Direct Auto Insurance Review: Costs and Ratings (2024)

Direct Auto Insurance caters to the higher-risk driver market by providing personalized coverage and nonstandard insurance at a competitive price.

Taylor Medine
Written byTaylor Medine
Taylor Medine
Taylor Medine
  • 8+ years writing personal finance content

  • Published in Business Insider and The Balance

Taylor got her start demystifying complicated financial topics on a personal blog. She’s since covered everything from budgeting to debt management for major outlets.

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Katie Powers
Edited byKatie Powers
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Katie PowersAuto and Life Insurance Editor
  • Licensed auto and home insurance agent

  • 3+ years experience in insurance and personal finance editing

Katie uses her knowledge and expertise as a licensed property and casualty agent in Massachusetts to help readers understand the complexities of insurance shopping.

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Updated March 9, 2023

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When searching for car insurance online, you’ll likely find many insurers, including a few that you might be unfamiliar with. Direct Auto Insurance, a smaller insurer, earned an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and offers a variety of driver discounts and customized policies to fit your needs.[1]

Quick Facts
  • You can get personalized quotes online, in person, or over the phone.

  • Direct Auto offers discounts of up to 25% for safe driving, automatic payments, and more.

  • Coverage comes with 24/7 claims support and roadside assistance.

What is Direct Auto car insurance?

Direct Auto Insurance, an insurance company founded in 1991, specializes in providing nonstandard insurance to high-risk drivers who need an SR-22 certification. You may need your insurer to submit an SR-22 certification document to your state for you to prove you meet minimum insurance requirements if you’ve driven without insurance or have a serious driving offense conviction.

Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Direct Auto Insurance has more than 400 locations across the U.S., where you can apply for and manage your insurance policy.[2] You can also get rate quotes and manage insurance remotely through Direct Auto’s online insurance hub.

How does Direct Auto insurance work?

Like other insurance companies, Direct Auto Insurance profits by collecting insurance premiums from policyholders in exchange for insurance coverage. However, Direct Auto offers flexible payment options, a unique selling point. For example, you don’t need a checking account or credit card to obtain insurance and can make premium payments in cash at a physical location. You also have the option to select your payment due date to ensure it works for your budget.

Learn More: The Cheapest Car Insurance Companies for 2023

Direct Auto car insurance coverage

Direct Auto provides various car insurance coverage options to protect you, your car, and other drivers on the road.[3] Find an outline of each coverage option below:

  • Liability: This pays for bodily injury and property damage to the other driver if you cause an accident.

  • Collision: This coverage pays for damage to your car following an auto accident with another car or object.

  • Comprehensive: If your car incurs damages due to an event other than an accident, like vandalism or a hailstorm, this coverage pays for covered damages.[4]

  • Uninsured/underinsured motorist: This pays for damage to your car if another person with insufficient insurance coverage causes an accident.

  • Personal injury protection (PIP): This covers medical costs and funeral expenses regardless of fault in an accident.

  • Towing coverage: This reimburses you for towing costs, up to a coverage limit.

  • Rental reimbursement: This coverage reimburses you for rental car costs if you need to drive one temporarily following damage from a covered event.

  • Medical payments: This pays for medical costs in a car accident no matter who’s at fault. This may also cover medical costs if you incur injury while walking, riding in someone else’s car, or taking public transportation.

Learn More: Compare Car Insurance by Coverage

How to get a car insurance quote from Direct Auto

You can get a quote with Direct Auto online, by phone, or by visiting a location. The online process simply requires you to enter your ZIP code and answer questions about your car and the people who drive it.

Direct Auto will check your past claims, driving history, credit history, and more to determine your projected premiums. Using a quote-comparison platform like Insurify allows you to submit this information once to secure quotes from multiple insurance providers for you to compare, saving you from going through this process with each insurer.

Direct Auto car insurance cost by state

Each state sets its own minimum requirements for the insurance you need to carry while driving, and prices for insurance also vary by state. Find the average rates for full-coverage and liability-only car insurance with Direct Auto for 11 states below.

StateAverage Monthly Quote: Full CoverageAverage Monthly Quote: Liability Only
Arizona$226$200
Florida$283$276
Georgia$289$247
Illinois$169$133
North Carolina$65$65
Ohio$147$124
Pennsylvania$188$144
Tennessee$135$103
Texas$224$173
Virginia$233$170
Washington$194$196
Actual quotes may vary based on the policy buyer's unique driver profile.

