“Don't buy Black box insurance from this company! My son was insured for a year with a different company with no issues. When he switched to Hastings he received a warning letter after a couple of weeks and the next day an Email saying they were going to cancel the policy! His issue according to the app was braking, I've been in with my son and I have no concerns with his driving!”
Hello, I'm sorry to read about this and to see that the policy will be cancelled. We only cancel a policy when a term or condition for your insurance hasn’t been met. Please note that the Telematics team are aware that the score will be impacted by how drivers react to the road ahead and other road users. As a result, it's fine if driving score isn’t always at 100, it just needs to be above 30.
If the policyholder thinks the policy was cancelled incorrectly, please ask him to call our YouDrive team on 0333 999 8911. ~Theo. Customer Care
“When I tried to speak to Hastings about renewing my car insurance, the operators accent was so strong I had to keep asking her to repeat. As this call is not free I gave up, I then cancelled my policy but they keep saying I've renewed. Apparently you cannot renew automatically unless they have your credit card details, hopeless. I have now insured with NFU because they do not have "we are experiencing a high number of calls" overseas call centres, which, according to Hastings they do not have! Rubbish communication.”
Hello Patricia, I'm sorry to read about the experience you've had with us. We do have a call centre outside of the UK, however, you can also speak to the ones we have here. I you still need to discuss your policy or arrange the cancellation of the renewal, you can email us at customersupport@hastingsdirect.com as an alternative to the phone. You can also send us a direct message on X (formerly Twitter) @HastingsDirect or on Facebook. ~Theo, Customer Care
“Worst insures ever denied recieving documents sent per their instructions and cancelled our policy nightmare to get explanation a complete waste of money time spent hours on hold and complete waste of time and money”
Hello Michael, I can appreciate the frustration that can be caused by the validations process. I'm sorry that you had such a poor experience during these checks and that this led to the cancellation of your policy. Our New Business Review team pick a handful of policies at random, checking all details and updating them when necessary. This is our standard business practice and we apologise if you weren't aware of this. We need the information to make sure an insurance policy is valid, fit for purpose and that there is no chance that you are not covered in the case of an accident or claim. This check can be done at any point in the policy.
If you believe that this was incorrectly handled and if you wish to raise a complaint concerning this, please visit www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints or call us on 0333 999 8904. When we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. Our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, says we have up to eight weeks to settle your complaint, however the vast majority are resolved well within that time. You’ll find more information at www.hastingsdirect.com/help. ~Theo. Customer Care
“It looks like Hastings Direct Smart Miles have changed their policy name to You Drive to leave behind the thousands of negative reviews made about their Tab telematics system and particularly regarding braking. I’m sure there will soon be thousands more under this name. The tab is completely inaccurate for braking and has driven me mad trying to resolve. Anything other than a perfect chauffeur stop will be marked down and sometimes even then. Crawling along in traffic and stopping from just 1 to 2mph will get you marked down. Stopping at the top of a hill will get you marked down. I have even been marked down for braking while parking. I have checked my camera footage several times to see if I’m in the wrong and nope, no evidence of hard braking at all - except for a couple of occasions involving things like a pheasant, a cyclist and an idiot pulling out on me so those are fair enough. But my general driving I absolutely do not accept and nor do passengers who I have become neurotic enough to ask. Also, although I am apparently a maniac on the brakes, it seems that my acceleration and cornering is just fine. That just doesn’t make sense. I think I’d rather pay a higher premium than go through all this stress.”
Hello, I'm sorry to see that you are having such a poor experience with your Youdrive policy. We do acknowledge that at times you will have to reach to the road ahead and other users as well. As a result, please remember it’s fine if your driving score isn’t always at 100, it just needs to be above 30. You can also dispute road speed limits in the app. If you have any questions concerning the scoring or the device please call our YouDrive team on 0333 999 8911. ~Theo. Customer Care
“They dupe you into paying more money. Daylight robbery - so be prepared that once you pay for your insurance you will be contacted to verify information, which they will then swindle you into paying more. I requested to be passed onto a manager or another customer service representative, I was refused and directed to the complaints page of the website. Do not use, please spend your money elsewhere.”
