Direct Line established high levels of recall among consumers. In September 2014, the brand worked with Saatchi and Saatchi to relaunch its advertising, using Hollywood actor Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolfe, a Mafia style 'fixer'. The company had one million customers after eight years. The company expanded with a series of new offshoots in the 1990s. In 1995, a Spanish offshoot, Linea Direct, started offering motor insurance in Spain. They expanded into travel insurance in 1996, pet insurance in 1997, and Direct Line Breakdown started offering breakdown insurance in 1998. Their non general insurance products umbrella Direct Line Financial services launched their
Budget Direct Queensland at Kawana Waters, North Lakes as well as at the company's headquarters located in Toowong, Brisbane. The company also has multiple assessment centres in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. As of August 2013, the company had over 550,000 policy holders and over 800 staff. In 2016 Budget Direct launched in Singapore offering Car, Motorcycle and Travel Insurance. Budget Direct's previous television advertisements depicted a couple called Michael and Michelle. The ads revolved around Michelle's mispronunciation of the word "Budget" whilst explaining the benefits of Budget Direct insurance to Michael who continually corrects her pronunciation. In August 2013 Budget Direct rebanded