Direct Auto auto insurance rates by driving history

Your driving history — including speeding tickets, at-fault accidents, and DUIs — also affects your insurance rates. Drivers with past violations tend to pay more on average than policyholders with clean driving records. Find the average full-coverage and liability-only quotes from Direct Auto for drivers with different driving histories below.

Driving HistoryAverage Monthly Quote: Full CoverageAverage Monthly Quote: Liability Only
Clean record$231$194
Speeding ticket$310$259
At-fault accident$330$277
DUI$460$385
Actual quotes may vary based on the policy buyer's unique driver profile.

Read More: Cheapest Car Insurance by Driving Record

Direct Auto car insurance cost by age

Younger drivers, including teenagers and drivers younger than 25, generally pay more for insurance than older drivers with more experience behind the wheel. Below, you’ll find the average premiums by age.

Driver AgeAverage Monthly Quote
18$489
25$220
30$193
40$171
50$162
60$149
70$157
Actual quotes may vary based on the policy buyer's unique driver profile.

Direct Auto car insurance discounts

Qualifying for driver discounts helps decrease your insurance premium, saving you money each year. Direct Auto offers many different types of discounts, including:

  • Military: Active service members who can provide documents that verify service may be able to qualify for up to 25% in savings.

  • Safe driver: Drivers without a violation or accident in the last 36 months may qualify for a discount of up to 10%.

  • Good student: If you’re unmarried and attending high school, college, or technical school full-time, you may qualify for a discount of up to 10% if you rank in the top 20% of your class or have at least a B average.

  • Senior citizen: Drivers age 55 or older may save up to 5% by taking a motor vehicle accident prevention course.

  • DynamicDrive: You can earn a discount of up to 10% if you download the Routely app that shares information on your driving behavior with Direct Auto.

  • Driver education: Drivers may receive a discount of up to 10% for completing an accident prevention course or state-approved driver education course.

  • Multi-car: If your policy includes more than one car, you can earn a discount of up to 25%.

  • Vehicle equipment: You can save up to 10% by having or installing anti-theft or car safety features.

  • Muli-product: Adding a qualifying coverage from Direct Auto to your car insurance policy — like term life insurance, an emergency protection plan, or roadside assistance — could save you up to 5%.

  • Prior coverage savings: Drivers who had coverage with another insurer for at least six months without lapsing for more than 90 days prior to switching to Direct Auto may qualify for a discount of up to 25%.

  • Homeowner: Homeowners who keep insured cars at their home may save up to 15%.

  • Welcome back: Former policyholders who left and returned to Direct Auto for coverage may save up to 6%.

  • Affinity: Members of an organization that partners with Direct Auto may qualify for up to 5% in savings.

  • Payment discounts: Setting up automatic payments, paying your policy in full, or choosing paperless billing could save you up to 9%.

  • Multi-policy: Purchasing two or more policies from Direct Auto could help you score savings of up to 10%.

See More: Car Insurance Discount Guide

Direct Auto Insurance bundling options

Direct Auto offers two bundling discount options — the multi-product discount and the multi-policy discount. If you add a term life insurance, roadside assistance, or emergency protection plan product to your car insurance policy, you can benefit from a multi-product discount of up to 5%.

If you purchase two or more Direct Auto policies, including auto, commercial auto, and motorcycle insurance, you might qualify for the multi-policy discount of up to 10%.

Direct Auto Insurance reviews and ratings

Direct Auto Insurance promotes a customer rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars from more than 56,000 reviews submitted on its website. However, the company seems to receive reviews that skew slightly negative elsewhere on the web.

Direct Auto Insurance customer reviews

Like other insurance companies, Direct Auto Insurance receives a mix of positive and negative reviews, with some policyholders unhappy with the timeliness of customer and claims support.

Direct Auto Insurance ratings

See how Direct Auto Insurance scores across various rating sites as of February 2023:

  • Better Business Bureau (BBB): A+ BBB accreditation, 1.06 out of 5 stars with 393 reviews

  • Google Play Store: 4.1 out of 5 stars with 445 reviews

  • Apple App Store: 2.7 out of 5 stars with 69 reviews

Direct Auto Insurance vs. other insurance providers

In the insurance market, many companies vie for your business. Here’s how Direct Auto Insurance compares to a few other popular insurance providers.

Direct Auto vs. Allstate

Allstate, one of the largest insurance companies nationwide, collected $24 billion in premiums for car insurance in 2021. Policyholders can bundle car insurance with homeowners or renters insurance and purchase other policies — such as business insurance, landlord insurance, and identity protection — from the company. Unlike Direct Auto, Allstate offers coverage in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

The average monthly premium for Allstate nationally is $212 for full coverage and $146 for liability-only coverage.

