Belairdirect Auto Insurance Reviews

It used to be a pleasure to deal with Belair's call centre. Staff were knowledgeable and gave good service. In the last two years however, it has deteriorated terribly. Staff have little insurance knowledge, or interest in service, and just want to fill in blanks.
Filing a complaint is no good either because that just results in rude harassing telephone calls from the complaints department.
I have found a local broker who provides good personal service and the rates are actually cheaper.

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!

Belair representatives are not fair, honest, friendly nor did they solve my claim in a timely manner. I gave all info needed within 2 days of filing my claim. It took them over 3 months to send me a letter stating I was not at fault in the accident. I then obtained insurance with different company and the file said the status of claim was still pending. I was not receiving info in timely fashion, I was getting continuous incorrect information sent to me (date of claim etc), continuous misspelling when communicating which made it very hard to get the correct spelling of thier chosen appraisers name (biased appraiser). Reps ignored my questions about my claims and complaints. The same rep that called me about information I had already sent to her days prior that she somehow couldn't find but was most definitely sent. Toddlers are better at communication then this woman. I found a complaint service called ombudsman online and went through them to solve the rest of my claim. After i hired an independent appraiser and accepted a settlement, a rep from toronto office lied to me saying she recieved one document but not the others(ownership and key). She said that because she made a mistake(forgot to say sign back of ownership) i sent everything together in one envelope 45 min prior to the call so i knew she was lying. I cancelled policy due to mistreatment.

We were told that they already have our cheque ready in August. It's now December and still no sign of the cheque. We called almost every week to check on the status of our claim and we get the same excuse, "it's in our finance department". Are they all in vacation since August? If I could put zero stars on the "claim experience", i would. Also, to anyone thinking of going with belair, don't!

The WORST! If I could switch out of my car insurance policy right now I would.

I was charged an $35 for being short 0.50 cents for my car insurance which I had never missed a payment (perfect record). transferred from person to person just to hear that the fee could not be waived. I was then given false recollection dates which they charged another $35 and $25. I happen to missed the recollection date because I was advised false dates provided by a belair direct rep. They did an investigation basically saying nothing of the sort was said. SO i basically missed my recollection date on purpose because I wanted to pay an extra $75. When asked to provide said transcript they could not produce it. They basically threatened me to pay the $75 stating if i don't pay I would it would go on record. They basically stated that I lied about the whole conversation. I'll never do business with them again or recommend them to any enemy. They do not care about their customers they might as well showed me the door.
NO CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM THIS COMPANY. no accommodations from them to even waive the fee which is missed only 50 cents.

My son & daughter were in a serious accident in Aug. Some lady ran a red light doing 80km, no attempt to stop nothing. She then pushed them into on coming traffic & was hit by another car then pushed into a pole. My daughte has neck and hip problems, and from the impact her head smashed off of her door. My son, my GOD was hurt pretty bad. His leg is still to this day bruised and has no feeling, damage to his wrist, thumb and toe. Sad part is, my 20 yr old son had just moved into a condo as he started College. He has supported and worked since he was 16. He wasn't able to finish his job & because of his injuries wasn't able to look for a job by his new home & can't walk much on his leg. Belair has left my son penniless and starving. It's been still to this day that they have given him a penny to survive as that is what we are suppose to get with our insurance. It's called INCOME REPLACEMENT BELAIR!!! Yes they have a lawyer & the lawyer has been at them to get him his wage lose so he can EAT & PAY his bills. I found out that my son has not been eating and at times for a week. Since the accident my husband & i have had to pay his bills and I have been sending money for him to eat and just today I took him to buy food because he doesn't want to put the financial burden on us To date we have had to support my son with food, gas , insurance, rent and we are out over 3,000. thanks to Maddison D. who is called: Accident Benefit Claims Rep. WHAT! She is not entitled to that title and she should not be working for anyone. I wonder, has she had to go for a week without eating. Has she had to go penniless for just over 2 months and have her bills go unpaid, has her parents had to take such a FINANCIAL BURDEN? I bet NOT. She says she busy, really, but she isn't to busy to make appointments to send my kids to be examined . Wow that is more important to her then a 20 yr old living with NO FOOD, CAN'[T PAY HIS BILLS. And I find out that my son has had to dip into his college fund I saved for him for years so that he can buy his books for school. So ow she has screwed him over for next years college. Good going Maddison. You really do only care about leaving people to starve and penniless. I will recover the FINANCIAL HOLE that she has put my husband and I in for her lack of doing her JOB. I have talked to a lawyer & I'm sending all the bills that I paid to keep food in my son's stomach $ pay his bills so he can stay in college and pay his rent. If she refuses to reimburse us the money that we should not have to have paid out then she will be meeting my lawyer and he WILL RETRIEVE OUR money and I am also filing a complaint with the OMBUDSMEN. I was advised by the lawyer to write to them about this matter and how my son has been penniless Thanks to her, first priority is to have someone assess and say, oh you have no injuries. Bunch of crap. We all know that there are therapist that will say anything to help the insurance companies stop paying people because they make thousands and they want the insurance companies to keep using them for a lot of $$$. I had 2 assessments after my car accident in 2005 and they both said I was A.OK. Liars, instantly had a ct and found I had a major spine injury and had to under go 5 hours of surgery and 6 months rehab, so you see I don't trust these assessments. Those people only work for the insurance to get thousands out of them and call us all FAKES. So anyone who is thinking about Belair don't! They are the nicest people when it comes to taking your money but when your injured they no longer care about you and you become a liar, fake and a no body. Something needs to be done in our courts and with Insurance Bureau of Canada because insurance companies are scams and leave you penniless and starving!. Belair is the worst I have ever dealt with in over 30 years. Run from this company and hang up if they try to suck you in with their such kind attitude because don't you dare get hit by someone else and be injuried! You will be treated like a fake!!!

