Belairdirect Auto Insurance Reviews

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.

After three months of telling them to cancel my renewal, they continued to charge me till my lawyers got involved. Now it's a battle to get it back. Do not use them

For the past 2 years I have had a home & auto policy with Belairdirect. My premiums are coming due in July. I recently got a letter from them stating that my policy's will have to be paid in full upon renewal. I have never missed a payment and have had no claims. So I called and spoke to some "well-trained customer service person" that kept telling me that we didn't meet the criteria for the monthly payments. I asked what the criteria was. He just kept saying that we didn't meet the current criteria. So I asked to speak with his supervisor. He told me that someone would contact me later that day. I'm still waiting. So I called the next day and got some other "well-trained customer service person" on the phone. Each time that I asked him a question, he kept going back to his script saying that the company was changing its policy. He couldn't tell me why we were not allowed to pay monthly anymore. After speaking to him for 30 minutes and getting nowhere, I demanded to speak with a supervisor. He said that someone would call me back, to which I replied "not on your life am I hanging up until I speak with someone". So I waited on hold for another 10 minutes. A supervisor came on the line. I asked him the same question. Why are we not allowed to make monthly payments anymore and just what criteria did we not meet. He told me that in Alberta they have had many delinquent accounts, cancelled policies, and basically (my words) deadbeats. He said that the company was moving toward a full payment for their policies. He couldn't or wouldn't tell me if this was for everyone or just select customers. At no time would he tell me why we're going to be asked to make a full payment in order to renew our policy. It was like being in the Twilight Zone. You could ask any question you wanted, but they only had one answer and they kept repeating it over and over. So that was an hour of my life that I will never get back. Needless to say, we are searching for a new insurance provider. If I had read some of these reviews, I'm sure that I would not be adding my own frustrating experience for your reading pleasure.

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

1. Was told 3 different dates for adjuster to see my car 2. Was told 3 different dates for car rental coverage (which I paid for and am covered for) 3. Was hung up on 3 times 4. Asked to speak to my claim manager and was told she (Shauna) was in a meeting all day 5. Adjuster didn’t want to fix all damages and scratches 6. Adjuster wanted to cheaply fix damages. All of this is under premium insurance, mind you. They throw technicalities and formalities at you when you aren’t satisfied with the poor service and rude staff members. Every time I called to try to resolve a problem, they would issue a new problem. Nothing but headaches. And they do not hold themselves accountable for what comes out of their staff members mouths. Never ever get insurance from these bum crooks. Worst company ever!!!

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.

I went with Belair because my parents were currently with them. Once I was set up, I was quoted at $115. I then received an e-mail informing me of a policy change to $165. I called them to ask about it and was told that they do not need to have my permission or a discussion with me to increase my rates. By the time I received the paperwork in the mail, it was over $200. The paperwork also informed me of the interest on monthly payments that I was told did not exist when I asked. I contacted them to verify that the first payment was taken out okay and received confirmation by 2 different employees that it had been. I then got a call that it was not taken out because my banking information was wrong even though it was all correct. They wanted me to pay by credit card. When I cancelled, they disputed that they were an unorganized company and tried to make me pay by credit card again. I told them to send something in the mail that I can pay with online banking and that will be it. They continued to charge me for 2 months, even though I was only with them a week plus an inconvenience fee because they could not remove the payment . They said I was lying about the two emails confirming it was paid. Happy just to pay them the amount so they never get another penny from me.