Direct Auto vs. Progressive

Progressive offers all the basic car insurance coverages — liability, collision, comprehensive, and full coverage — as well as insurance add-ons. The company also provides discount opportunities if you bundle your car insurance with a Progressive property insurance policy.

The company’s well-known Name Your Price tool allows you to tell Progressive how much you want to pay for insurance so Progressive will personalize your offer to fit within your budget. On average, policyholders pay monthly premiums of $238 for full coverage and $161 for liability-only coverage.

Direct Auto vs. State Farm

State Farm has been in business for more than 100 years and offers many auto coverage options, including roadside assistance and rideshare coverage.

State Farm’s Personal Price Plan can help you choose between coverages, deductibles, and insurance discounts to create a policy that fits into your budget. The average monthly premium for State Farm costs $175 for full coverage and $125 for liability-only coverage.

More about Direct Auto Insurance

In business since 1991, Direct Auto mainly serves drivers in the Southeast, with headquarters for Direct General Group in Nashville, Tennessee. The company is also affiliated with National General Group, another insurance group.

Direct Auto Insurance pros and cons

As with all auto insurers, Direct Auto comes with advantages and disadvantages.

Pros
  • Offers nonstandard insurance to high-risk drivers

  • Provides several opportunities to earn insurance discounts

  • Policyholders can bundle auto coverage with other insurance products

Cons
  • Less-than-stellar reviews related to customer service and billing issues

  • Products and discounts not available in all states

  • Not designed for drivers with clean records

Filing an auto insurance claim with Direct Auto Insurance

Filing a car insurance claim involves filling out a form to notify your insurance provider of an incident and make payment requests for covered damages.

When you file a car insurance claim, Direct Auto will ask for the police report and specifics of what happened, the parties involved, and the damage to your vehicle and others.

With Direct Auto Insurance, you can file a claim through your online account or call 1 (800) 403-1077. After reporting a claim, you’ll get assigned a claim number and a claims adjuster to walk you through the rest of the process.

Direct Auto Insurance FAQs

Here are answers to some commonly asked questions about Direct Auto Insurance.

  • Is Direct Auto Insurance legitimate?

    Yes, Direct Auto Insurance is a legitimate company founded in 1991 that has more than 400 physical locations. The company also earned an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

  • What is the average cost of Direct Auto car insurance?

    On average, Direct Auto costs $231 per month for full coverage and $194 per month for liability-only coverage.

  • Is Direct Auto Insurance good with claims?

    National General’s parent company earned an A+ rating from A.M. Best, indicating financial stability and the ability to pay claims. That said, some customer reviews indicate dissatisfaction with the timeliness of claims and customer service.

  • Is Direct Auto Insurance right for you?

    Direct Auto Insurance could be right for you if you’re struggling to find affordable insurance elsewhere because of past accidents and violations. Direct Auto Insurance specializes in providing affordable and personalized coverage to higher-risk drivers who require the SR-22 form.

  • Does Direct Auto offer SR-22 insurance?

    Not technically insurance, an SR-22 is a form your state or court may ask you to turn in to prove that you have insurance if you’ve driven without insurance, had your license suspended, or been convicted of driving under the influence or another serious traffic offense. If you need coverage and SR-22 certification, Direct Auto may be able to work with you to obtain the coverage you need to submit this form.

Sources

  1. Better Business Bureau. "Direct Auto Insurance." Accessed February 16, 2023
  2. Direct Auto. "About Direct." Accessed February 16, 2023
  3. Direct Auto. "Cheap Car Insurance." Accessed February 16, 2023
  4. Insurance Information Institute. "Auto Insurance Basics — Understanding Your Coverage." Accessed February 16, 2023
Taylor Medine
Taylor Medine

Taylor Medine is a writer who's covered personal financial topics from budgeting and saving to paying down debt for more than eight years. She got her start demystifying intimidating money topics for the everyday consumer on a personal blog, and has since been published on Bankrate, Experian, Forbes Advisor, The Balance, Business Insider, Credit Karma, and more. Follow her on Twitter @taytalksmoney.

Katie Powers
Edited byKatie PowersAuto and Life Insurance Editor
Photo of an Insurify author
Katie PowersAuto and Life Insurance Editor
  • Licensed auto and home insurance agent

  • 3+ years experience in insurance and personal finance editing

Katie uses her knowledge and expertise as a licensed property and casualty agent in Massachusetts to help readers understand the complexities of insurance shopping.

Featured in

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