“I am not at all happy
I purchased 28th July / the policy commences in 24th August.
As soon as a purchased the policy I realised the address was wrong (my details stored in confused.com) I sincerely thought I had updated my address .I immediately tried to call to try and rectify this but I couldn’t get through / I then sent messages via the app with my new address . I felt I should not have to pay having tried to rectify the problem immediately. I managed to get through 15. 8.25 and I had to to change my address cost £68 which I feel totally unfair. The agent then said it might be cheaper to cancel and get a new policy - which I did I lost £73 changing over the policy and still had to pay a further £60 for the new policy which had not even started yet !! Totally unacceptable and unfair”
Hello,
We’re sorry that you struggled to reach us and that you’re unhappy with the price we offered. Your insurance policy and price are based on both your individual details and the world around you. This means any changes in your personal circumstances will usually mean your price changes as well.
Other outside factors can impact the price of your policy too. For example, the cost of repairs or labour, or theft in your area. There are also broader trends that can influence your price, such as inflation, changes to used car values or energy costs.
When we offer a quote, we always try to give you the best price we can, based on the information you give us. To make sure we're always competitive, we also constantly monitor market trends and regularly adjust our prices.
If you'd like to discuss this in more detail, you can find lots of ways to get in touch at www.hastingsdirect.com/contact-us. Theo, Social Media Team
Hello Jonathan,
Thanks for your feedback, we're really sorry to hear about your experience and to see that the tab hasn't yet arrived. We always aim to provide great service, so it's disappointing to know we missed the mark this time. We'll make sure your comments are passed on so we can do better in the future. If the tab doesn't arrive in the next two days, please contact us so we can help you further. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello Terry,
Thanks for your feedback, we're really sorry to hear about your experience and to see that you've struggled to access your online account. We always aim to provide great service, so it's disappointing to know we missed the mark this time.
If this is still an issue, please give us a call on 0333 321 9801. Our team will be happy to help you. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry you’re unhappy with the cancellation of the YouDrive policy.
A YouDrive policy is slightly different to a standard car insurance product, and we appreciate that it’s not for everyone. We make sure our terms and conditions are clearly stated before you buy a policy online. This includes the need to share your driving data with us through the app by driving the vehicle. If the vehicle is not going to driven for an extended period of time or the app cannot be paired to the box within the required time frame, the Telematics team will need to be informed by the policyholder before the period begins and before the policy is cancelled.
Documents and emails would have been sent days in advance of the cancellation explaining why the policy was being cancelled and when this would be done.
I regret that the policy has been cancelled and I hope you can find suitable cover for your vehicle soon. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello,
Thanks for your feedback, we're really sorry to hear about your experience and to see that you didn't get the service you needed. We always aim to provide great service, so it's disappointing to know we missed the mark this time. We'll make sure your comments are passed on so we can do better in the future.
I appreciate you may have already done so, but please contact us if you need any help with your policy. You can also reach us by messaging in the app as an alternative to the phone. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“i had bought some insurance for my car then i found a better price but you then charged me £40 for the priverlige but i still got cheaper insurance so not
pleased with your compony”
Hi Terry,
We’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy about being charged the £20 arrangement fee and our £20 YouDrive tab charge.
As part of buying a YouDrive policy, you’re charged £20 to cover the tab we send you. We make it as clear as possible that you own the tab, as well as explaining our other fee amounts and that they’re non-refundable.
We apologise if you weren’t aware of this. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Penalised for Being Honest, No Renewal Offered, and No Compensation
I was a Hastings Premier customer for two full years for my car , paying £3,111.69 in the first year and £1,181.00 in the second almost the full value of the car itself (£3,200). I chose the Premier level based on the promise of superior customer support and service.
In January 2025, my car was broken into at my old address, and a few personal belongings (worth around £500) were stolen. I reported it to the police for documentation and called Hastings to notify them purely for record-keeping, making it absolutely clear that I did not want to make a claim, so I could preserve my No Claims Discount.
They confirmed this was treated as a notification-only incident, and that my NCD remained unaffected. However, the issue began when I chose not to renew my policy after it expired in July 2025. I got a better quote from another provider and notified Hastings to stop the auto-renewal. In response, Hastings offered a retention quote of £724 — but after I declined, that quote was later made unavailable.
Fast forward: I provided my NCD to the new insurer (1st Central), and to my shock, they rejected it, citing a background check with Hastings that allegedly confirmed a claim had been made. This was factually untrue — as Hastings’ own correspondence later confirmed. Due to this misinformation:
My new premium went up by £400
I lost £50 in cancellation fees
I lost two weeks of insurance cover
I wasted over 5 hours of work time (unpaid)
I ended up paying £300 more than necessary with another insurer
I called Hastings multiple times to get this resolved, being passed around teams — customer care, new business, customer relations, and motor claims. After days of back and forth, I was told they couldn’t retrieve the earlier quote or offer a new one.
Finally, I received a formal email stating that my complaint was not upheld, and that no quote would be offered for renewal. No compensation was given. No apology for the misinformation that caused significant financial loss.
So, as a Premier customer who paid over £4,200 over two years, I was punished simply for being honest and notifying an incident without making a claim. Not only did I receive no support, but I also wasn’t even given the option to stay with Hastings after doing everything right.
This is how Hastings treats customers once you decide to leave:
No renewal
No goodwill
No compensation
No accountability
My advice: Avoid Hastings at all costs, especially if you value customer service, fair treatment, and your own peace of mind.”
Hello,
Thanks for your feedback, we're really sorry to hear about your experience and to see that this notification has had such a negative impact on the cost of your insurance. We always aim to provide great service, so it's disappointing to know we missed the mark this time.