Hello Halayna, I can appreciate the frustration that can be caused by the validations process and I'm sorry that you had such a poor experience during these checks. Our New Business Review team pick a handful of policies at random, checking all details and updating them when necessary. This is our standard business practice and we apologise if you weren't aware of this. We need the information to make sure an insurance policy is valid, fit for purpose and that there is no chance that you are not covered in the case of an accident or claim. This check can be done at any point in the policy.
If you believe that this was incorrectly handled and if you wish to raise a complaint concerning this, please visit www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints or call us on 0333 999 8904. When we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. Our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, says we have up to eight weeks to settle your complaint, however the vast majority are resolved well within that time. You’ll find more information at www.hastingsdirect.com/help. ~Theo. Customer Care
“Do not touch this insurance company, 90mp gale with gusts over 102mph when my skylight blew out and they wont entertain the damage. I have never had an insurance claim before and 2 different roof companies both say that the damage was caused by the gales. Seriously do not waste your time or money”
Hello, I'm very sorry to read about the damages to your home and I hope that repairs can be made soon. I can appreciate the frustration that this would have caused and I'm sorry that the policy doesn't provide the cover that you need in this situation.
If you believe this is incorrect and you would like to raise a complaint regarding this, please visit www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints or call us on 0333 999 8904. When we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. Our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, says we have up to eight weeks to settle your complaint, however, the vast majority are resolved well within that time frame. You’ll find more information at www.hastingsdirect.com/help. ~Theo. Customer Care
“I was about to buy a car insurance Hastings Prime, but after reading all the reviews here. I am out. I will stay Aviva for 100£ more.
unfortunately most of the Insurance companies are a fraud and not taking care of their customers. I hope Hastings going to do something about it”
Hello, thank you for considering Hastings Direct as your insurer and please contact us if you have any questions about the policies we provide. It's good to see that you were able to find suitable cover for your vehicle. ~Theo, Customer Care
“Terrible company. Was involved in a no fault accident over a year ago. I've had to do all the chasing myself, the company are just not interested and want me to accept dual liability so they don't have to pursue the other driver. Their call centre is in Africa so the language barrier and time delay on the phone is ridiculous. Avoid at all costs.”
Hello, I'm very sorry to read about the poor experience you've had during your claim. We always aim to deliver the highest level of service to all our customers so we regret if you didn't have this experience. If you’d like to discuss this, we’d be happy to talk about your claim with you. To get in touch either call 0333 321 9800 or you can email motorclaims@hastingsdirect.com as an alternative to the phone. We also have call centre advisors in the UK that you can speak to concerning this. ~Theo. Customer Care
“Utterly awful experience. Hastings sent a renewal quote for 2.5 times more than anywhere else. I rang and cancelled stating I do not want the renewal or anymore further quotes. They agreed.
Woke up this morning to £790 gone out of my bank account.
I rang and explained what had happened and was basically called a liar. Good job I didn't clear my call history because they all of a sudden found the call on record.
After further explanation and staying calm I was told there would be a fee of £20 to pay and it would take 8 days to recover the rest.
After explaining that I was unable to pay my mortgage on Monday morning because of their mistakes I managed to get a faster payment which will still take 24-48 hrs and leave me in a world of pain with the bank, they also said as a courtesy they'd waiver the £20 .
The cheek of it !!!!
When I asked on the phone, if I went around to the lady's house to clean the windows and she said don't but I did it anyway and demanded £10 would she pay me...she didn't want to answer the question for some reason. ?
Avoid at all costs”
Hello, I'm very sorry to read about this and the inconvenience it has caused you. I hope that your refund has since arrived.
