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Direct Line is taking the industry leading step of continuing to offer the 'DrivingOther Cars' cover as standard in its car insurance policies.

DOC cover is provided for motorists to use other vehicles or to allow another motoristto drive their car when they are in an emergency situation.

Emma Holyer, Motor Spokesperson for Direct Line commented: *We don*t want toleave our customers stuck if they are in an emergency situation and so we willcontinue to provide our customers with cover.*Other insurers are saying they are removing the cover because it increases theproblem of uninsured driving and it is open to fraud by younger motorists who wantto drive high powered vehicles.

However Direct Line are not prepared to leave itslaw abiding customers high and dry just because of a few untrustworthy motorists. Ifthese specific few motorists are causing this problem insurers should think aboutspecific underwriting rules rather than removing the cover for all motorists.*

Direct Line is highly proactive in protecting its customers against uninsured driving,and is the only insurer that does not penalise its customers who are hit by uninsureddrivers.

Any comprehensive Direct Line policyholder who is hit by an uninsureddriver keeps their no claims discount and is not liable to any policy excess.With any other insurer motorists have to pay their excess and lose their no claimsdiscount, which on average costs *550 per incident.

In addition, Direct Line supports the Durham Police in its unique scheme to cutuninsured driving. Any uninsured drivers in the Durham force area risks having theircar impounded and subsequently crushed if they are stopped and found to beuninsured. To get their car back the owner must pay the cost of recovery, storage plusprovide evidence of insurance within 14 days. If they fail to do this, the car will becrushed.

One in 20 motorists are uninsured and research has shown uninsured motorists aremuch more dangerous than law-abiding insured drivers. They are three times morelikely to have been convicted of driving without due care and attention, and ten timesmore likely to have been convicted of drink driving than the average motorist.