Belairdirect Auto Insurance Reviews

My Albertan Car Insurance renewal premium increased by 9% for 2020-2021 - this when I had no claims in 2019 (minor one in 2018), plus I recently retired (so no driving to work), plus my wife (retired nurse) and I are now on a fixed pensionable income), plus I changed from high risk, downtown condo address with monthly break-ins to a garaged, suburban residential address - and all this when Alberta has suffered severe economic downturn due to collapse in oil price, plus COVID/pandemic economic hardship and massive job losses across Canada... So despite this, my car insurance premium INCREASED by 9%. I phoned to query and wasn't given a satisfactory explanation or justification. I will definitely move insurance companies. Price gouging for seniors nor appreciated.

Rates were pretty competitive and customer service was good on the sales side but found very different treatment when I had to make a claim. Zero fault auto claim started with high pressure, low ball offer when they wrote off my truck. When I asked questions about the settlement amount, the adjuster started cancelling my extras, like no extension on my rental car. That was followed by threats of storage fees applied to my wrecked vehicle if I did not settle by a certain date. After being bullied into accepting their offer, they took two weeks to release my claim amount citing COVID delays. I certainly wasn't allowed the same courtesy.

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.

I've made three claims with this company, once for my home, which was NOT paid, and twice for my vehicle, one of which was an at-fault accident. We paid for accident forgiveness, and then we had an at-fault accident and my insurance spiked by about $450 per year. Why am I paying for something and not receiving it? I am sure if I followed up with them, I would get a bunch of excuses about industry standards, blah, blah... but considering for that first claim, I had to shell out an extra $1200 for OM parts when my vehicle was brand new, that blather isn't going to be well-received. The insurance adjuster for that at-fault claim was an absolute incompetent on a power trip. I would be changing insurance companies if I could. But of course, without already having accident forgiveness with another company, we're pretty much screwed for a couple of years.

Unhappy with the news today. Got an email this morning about an "updated policy". Because my app on the phone to monitor my driving habits was not used in over 30 days, my account was cancelled, and all the discount associated with it. 6 months of good driving data, disappeared.
Had a discount of $~45 per month after I've been using this Automerit App, and now the monthly has increased by $90.

Talking to them over the phone, they say that the premium is something about making up the difference since I have pre-payments going on for the term. I thought this discount would be permanent, but no luck. Now I have to be monitored for another 6 months.

My family has been with BelairDirect, also under Intact Insurance for many years. I was involved in a hit and run accident in 2018 at 0645 am and filed a collision report and report it to insurance. Because there were no witnesses or dash cams, the company was unable to determine which driver was at fault even if the person who caused the crash failed to stop after an accident. With the license plate number and the description of the car in hand, I was still unable to prove that I was not at fault. The police investigation was poorly done where a call was made to the driver's company (the vehicle was part of a company fleet insurance policy) and the driver had denied the hit, claimed that I had hit him. Intact was only able to offer me a 50/50 claim, my car wasn't worth fixing as it is an older model, it would not have benefitted me to claim anything to fix the vehicle at that point. The rep who handled my claim was unwilling to help me investigate further and come to terms with the other party's insurance policy. Simply told me there is no way around it. The claims representative failed to document the many phone calls exchanged between the times I had called in to inquire, and also left me voicemails to say that I had not been able to be reached within 2 months when I have called to their company during working hours to no response. Then the case was closed because "they were unable to contact me". Fast forward 1 year later, I had switched insurance companies and am with a new policy. The new company was able to offer me a competitive rate since the claim on my file was at 0% fault. I was just notified by my new company that BelairDirect had gone back, a year later and made changes to my claim, making it my fault for what had previously happened. Now the new company needs to increase my rate to +$130 a month because of this. I had called back to Belair to inquire about this new "change" and they claimed nothing was changed. Beware of this company, they are not looking to help you with your claim. The reps are misleading and want you to take the route that will benefit the company. On top of that, after I had sent my vehicle to Assured Collision for a quote on the repair, the rep had gone MIA and pretended that she has not received the report.

I received two letters dated the same day from Belairdirect. One letter informed me that "given the age of the vehicle, we would like".. "you send us photos of your vehicle, taken from all sides, within 30 days." The other letter informed me that "after careful review of the policy", which I have been holding for more than 20 years, "and based on new information"..." your collision and comprehensive deductibles have been increased to $1000". That means more than double. The agent on the phone was not able to clarify what "new information" it was referring to. Is it common to have the deductible raised abruptly once the car is 20 years old? There was no inquiry about any technical or mechanical data or maintenance etc. It seems to me that this company is making decisions arbitrarily trying to appear as objective and reasonable as possible. As numerous posts mentioned already, this is not a reliable alternative to the only (mandatory) ICBC. Drivers in BC have little freedom of choice.

My car insurance rates virtually doubled in the two years I have had my current car. No claims, no accidents, no changes to my policy. Phoned to discuss and they admitted that they had gone up a lot but hoped they would level off in the next few years. Unbelievable!!

Been with Belair for 5 years. This past summer 2018 I had a comprehensive claim as I was hit by a flying tire from another driver, who got charged $5000 in damage to my new 2017 Ram truck. The insurance was handled by Intact, who is the underwriter for Belairdirect. Firstly, they tried delaying the process because of a $5 per day difference in towing company charges for storage. Finally, I intervened and got that settled because they wanted to sue the towing company while my truck was in their compound and not at the dealer getting fixed, which could take weeks in the court system. After that, they were great (Intact Adjuster) and fixed my vehicle, no problems. Come Renewal of all things, they hiked my rates up by 30% and even though I still had a 22% discount using their automerit program, it was a huge increase. I called with my concerns of the rate hike even though I wasn't at fault but still had a claim. They offered a further 5% for my wife if she used automerit. I said ok, no problem. The guy on the phone was courteous and helpful and said he would get that done. A week later I get a letter telling me my wife doesn't qualify for the automerit program and rates won't change. I then called Cooperators Group and was offered a rate 35% less than Belair, and I told them I had the claim etc, they did a background check to verify and still honoured the rate $600 less than Belairdirect. Suffice to say, I cancelled my renewal with Belairdirect. Any claim and they hike the rates up on you. And I should say they didn't hike the rate up on my Ram truck that had the claim, they just applied it to my older 2012 Camry! Trying to say the claim wasn't due to the truck.

I had my 2007 Mazdaspeed 6 insured with Belair, I loved that car. A small parking lot fender bender and they decided it wasn't economical to repair. Ok, I can deal with that, I'm a grown man, time for a change! Just had to deal with the claim... Called and started it off fine, arranged to get it towed the next day but no one showed up... After I finally got in contact with the towing company, two weeks later, it came to light that Belair had given them the wrong phone number for me, but also the wrong address by about 500km! The people working the phones in about 6 how call centers were very helpful as they bounced my call to the closest one to me. They got my car towed away the same day. A month and a half after the accident I finally got paid off for the car and could start looking for something new to drive. I never knew that dealing with insurance would be such a stressor and pain. If I ever come back to Belair, it will have been my last choice.