If you wish to raise a complaint concerning this experience, please visit www.hastingsdirect.com/about-us/customer-complaints or call us on 0333 999 8904. When we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. Our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, says we have up to eight weeks to settle your complaint, however, the vast majority are resolved well within that time frame. You’ll find more information at www.hastingsdirect.com/help. ~Theo. Customer Care
“Last year £180 this year after yet another year of no claims £280 even allowing for inflation someone in Hastings is trying a fast one . Avoid like the plague when it comes to renewel time”
Hello, I'm sorry that we were unable to offer you a more competitive renewal price this year. There are many reasons your policy’s price may have increased, and you can find further information here: https://www.hastingsdirect.com/renewal-prices/. We’re happy to look into this for you in case changes need to be made or you were able to find this cheaper elsewhere. If you’d like us to help you further, please call our Renewals team on 0333 321 9790. I hope you can find suitable cover for your vehicle soon. ~Theo. Customer Care
Hello, I'm very sorry for any frustration the renewal process has caused. The law says any car on the road must be insured. To be certain our customers stay insured on their renewal date, we automatically renew their policies – that’s unless customers tell us not to renew. You can read about automatic renewal in your terms and conditions – you’ll also find it mentioned in the very first set of documents that we send to you along with the steps you can take to stop automatically renewing. These documents would show that the auto-renewal can be removed at any point in the first 11 months of the policy. If you’d like to talk about this, please call our Renewals team on 0333 321 9790. ~Theo. Customer Care
“Appalling
Bought car insurance, no problem.
Renewal comes through sky high. Cancelled my renewal before it starts, but Hastings has not cancelled it despite writing to me saying my new policy will be cancelled.
Apparently they don’t cancel via a letter. So why the hell do I have a letter right in front of me now saying it cancelled on the 30/03/2024.
Avoid Hastings widely. They will rip you off one way or another.
I’ve now taken my case to the car insurance ombudsman … that’s how serious this case is…”
Hello Adam, I'm very sorry to read about the poor experience you've had and to see that you had to raise a complaint concerning this. The complaint has been passed to the Customer Care Team and you can call the team to discuss it on 0333 999 8904. When we’ve logged your complaint, we’ll get back to you within five working days. Our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, says we have up to eight weeks to settle your complaint, however, the vast majority are resolved well within that time frame. You’ll find more information at www.hastingsdirect.com/help. I hope you get a a satisfactory resolution to your complaint. ~Theo. Customer Care
“Worst insurance company ever. They cancel your policy and send you an email after 5 days, letting you drive without insurance for this period. And they charge you for this 5 days as well.”
Hello Lucian, I can appreciate the frustration that can be caused by the validations process. I'm sorry that you had such a poor experience during these checks and that this led to the cancellation of your policy. Our New Business Review team pick a handful of policies at random, checking all details and updating them when necessary. This is our standard business practice and we apologise if you weren't aware of this. We need the information to make sure an insurance policy is valid, fit for purpose and that there is no chance that you are not covered in the case of an accident or claim.
You should have received an email from us that explained that we would cancel the policy if the requested information wasn't provided and included the date we’d cancel it from. We apologise if you didn’t get this email. If you think your policy was cancelled incorrectly, and you would like to discuss this, please contact the team on 0333 321 9757 so they can take a look at this. ~Theo, Customer Care
“My mum has gone into care, when I asked about insurance now house empty I got an email to say the policy was being cancelled .
No help at a difficult time, they say here to help but that not the case.
If this is hiw they operate I wouldn't want to be in a stressful insurance claim!”
Hello Katrina, I'm very sorry to read about the cancellation. I'm afraid we were unable to locate a policy for your mother, however if you would like us to look into this or if you need you discuss this further, please email us at customersupport@hastingsdirect.com and send us the policy reference. We'll do all we can to answer any questions you have. ~Theo, Customer Care
“These people are the worst of the worst. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the reviews on here under hastingsdirect.co.uk
The co.uk is the wrong site to comment, and Hastings won’t take any notice of it, but the reviews on that site echo my own poor experience of them.
Obtained a good quote from them, which was dependent upon having a DriveWell Tag put into the vehicle. Whilst this was not a problem in of itself, it turned out to be a nightmare of ridiculous proportions.
After a couple of weeks checking the app, my driving score was in the low percents; which I could not understand. Despite continually checking my speed, acceleration & braking (which the app said was troublesome) it got no better.
