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Founded in 2019, and part of the Direct Line Group, Darwin is a provider mainly aimed at people who search for car insurance quotes using price comparison websites. This differentiates it from sister-brand Direct Line, which doesn’t feature on comparison sites.
Although it hasn’t been around for long, Darwin already has more than 250,000 customers. It also has a higher Trustpilot rating than many of its more established competitors.
Read our Darwin car insurance review below to find out what kind of cover it offers, how you can make a claim, and what its customers think of it as a provider.
Darwin only offers comprehensive car insurance. So if you want third party cover, or third party, fire and theft, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
There are three levels of comprehensive cover to choose from: Darwin, Darwin Gold and Darwin Platinum.
If you take out a Darwin policy, you’ll be covered for the following:
Darwin Gold includes everything found at the Darwin level, as well as:
On top of everything covered by the Darwin and Darwin Gold policies, Darwin Platinum also includes:
| Darwin | Darwin Gold | Darwin Platinum | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age range | All | All | All |
| Level of cover | Third party, fire and theft | Comprehensive | Comprehensive |
| Injuries to other people | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Damage to other people’s property | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Theft | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fire damage | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Repairs to your own car following accident | No | Yes | Yes |
| Motor legal protection | Optional | Yes | Yes |
| Your medical expenses | Up to £100 per injured person in medical expenses Up to £5,000 personal accident cover | Up to £100 per injured person in medical expenses Up to £5,000 personal accident cover | Up to £100 per injured person in medical expenses Up to £5,000 personal accident cover |
| Driving other cars | Yes (if eligible, third party only) | Yes (if eligible, third party only) | Yes (if eligible, third party only) |
| Breakdown cover | Optional | Optional | Yes (Rescue only) |
| Courtesy car cover | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hire car cover | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| Windscreen replacement | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Personal belongings | £250 | £500 | £750 |
| Replacement locks and keys | Up to £1,000 | Up to £1,000 | Up to £1,000 |
| Protected no-claims bonus | Optional (if eligible) | Optional (if eligible) | Optional (if eligible) |
| Cancellation fee | £25 (within 14-day cooling off period) £50 (after 14 days) | £25 (within 14-day cooling off period) £50 (after 14 days) | £25 (within 14-day cooling off period) £50 (after 14 days) |
You can add the following optional extras to your Darwin car insurance policy:
If you need to make a car insurance claim through Darwin, you should:
If you want to cancel your Darwin car insurance policy, you can either call 01733 300017 or email contact@darwin-insurance.com.
As long as you haven’t made a claim, you’ll be refunded for the time left on your premium, minus the following fees:
| Cancellation period | Fee |
|---|---|
| Within 14 days of your policy start date | £25 |
| After 14 days, or if Darwin needs to cancel your policy | £50 |
If you need to contact Darwin about your car insurance, and it isn’t related to a claim, you can:
While you can make changes to your policy and account online for free, some may require you to phone Darwin. Any changes made over the phone will incur a £25 administration fee.
Darwin Insurance has an ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot score of 4.6 out of five stars, based on more than 23,600 reviews. This makes it one of the best reviewed car insurance providers in the UK.
Darwin’s five-star reviews – which make up 80 per cent of its total scores – praise its simple application process, the ease with which you can talk to someone over the phone, and the quality of the customer service in general.
Of the limited number of negative reviews Darwin has received, customers complain about high renewal costs – an issue that is unfortunately industry-wide.
“I’ve been with a lot of different insurance companies over the years, and haven’t found a better and more human service than that at Darwin. Every time I’ve had to speak to their customer service they have been super helpful and polite. I have had to make over 10 phone calls with them this year and every time they have been so lovely and have always had the time to explain and provide superb service.”
“This was the most competitive quote and it was so easy to sign up. I immediately received my documentation and all necessary information. [I was] so impressed with the service. Would definitely recommend.”
“Darwin as a company is great for new users. Their service is impeccable, their prices for new users are competitive and the people there are extremely friendly. My policy renewal came up recently, and they attempted to raise the insurance premium by 36 per cent this year. Given the fact that I had made no claims on this policy I would have expected a rise in line with inflation at worst. When I questioned this, it was claimed that the underwriters have changed their criteria. All a little ridiculous. This left me extremely disappointed overall. Thankfully this spurred me to check elsewhere and I have found a policy at around half of what Darwin is charging, including all optional extras (something that I did not have on my current policy). Strongly suggest shopping around.”
On top of its ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot rating, Darwin’s policies have the following reviews on Defaqto:
| Provider name | Trustpilot score | Defaqto score |
|---|---|---|
| Darwin | 4.6 stars | 5 stars |
| esure | 3.1 stars | 5 stars (4 stars for Third party, fire and theft, 3 stars for Flex) |
| Ageas | 4.1 stars | 5 stars (3 stars for Essentials) |
| Axa | 4.3 stars | 5 stars (3 stars for standard third party, fire and theft and comprehensive car insurance) |
| Direct Line | 3.7 stars | 5 stars (3 stars for Third party, fire and theft and Essentials) |
| People’s Choice | 1.4 stars | 5 stars (4 stars for third party, fire and theft) |
| Hastings Direct | 4.1 stars | 5 stars (4 stars for Third party, fire and theft, 3 stars for Telematics, 2 stars for Essential) |
| Admiral Insurance | 4.4 stars | 5 stars (4 stars for Telematics, 3 stars for Essential) |
| Aviva | 3.9 stars | 5 stars (3 stars for Third party, fire and theft) |
| LV | 4.5 stars | 5 stars (3 stars for Third party, fire and theft) |
| NFU Mutual | 4.4 stars | 5 stars |
There’s a lot to recommend with Darwin car insurance. All three of its policies have five-stars with Defaqto and four-stars with Fairer Finance (which normally scores providers lower than Defaqto). It also has one of the best Trustpilot ratings of the UK’s car insurance providers. Which is a good sign in case you need to make a claim.
Each policy has healthy claim limits for most features, although at £5,000 its personal accident cover is on the low side. Customers, meanwhile, speak highly of its over the phone service, and its easy sign-up process.
There are a couple of things to watch out for, however. Darwin makes you pay a cancellation fee even if you end your policy during the cooling-off period. And none of its policies include onward travel costs, only hotel expenses.
Darwin Insurance is part of Direct Line Group PLC. One of the big differences between Darwin and Direct Line is that the former is available through price comparison websites, while the latter is not.
Darwin car insurance is underwritten by UK Insurance Limited, and is arranged and administered by iOG4 Limited.
