Direct Line Business Insurance Review

Direct Line business insurance: at a glance

Direct Line offers business insurance to suit a wide range of businesses and professions, from accountants to tradespeople, and from contractors to start ups. It’s responsible for over 500,000 business policies in the UK, and also provides personal cover options, including car and home insurance.

Direct Line allows you to build a policy that suits your business – that means you only pay for the cover you really need. Public liability, professional indemnity, employer’s liability and contents and stock are just some of the options available.

Direct Line business insurance pros and cons

Pros

Save and retrieve quotes and manage your policy online.
Online, phone and WhatsApp customer support for policy management, plus a virtual assistant.
Make a claim by phone or online.
Cover offered by industry, with add-ons for typical risks.
Annual or monthly premiums.

Cons

No phone support after 6pm on weekdays, 3pm on Saturdays, or on Sundays.

Direct Line business insurance key features

Extensive range of cover types available
No admin fees for policy changes
Online policy management and claims

Direct Line business insurance full review

Direct Line offers an extensive range of business insurance, ranging from core cover, including public liability insurance, to more specialist insurance, such as cyber insurance. A number of additional cover options are also available if you have a manual trade or work from home.

What types of business insurance does Direct Line offer?

Direct Line offers standard business cover as well as more specialist cover:

Public liability insurance (up to £10 million): This covers legal fees and compensation costs if a member of the public is injured or their property is lost or damaged and your business is at fault.
Employers’ liability insurance (£10 million): This covers legal and compensation costs if a permanent or temporary employee gets injured or is ill due to their work.You can add cover for death as an optional extra.
Professional indemnity insurance (£100,000 to £5 million): This is protection for legal and compensation costs if you or your business make a mistake, are negligent, or offer advice that costs your client money or damages their reputation.
Product liability insurance (up to £10 million): This covers legal fees and compensation costs for claims about a product you’ve sold or supplied that has caused a customer to be ill or injured, or has damaged their property. This includes online sales.
Commercial van insurance: This is cover for using your van for work, such as carrying stock or tools to other locations. It can pay out if you are involved in an accident or your van is stolen or destroyed, depending on the level of insurance you choose.
Buildings insurance: If you own your business premises (outright or with a mortgage), this covers the cost of rebuilding it after damage by fire, flood or storm, for example.
Commercial landlord insurance: This covers the building if you rent out your property for business use, along with other risks, such as the cost of relocating tenants after a fire, for example t.
Contents and stock insurance: This is cover for your business belongings or stock if they are stolen or damaged.

Direct Line also offers:

cyber insurance
landlord insurance
business interruption insurance
theft of takings

For trades, you can also get cover for:

tools and business equipment
own plant
hired-in plant
contract works

You can buy one type of cover or build a package with optional extras, such as no claims discount protection, depending on the protection you need and the premium you can afford.

Direct Line business insurance features

Professions and trades covered

Direct Line covers a range of business types. Some trades have individual pages on Direct Line’s website, including:

accountants
caterers
contractors
freelancers
dog groomers and walkers
estate agents
home businesses
market traders
offices retailers
trades

If you can’t see your trade or business, you can contact Direct Line over the phone or online to see if they will provide cover.

Payment options

Business insurance premiums can be paid annually or in monthly instalments.

A bonus with Direct Line is that if you choose to pay monthly, you won’t pay interest in your first year, which might be a useful way to budget. Just make sure that you can afford it when interest does kick in, if you don’t plan to switch providers once the year is up.

Online policy management

You can log in to your online account to add, view, amend or renew your business insurance policies, or to save and retrieve quotes.

While its self-service portal lets you do a number of things, some types of cover may require you to ask for certain changes over the phone. It’s worth knowing that you won’t pay admin fees for making changes to your policy.

Phone support

You can call Direct Line customer service about your cover or to get a quote. Lines are open 9am to 6pm on weekdays (not including bank holidays).

Making a claim

You can make a claim online, through your account, or over the phone, though you may need to call for certain types of claims. Opening hours and numbers vary depending on the cover type. Generally, lines are open on weekdays, except bank holidays, or 24/7 where it’s emergency cover. A dedicated claims handler will be assigned to your case.

Customer reviews

Direct Line has a Trustpilot rating of 4.2 out of 5, based on over 28,000 reviews, as of 17 December 2025.

Keep in mind that these reviews aren’t exclusively about business insurance.

Can you shop by profession with Direct Line?

Direct Line details a number of professions, as well as the type of cover that might be suitable, on its website.

This can be useful to see the types of risks your profession typically faces and find a straightforward route to building cover and getting a quote to match.

Shopping by your trade can also help highlight relevant optional add-ons for your job (at an additional cost). For example, treatment liability insurance for businesses that provide beauty treatments.

How to choose the right business insurance

The cover you choose needs to address the risks your business faces. There’s a wide choice available, though some businesses might need the following types of insurance to be able to operate:

Employers’ liability insurance is needed by law if you employ anyone in the UK who isn’t close family. It’s also required if you employ family and your business is a limited company.
Professional indemnity insurance is required by their governing body or regulator for some professions, such as solicitors and accountants.
You may be asked to have a specific level of public liability insurance to carry out some work, including government contracts.
If you use a vehicle for work (other than commuting), you must have motor insurance and should consider business car or van insurance, or commercial vehicle insurance.

If you’re not sure, an independent business insurance broker can help, as could membership and trade bodies.

How to get Direct Line business insurance

You can get a quote for Direct Line business insurance online or over the phone.

You can add the cover you need as you go through the quote process. You will need to supply information about your business, including when it started trading, estimated annual turnover, the nature of your business and where you operate, along with how many employees you have.

You will also need to state the type and level of cover you want your policy to include. Once you have a quote, you can apply online or over the phone if you’re happy with the price and cover features, or compare the quote details with other providers.

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