reasons?? She answered: "We had so many claims this year and the company paid too much money to cover them". I asked: "But I didn’t get any claims or tickets. I have been with CDI. The price never rose up. On the contrary, they used to give me yearly 10% discount because I never had any accidents or tickets. Plus they gave me a lot of benefits such as: Family Protection Endorsement Comprehensive Cover - Limited Glass Accident Forgiveness (Accident rating waiver endorsement) PLUS PAC - OPTION B: Loss of Use, Legal Liability for Damage to Non-Owned Automobiles and Emergency Service Expense endorsements". She tried to push me to accept some reduction of my coverage to try to reduce the price. It is a fake way to rise up the price. After pressure, I did accept. This year is the fourth. Again. The same stupid conversation. Same question. Why you raised up the price again?? The agent answered: "We had a lot of claims, cost the company too much. And all the clients are in the same pool". I asked: "Is it fair to take money from me and give it to careless drivers and the bad drivers?" He answered: "If you need to fix a pumper, it will cost more than what you pay". I told him "this is the nature of your business like so many other insurance companies. You don’t do special things. If your owners of this company are not happy with this business, they have to shut it down". Anyway. I am so sorry if my notes big. But I wouldn’t give any quarter star but unfortunately, the minimum is one. I am looking now for another company and will leave it soon.

I thought my 60% increase was bad compared to some of your stories but they are just ripping everyone off. As soon as they took Canadian Direct over, things went downhill fast

I've been a driver since 1968. I had 2 accidents (minor) - one in 1970 and one in 1972. Not one since. I joined "Grey Power" because they offered decent prices for older drivers with good driving records. I was satisfied with them for several years and then Belairdirect took over. The good rates continued (I have a Mercedes and a Porsche Cayenne) both cars are over 10 years old and well-maintained. This year there was a 40% increase in rates and being a trusting, old fool I didn't notice the increase for 3 months. I know they have to pay for the guy in the suit of armour telling us on television how great Belairdirect is... to me they are dismal thieves. I am changing companies and advise others to keep on shopping! Belairdirect is a horrible choice - I don't think my experience is unique.