SCAM, SCAM, SCAM. Hastings Direct Smart Miles. My 19 year old son has had a black box for two years through Auto Saint Insurance, the first year as a learner driver and the 2nd year after he passed his test. For the two years his score was 95-100%, for his 3rd year we had a quotation from Auto Saint which was £1,000.00 more than the previous year as he was now in employment and not a student, giving a total quotation of £1,900.00. We thought this to be very expensive just because he is now in employment and shopped around. My husband had a quotation from Hastings Direct Smart Miles of £962.00, which we went ahead with. Within days of having the black box fitted he had a score of 100 for speeding, 0 on braking, 0 on acceleration and 0 for time of day. We also had a limit of 6,000 miles a year on the policy. On one day he drove the car out of the garage and parked up at the rear of our house some 100 yards and according to the black box it was a drive of 1 mile?? If the black box were to clock up this distance each time with simple movements of the car then the 6,000 mileage limited would soon diminish. After looking into the policy in more detail you are obviously deducted points for driving after 10.00 pm, which myself and my husband were not ha ppy about, WE ARE THE PARTENTS not the bloody insurance company and he is 19 years old not 9. If he wants to visit his friends or go out for a meal then that is his choice as to when he wants to come back home not some idiot sat behind a desk. My son was absolutely mortified with the scores and could not believe it, he telephoned Hastings Direct Smart Miles and complained and said that there must be a fault with the black box, as he was a very careful driver, the lady looked at the computer and said that she could not see a fault with the box and that he should leave a bigger distance between vehicles and not put your foot down so hard. My son is a very good driver (he says sorry when he goes in a pot hole) Then a couple of days later my husband receives an email to say that my sons score is below 40 and needs to be above 40 or the policy will be cancelled. We discussed the policy and decided to cancel the policy ourselves, for one my son does stay out occasionally after 10.00 pm therefore this will always affect his score and two we believe the box to be faulty and as they seem to believe it is not his score will be around 40 if not lower (hence they can cancel at any time). We felt that if Hastings cancel the policy then it will be harder to get insurance as you have now been refused insurance. It cost £210.00 for the black box, £45.00 cancellation fee and £47.00 for the 24 days of the policy, so for 24 days on cover it cost £302.43. Then to top it off my husband did the comparison website and found Hastings Direct - the price came up on screen for around £1400.00, so the next day he called them up to go through the policy and was quoted £1,200.00 which was even better, he said that that would be ok, Hastings gave him a reference number so that my husband could cancel with Hastings Direct Smart Miles first then call Hastings Direct back to arrange cover. He called them back and the lady went through the policy details with my husband and when they got to the employment the lady said student my husband said no he is employed and she said oh in that case the price is now £1600.00, my husband was absolutely fuming, he said that he had already spoken to a gentleman 15 minutes before and had confirmed our sons employment status as employed, she said that there was a mistake and the price was £1600.00, which as you can imagine my husband said forget it and asked for a complaints department. We never ever complain but to be honest this insurance lark is an absolute load of rubbish, they know you need insurance and just make up the figures to suit their pockets. This Company Hastings Direct Smart Miles and Hastings Direct are DISGUSTING and are clearly ripping off young vulnerable adults. Please DO NOT USE THEM. Pay that little bit extra and DO NOT be taken in by the cheaper quotation as you will end up paying for it in the long term. Happy and safe driving people.