Línea Directa will disinfect the vehicles of its policyholders with virucides after any repairs

•    The company estimates that it will sanitise more than 15,000 of its policyholders' vehicles free of charge over the next two months when they are repaired in one of the 540 participating garages, including Línea Directa's CAR Madrid and CAR Barcelona garages.

•    The disinfection process involves spraying with virucides, a cutting-edge treatment that will be applied to the interior trim, fabrics and the surfaces usually touched when working with vehicles. 

•    This health measure, which involves significant investment, adds to the numerous actions taken by the company during the COVID-19 crisis to further strengthen its commitment to its employees and customers, especially those most affected by this pandemic. 

Madrid, 29 April 2020. - Línea Directa's objective is to provide peace of mind and safety for its customers in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. The company will disinfect, free of charge, all the vehicles of its customers that are repaired in the coming months in any of the 540 participating garages in its network, including its own garages - CAR Madrid and CAR Barcelona - which open their doors today, Wednesday. 

During the first two months of the service, Línea Directa Aseguradora estimates that it will disinfect more than 15,000 vehicles by spraying virucides, a state-of-the-art treatment, to ensure the highest safety in its customers' cars. This treatment will be applied particularly to interior trims, fabrics and the surfaces usually touched when working with vehicles.

This treatment will be completely free for Línea Directa policyholders who choose to have their vehicles repaired in the participating garages. This measure is in addition to the other benefits enjoyed by Línea Directa customers before this pandemic when they decide to have their vehicles repaired in a participating garage, such as certified original parts, free premium courtesy vehicles, photographic expert assessment and monitoring, and digital management of repairs. 

Línea Directa is already applying this disinfection process to its entire fleet of courtesy vehicles, part of which it is providing to the health services during the state of emergency, making more than 80 cars available to the regional government of Madrid (for the IFEMA field hospital) and the regional government of Catalonia. The disinfection process is shown in the video accompanying this press release.

More than 60% of the 540 garages working with Línea Directa had to close under the safety measures introduced by the government because of the health crisis. Línea Directa expects 80% of the participating garages to be open on 4 May. The garages will be offering the free disinfection service to the insurance company's customers from today and over the coming weeks, as they reopen.  

The COVID-19 crisis has further reinforced Línea Directa's commitment to its employees and customers, and, in particular, the victims of this pandemic. The company is applying all kinds of measures to adapt to the real problems of each policyholder and each group. These include payment of car insurance month by month, rather than the normal annual payment, and splitting payment for home insurance into several instalments.

There is a specific package of measures for the company's more than 150,000 self-employed customers, making their insurance payments more flexible if they have to stop their business because of the health crisis. The company is also paying the costs of car and home repairs in advance, and assessing damage using videos and photos, among other services. 

Francisco Valencia, Head of Communication and Sustainability, said: "Línea Directa wants to help its policyholders as we begin to see the first steps in the end of the lockdown. We have decided to invest in the disinfection of the vehicles of our customers who take their cars to the network of participating garages, to guarantee peace of mind in the repair process, as their car will be fully disinfected - totally free of charge - when we will return it".