Dial Direct has stepped in to buy the intermediary 0700 2 Insure following the company's collapse last week.
Dial Direct says the acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will secure the insurance cover of 28,000 car drivers.
The offices of 0700 2 Insure, which also traded as One Call Insure, closed early this month with 130 redundancies at its Redditch offices.
Dial Direct said the acquisition would allow all the staff to be re-employed. It added that it would now have a second call centre just 35 minutes away from its existing telebroking and administrative centre in Coventry. The company employs 450 staff there to service personal lines insurance providers Dial Direct and Bennetts.
Dial Direct said the move would also allow it to enter niche areas of the motor insurance market, servicing the needs of young and other high-risk drivers, and complementing its current motor insurance portfolio.
Managing director Michael Bennett said: “We are not only satisfied in the knowledge that we have saved jobs and protected the interests of many car drivers, who could have faced similar traumas to Drake Insurance policyholders, but we are also delighted to have secured a business entity which will strategically benefit the Dial Direct group.”
Drake collapsed last May, leading to a warning from liquidator Deloitte Touche to 35,000 policyholders that their insurance may be terminated if no replacement insurer could be found.
Mr Bennett added: “The acquisition will give us a second call centre that, with the help of experienced staff, will allow us to expand the business within our West Midlands heartland. This will enable us to handle a greater volume of calls and place business from new areas of the market.”
The acquired business will continue to trade as 0700 2 Insure from its existing location as an autonomous unit.
Dial Direct added that policyholders should, therefore, continue to contact the company as before with regard to all policy related matters.