If you have raised a complaint and it hasn't been resolved to your satisfaction, you can escalate it further with the Financial Ombudsman. Information on how to do this would be available on the final document we sent about the complaint but please contact the team on 0333 999 8904, if you need help with this. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Asking for all kind of stupid stuff I never heard of before like photos with a steering wheel lock,photo with your driveway and a other stuff.If you want proof of that why don’t they send their people to check.You can borrow a lock from someone and take a photo with your car on someone else’s driveway and then leave,all this is stupid.I’ll never buy anything from them again”
Hi,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy with our validation checks.
Our Policy Review Team review policies at random to make sure everything checks out and the policy details are correct. They do this to prevent fraud and make sure customers are paying the correct amount for their insurance (this is because fraudulent claims can increase insurance premiums).
This is our standard business practice, and we apologise if you weren't aware of this.
If you feel this has been handled poorly or incorrectly and you'd like to make a formal complaint, you can do so by:
Calling us on 0333 321 9801, sending us a letter or filling out our online form here: https://www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints/.
Once we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. ~ Theo, Social Media Team
Thanks for your feedback, we're really sorry to hear about your experience and I appreciate the frustration this has caused. We always aim to provide great service, so it's disappointing to know we missed the mark this time. We'll make sure your comments are passed on so we can do better in the future.
If you feel this has been handled poorly or incorrectly and you'd like to make a formal complaint, you can do so by:
Calling us on 0333 321 9801, sending us a letter or filling out our online form here: https://www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints/.
Once we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. ~ Theo, Social Media Team
“The sensitivity of “you drive” is ridiculous. Getting penalised for harsh breaking when I’m leaving plenty of room to slow down and softly breaking plenty before the lights on ring roads.”
Hello,
Thank you for your review and for taking the time to share this with us.
I'm sorry to see that you've not having the best experience with the telematics policy. The Telematics team does take into account that you will have to adapt to the road ahead and that this, as well as other road users can cause you to take actions that may impact your score.
As a result they acknowledge that your driving score won't always be at 100. For the sake of the policy, it just needs to be above 30. If you have any questions or concerns, please call our YouDrive team on 0333 999 8911. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“rip off quotes. They're supposed to offer a same day quote but they don't honour it. 10 minutes after the quote on confused.com they'd bumped it up by £140.
Wouldn't trust them.”
Hello,
Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to read about the increase in price. I'm afraid we're unable to look at this here but if you have the original quote reference, please contact the team on 0333 321 9829 and they may be able to advise what happened. Thank you for choosing to insure with us despite having this experience. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“I bought my insurance nearly 2 weeks ago and am still waiting for a member of the IT dept to be in touch to sort the problem of me not being able to get on to the app and set the tab up.
Maybe this could be put as a priority”
Hi,
I'm really sorry to hear you've been dealing with this for so long. Looking at the policy, I can see that a ticket was raised two days ago and is being looked at by the relevant team. They will contact you directly with the intention of fixing this problem. I hope it can be resolved soon. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello,
Thanks for your feedback, we're really sorry to hear about your experience. We always aim to provide great service, so it's disappointing to know we missed the mark this time. We'll make sure your comments are passed on so we can do better in the future.
If you would like the documents posted instead of emailed, please contact us via X (Twitter) or Facebook. We'll do all we can to help. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“I have dowloaded the app so I could get my documents and I am very disappointed that
I have no access to them. I get the message “Sorry your policy information isn’t available at the moment”. I am abroad and can’t prove that my insurance is valid even though I have paid for the policy in full. This is not good enough.”
Hello Christian,
I'm sorry to see that this isn't working as it should. If this is still the case, please delete the app, clear the cache on your device and then re-download the app. This has been found to fix the issue.
If that fails, please give us a call when you can on 0333 321 9801 so we can take a look at this for you. We'll do all we can to help. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“The price increased from my original quotation on the money supermarket website, when I queired the increase and requested to cancel the policy which woul not start until a month away. I was told I would have to pay a cancellation fee.”
Hi Terry,
We’re sorry to hear you’re unhappy about being charged the £20 arrangement fee.
As part of buying a policy, you’re charged £20 to arrange the policy and ensure the relevant authorities know you are legally insured.. We make it as clear as possible that this is included as well as explaining our other fee amounts, and that they’re non-refundable.
We apologise if you weren’t aware of this. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello,
Thanks for your review, we’re sorry you’re unhappy with the terms of your YouDrive policy.
A YouDrive policy is slightly different to a standard car insurance product, and we appreciate that it’s not for everyone. We do ask that you read the terms before you buy the policy. If you’d like to check out our other insurance options, head to our website or give us a call on 0333 321 9801. ~Theo, Social Media Team
“Despite letting them know we were going to be on holiday they continued to cancel a policy of a newly insured driver who needed to user the car when we returned from hoilday which is why I had put the policy in place befoe we left. took several hours to sort out because staff were at lunch !!!”
Hello Molly,
Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to read about the cancellation and I appreciate the frustration this would have caused. I'm glad this was resolved and the policy reinstated in the end.
If you need any help going forward, please give us a call on 0333 321 9801 if you need any further help. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello Kristopher,
Hi, we're really sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve had with the app — we know how frustrating that can be. Hopefully you’ve been able to access your documents now, but if not, please send us a message on Facebook and we’ll do our best to help. You can also give us a call on 0333 321 9801. ~Theo, Social Media Team
Hello,
Thanks for your feedback, we're really sorry to hear about your experience. We always aim to provide great service, so it's disappointing to know we missed the mark this time. We'll make sure your comments are passed on so we can do better in future.
If you need any help with your policy or have any questions, please give us a call on 0333 321 9801. We'll do all we can to help you. ~Theo, Social Media Team
