Sabre

Sabre is a UK motor insurer. It sells private car cover under its own name and through a group of trading names that include Sabre Direct, Sabre Direct Bike, Insure2Drive, GoGirl and Drive Smart, and its website is www.sabre.co.uk¹. The brand has been trading since 1989 and remains active².

Because Sabre is an insurer rather than only a broker, it can underwrite the policies it sells, which means it carries the risk rather than passing it to another company. That matters to a reader in one practical way: when you claim, the firm you deal with is the firm that pays. Where a policy is arranged through another firm, that firm's own arrangements cover its part of the transaction.

This page covers what Sabre sells, how its cover and charges work, how to contact it and complain, and what protection applies. It does not quote prices, because insurance pricing depends on your own details and changes constantly; the figures that apply to you appear in your own quote and policy documents.

What Sabre sells

Sabre's core business is motor insurance. Its register entry lists trading names that point to the parts of that market it serves: Sabre Direct and Sabre Direct Bike for direct and motorcycle cover, and Insure2Drive, GoGirl and Drive Smart for drivers who may find standard cover harder to arrange or who are looking for a particular type of policy¹. The register also records a former name, Goodgirl, which is the earlier version of the GoGirl brand¹.

Alongside insurance, Sabre holds permission to enter into credit agreements as a lender, excluding high-cost short-term credit, bill of sale agreements and home collected credit, and permission to accept deposits¹. Those permissions describe what the firm is allowed to do; they do not mean every product is offered to every customer.

If you are comparing motor cover more widely, the insurance guide sets out how the different types of policy work and what each one covers. If you want to see how Sabre sits alongside other firms in the market, the insurers directory lists providers.

How cover and charges work

Insurance pricing is individual. An insurer assesses the risk you present, using the details you give about yourself, your vehicle, where it is kept and how you use it, and sets a premium for the cover you choose. Two people with the same car can be quoted different amounts. That is why this page gives no figures: the price that applies to you is the one in your own quote, and Sabre publishes its current terms on its own site.

What you can compare between policies is the shape of the cover rather than the number at the bottom. The main variables are the level of cover (comprehensive, third party fire and theft, or third party only), the excess you agree to pay towards a claim, whether a courtesy car or legal expenses cover is included, and any add-ons such as breakdown cover. Each of those changes what you pay and what you get back.

Where a policy is sold with credit, the credit element is an agreement in its own right, and Sabre holds permission to act as lender for that purpose¹. If you are unhappy about how a credit arrangement attached to a car purchase was sold, there is a separate route for complaints about commission arrangements, which the consumer protection guide explains.

Contacting Sabre and complaining

Start with Sabre itself. Its contact details appear on its website and on your policy documents, and the firm must follow certain rules and standards when dealing with you⁴. If something has gone wrong, put the complaint in writing so there is a record of what you asked and when.

If Sabre does not resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which looks at complaints about financial firms and is free to consumers. The service publishes quarterly complaints data, rounded to the nearest 100, so you can see how many cases it receives about a firm and what proportion it upholds⁵.

You also have a right to see the personal information a firm holds about you. A subject access request is a written or verbal request to a company or organisation asking for access to the personal information it holds on you, and it is usually free, though occasionally a small fee may be charged⁶. The organisation should give you the information in a commonly used format⁷, and it must take steps to help you if you have a physical or cognitive impairment or have difficulty accessing or understanding information⁸.

How money with Sabre is protected

Sabre appears on the Bank of England's list of UK insurers authorised to carry out contracts of insurance². That listing is what allows it to sell and underwrite policies in the UK, and it brings the firm within the rules the regulator sets for how customers are treated.

Insurance is not protected in the same way as a bank deposit. If you use a broker to arrange cover, you are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for that firm's part of the transaction¹⁰. If an insurer fails, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme can step in for certain claims, and the Financial Ombudsman Service can consider complaints about how a policy was sold or handled.

The practical step for a reader is to keep the paperwork. Your policy schedule, the terms and any correspondence are what you will need if you claim or complain, and they are also what shows which firm you were actually dealing with at the time.

Where the rules differ across the UK

Insurance rules are largely UK-wide, and Sabre's listing covers the whole country¹. The differences that matter to a consumer tend to sit outside insurance itself, in areas such as debt, court action and how a complaint escalates.

Some of those differences are significant. The law for home repossession in Scotland is different from the law in England and Wales¹¹, and the process to become bankrupt is different if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland¹². In Scotland, bankruptcy is called sequestration, and there is a separate minimal asset process with different benefits, risks and fees¹³. Alternative dispute resolution is available in Scotland as a mediation service that can be used before Simple Procedure and Ordinary Cause claims go to court, and either you or your creditor can opt for mediation¹⁴.

Tax rules can also diverge. HMRC's enforcement powers can be different for England, Scotland and Wales¹⁵, and the Personal Savings Allowance is still based on the UK-wide rules even where other tax matters differ¹⁶. The nations guide sets out how money rules differ across the four nations.

If something goes wrong with a policy

The first step is always the firm's own complaints process, because most problems are resolved there. If that fails, the Financial Ombudsman Service is the next stage, and it is free. Its published data shows how many complaints it receives about individual firms and how it decides them, which can help you judge what to expect⁵.

If the problem is about money you owe rather than a claim, the picture changes. Debt problems have their own routes, and the debt guide explains the options in order of how serious they are. Where a firm has stopped trading or failed, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is the body that handles claims, and the consumer protection guide explains how that works and where protection stops.