In late March, we got a notification from Hastings, informing that the policy would be cancelled at the end of March; no warning, no opportunity to either refute or repudiate the claims, or to respond and ask for the evidence being cited. Nothing, just an ignorant silence.
After registering a complaint, we at last got some action. The lady dealing explained that one’s mobile phone registers the driving stats, through its gyro facility. She took us through the readings, and then came the KO. The app claimed that I had been using my phone whilst driving, which was an outright lie. This was why the percentages were so low, a great big hole in your numbers, if an inanimate object believed that you had been touching your phone!
I pointed out that I never do this, as it’s connected by Bluetooth, the vehicle has an inbuilt sat nav, and any music is on an iPod connected to the ICE system.
There was no right of reply, no chance to challenge any of the data, in fact no opportunity to get any form of opinion across.
Furthermore, no one could tell me what the parameters were for assessing the scores. No one could say what “hard acceleration” or “hard braking” meant. These are subjective terms, to say the least.
So, I’ve taken my business elsewhere, and I will do the same with the home insurance I have with them at the earliest opportunity.
Even murderers get their day in court, Hastings though, are quite happy to be prosecution, judge, and jury.
Avoid at all costs.”
Hello Neil, I'm very sorry to read about the poor experience that you had while insured on your telematics policy. I regret also that the complaint wasn't resolved with the outcome that you had hoped for. If you wish you can escalate the outcome of a formal complaint further with the Financial Ombudsman so it can be further reviewed. Information on how to do this would have been made available if your complaint was a formal one but please contact us at customersupport@hastingsdirect.com if you need any help with this. I hope that you have since been able to find suitable cover for your vehicle. ~Theo, Customer Care
Hello Douglas, I can appreciate the frustration the fee would cause. We do all we can to reduce this frustration by making our fees clear before you buy a policy from us, and they’re stated in the policy documents you receive in the cooling off period.. We're very sorry if this information wasn't seen. If you need any further help, please visit www.hastingsdirect.com/help. ~Theo. Customer Care
“Complete time wasters. I have a brand new bike in the showroom and Hastings that I’m already insured with won’t even quote.
The bike is cheaper and a lot less powerful yet I’ve been left without insurance.. phone multi times and all I get is “computer says no” !!!!”
Hello, I can appreciate the frustration this can cause. When we work out the price of our policies, we consider various things, including your vehicle, address, drivers and personal details. On this occasion, it seems we can’t offer cover based on a combination of the above. I'm very sorry that this is the case and I hope that you are able to find suitable cover for your bike soon. ~Theo. Customer Care
“Tried to get a quote for multi bike insurance. Met with rude, disinterested call handler who barely spoke to me. Wouldn’t clarify any questions I had. Clearly somebody who hates their job! Had to terminate the attempt at getting a quote. Will go elsewhere.”
Hello Tim, I'm very sorry to read about the poor experience you had while trying to purchase a policy with us and if you didn't get the level of customer service you deserved for the advisor. Thank you for considering us as your insurer and I hope that you have since been able to find suitable cover for your bikes. ~Theo, Customer Care
“Hit by a third party insured by Hastings vehicle failed to stop no mot stupidly allowed Hastings to get involved rather than my insurers AXA , obtained parts second hand and fitted for less than £100 Hastings had a belligerent attitude , didn't want a cheap hire car saved them in the region of £1000 been offered £70 ,insured with AXA through Saga never again customer service nil”
Hello, I'm very sorry that you had such a poor experience with us. We always aim to deliver the highest level of service to all our customers so we regret if you didn't receive this. If you’d like to discuss this, we’d be happy to talk about your claim with you. To get in touch either call 0333 321 9800 or email motorclaims@hastingsdirect.com with your claim reference in the subject line. ~Theo. Customer Care
“i got Access back to my funds with EVIDENTLTD.COM ...... If not for them i would have been dead by now with what Hastings Direct did for me and my husband, THIS IS ALL SCAM ... STAY AWAY PLEASE”
Hello, I'm very sorry to see that you've had a poor experience with us. If you need any help with your policy, please contact us at customersupport@hastingsdirect.com. We'll do all we can to help you. ~Theo, Customer Care