A taxi pulled out in front of me. Clearly NOT my fault even by the police. They claimed they could not find the other's insurance number and wanted to keep deductible even though it was not my fault!. 5 weeks later after I had messaged them and mentioned lawyer and police they were willing to settle and promised a cheque would be delivered on a certain day the cheque never arrived. I am now without a vehicle, they are taking the rental they gave me away and I no longer have any way of getting to so I will lose my job. I was talking to a lawyer and he said it sounds like a scam to keep my deductible. I did some searching and found the others info in 10 minutes. Something they could not do in 5 weeks. The police already want to talk to them as they gave me a number to give to them that they should call.
Avoid this company at all cost!

Absolute garbage customer service, they will be prompt and aggressive trying to obtain your insurance, but when you are making inquiries and claims... good luck.
The total insurance charged amount might be very cheap, but the cheap cost results in garbage customer service.
I made a claim on June 27th and it's been over a month and it is still not settled. Melissa J.-G. was my claim specialist, but I only got one voicemail and one email from her in one month, I had to make several calls to see what was going on and never received any updates.
I had to make complaints all over their facebook page and twitter to get any action done, I got a call from their complaint department and only then something has happened and apparently now I have a new claim specialist. My car has finally been evaluated and it has taken over a month, I was JUST sideswiped resulting in some big scratches on the car and they have a large estimate and it is literally $200 over the value of my car, so they are considered the car as totaled, what the hell is that?
The scratches can be buffed out and repainted.
The car is old, but very drivable, never had any engine or transmission problems.

Do not get belair direct insurance, you may pay a bit more, but you will 1000 times more better customer service and communication with a competitor.

I am totally speechless of the nightmare I have lived through with this insurer. I've refused my claim based on no evidence other than simply saying that they do not believe me. I have been their client for 5 years and always was a good client with no issues.

For me it was a matter of principle to have justice and this is why I have spent close to $15000 of my savings to sue them in court. So 2 years passed by before I finally see the first day of trial. I am overwhelmed with emotions that justice will be rendered to these dishonest people, a step most of honest Canadians don't have the means of getting to. And guess what? to my biggest astonishment, I witness for the first time that their influence extends to court. I lose...I realize to what point the whole process is staged or bribed or both. Only then you realize that you are facing a simple insurer but an enormous machine capable of spending 10 times more simply not have you win the trial, so that a precedent cannot be set for the future for normal people to go this way.

Astonishingly, I realize that we have to deal with the same issues that people in corrupt underdeveloped countries. So, spread the word if you have been in the same situation.

This company, Belairdirect Insurance underwritten by Intact, are nothing but a bunch of crooks. I recently called in to submit a claim in regards to 'stone chip' damage along the top roof panel above the window on one of our vehicles. The damaged area had increasingly rusted and if not fixed, will only get worse and could become a safety issue in regards to the window itself. There is absolutely no other rust on the vehicle, as we Krown yearly. Was not impressed with the handling of this claim from the beginning by Belairdirect Insurance. From the start, they were uninterested in accepting our claim. It was made to seem that the problem was due to routine wear and tear, and would not be covered. I informed them that it was not the case. The rust problems and damage was due to stone chipping from debris thrown up by construction trucks on the highway in Ontario. They gave us the run around from the start, at one point telling us that a Claims Appraiser would inspect the vehicle and no Appraiser showed after we went through the inconvenience of leaving the vehicle at the auto body shop, twice. I called Belaridirect and was informed that no appraisal had been set-up in the first place. I can assure that I checked twice to confirm the date for the appraisal. So, it is my view that after the difficult time I was given in regards to this claim, that Belairdirect never had any intention of doing anything with it and therefore never set up the appraisal. No actual Appraiser ever showed up, instead, they requested photos be sent. Based on these photos off the internet, they have determined not to cover the claim. This is insane, to say the least, and unacceptable, and not why we pay insurance. The vehicle was struck while being driven on the highway by stones, that caused the damage. If driving on any roadway in Ontario and a flying object struck the car, it is an accident, regardless of fault. In fact, it doesn't matter if the car was parked in our driveway and something fell or struck the vehicle, it is still an accident and covered by Comprehensive. Belairdirect's attempt to classify this as normal wear and rust is ridiculous and confirmed by the Manager of the Autobody shop with which we deal. We carry Comprehensive coverage for a reason, and it does not matter whether the ‘flying stones’ or debris strikes the glass window, headlight, grill or any other specific part of the vehicle - Comprehensive: With this option, you are covered for any threat or danger other than collision, including theft, damage or loss caused by vandalism, projectiles, and falling or flying objects such as stones kicked up by a truck in front of the vehicle. The only important thing to remember is that this coverage applies to the vehicle only, not passengers. I have discussed this with the Shop Manager and a very experienced bodywork tradesman, and they stated that the damage was caused by stones/debris striking the vehicle in that spot. So this is nothing but a ploy for Belairdirect to get out of their responsibility and not cover a legitimate claim. We were customers with Belairdirect for 10 years plus and have not even had a claim in over seven plus years. To start being given a difficult time, just when we need the help of our insurance company is a disappointment. We have attempted to resolve this matter with the company but to no avail. We will be getting rid of Belairdirect as our Insurance provider because of this incident and their unreliability in terms of providing coverage. We filed a complaint with General Insurance OmbudService of Ontario and will also be contacting other government and media consumer protection and advocate agencies to ensure this story gets out to the public and on file. The Belairdirect Insurance company already has a noted reputation for this kind of despicable conduct and rip-off, and now we understand the reason. We have owned vehicles, been driving and have carried insurance for over 40 years - STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!