Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.29

3.3 Rating 2,006 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 2,006 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
On-time Delivery	Greater than 72%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour

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Hastings Direct Smart Miles 1 star review on 12th July 2024

James

Hastings Direct Smart Miles 5 star review on 29th September 2023

Jason Major

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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“It?s very good at saving money, but it?s very strict. For example, when you drive after 10pm, your score goes drastically low, however when you try to build it up, it takes a very long time!!! Apart from that it?s fine.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi,?? Thanks for your review, it's correct to say scores are weighted differently and increases do need to be slower to achieve for time of day as the insurer is trying to limit the occasions you do it. This is to shield you from the time of highest risk and improve your chances of being claim-free by the renewal?? ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Always phone to enquire about queries I have and they?re so helpful and happy to be on the phone to you, I normally only phone to ask about my box?s assets or how to set up the app on my phone and they?ve always been brillaint at explaining and great customer service skills”

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Posted 7 years ago

“I wasn't waiting too long before I was able to speak to someone, the problem was resolved immediately and easily. Very impressed. The staff member I spoke to was helpful, polite and effective.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Having work for an insurance company myself I found Hastings unhelpful, they didn?t seem to know what they were doing, they couldn?t give me dates for payments and generally just did not provide a great customer service, certainly not the level I would expect.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi,? ? I am very sorry that you were not offered the service you expected and thank you fore the valuable feedback?? ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Fantastic service provided!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Been with Hastings Direcrect for 2 years now. Rang them a when insurance was due for renewal, very helpful and answered what I needed to know. Will recommend to others. Good insurance to go with.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Bit frustrating because I had called them the day before asking about whether my husband could be the policy holder and they said they had no quotes. Though I had a quote on my computer at the time so asked not to continue my policy when it runs out and they said no problem. The next night they had taken the money from my account and had to wait a few days to get it back after calling them up and saying again I had asked not to continue”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hello, I'm sorry to hear about the experience you had and I hope this has since been resolved. Please contact us if there's any further assistance you may need and I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“Very good service kept well informed on procedures required”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Unfortunately can't give zero stars. Hi there, I made the mistake of taking out car insurance with Hastings Direct Smartmiles (a service using a black box) I took this insurance out in April 2017 and after receiving a warning they were going to retract it in June from my low score, I started taking notes and screenshots of my score to try and understand where I was going wrong. 8 months later, I am still baffled as to how these figures reflect my driving. The figures very rarely change, and if they do they drop significantly. I feel as though it is a scam to try and get me to pay to cancel or they will cancel it themselves which will clearly jeopardise my future of car insurance purchasing. I am aware I am not the only one with this problem looking at the appalling reviews below. My Issues with the box are as follows: a) my braking hasn't changed from 31% since 5/7/17 despite me never slamming on my brakes. b) my speeding has always hovered round the 50% mark since I got my insurance in April, despite me never going over the speeding limit. c) My time of day has always hovered at 60%, despite what must be over 6,700 miles driven in the day. More irritating was that I was told by Hastings themselves there wasn't a curfew on the box which, there quite clearly is. d) Acceleration is my biggest issue, starting at 10, I stopped using the screen when my car tells me to change gear following Hastings advice which upped the score to around 25. I then chose to stop using cruise control which managed to get me a 'high score' of 50 (why this isn't higher due to my utmost care taken when accelerating I don't know) However in the past week this has suddenly dropped to 25 for absolutely no reason. You will see from the attach screenshots that some days it dramatically just drops with no valid excuse. I am aware they give out safe driving 'tips' but after calling 4/5 times about these persistent issues, I believe that the company has put it off long enough.. especially when the tips include: 1. Put a cup of water on my dashboard to avoid accelerating harshly 2. Don’t crawl in rush hour traffic, use handbrake rather than foot brake and wait for traffic to disperse.. at the time I lived in London.. I’d never get home! 3. Crawl out of roads at roundabouts to avoid harsh acceleration, despite this being a crash hazard. 4. Refrain from braking. I said I work 9 – 5 in London with many people who are unable to drive in my area, causing me to hit my brakes or crash into them. Her response: well that would be their fault so it wouldn’t affect your insurance. They would rather I crashed into someone which could cause injury or death just to try and improve their broken black box?! The disaster of this insurance company is making me want to just sell my car which isn't how it should be. Avoid like the plague, sometimes cheapest ends up costing you more.. financially and mentally!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Good cover, and excellent renewal cover for my 2nd year.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Stay away mo matter they are cheap easy pay bit extra go with any other company who have good review HESTING DIRECT IF THEY LOOK AT REVIEWS MORE THEN 90% CUSTOMERS ARE COMPLAINING BUT IT SEEMS CUSTOMERS SRE WRONG BUT THEY ARE RIGHT no matter who has drive our car we drove over 80 miles still under 40 customers service are rude they don’t want to listen”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Very helpful and easy to deal with”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Terrible service, worst company to go with all they want is your bank details, they never asked me if I would like bouns protection and never went over the terms and conditions with me and being a customer of there's for 4 years you would think they would add it on as a thank you instead they demand ?900 more... I will never take out insurance with them again !!”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi,?? I am very sorry you were not offered that particular benefit - it is not usually available until certain insurer parameters are met?? ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Be able to increase your score if it has been reduced”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi,?? For lots of tips on ways to improve the score just get in touch with us and we'll be more than happy to help you bring it up?? ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“It was okay but feel like I?m forced to drive my car when I don?t want to. when I got the policy you are telling me Ive not done enough miles to get a score yet, and if you don?t drive I won?t get a score so my policy gets cancelled so you are telling me I am being forced to waste petrol to get a score which is what I had to do, I should be scored instantly not to have to do 100 miles first because that?s ridiculous this has to change”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi,?? Thanks for your welcome feedback, hopefully I can shed some clarification. The box does need around 60-100 miles to generate a score however cancellations would only be for scores remaining under the threshold which is 40. I'm sorry if you felt your policy might be cancelled for any other reason?? ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Tracks my driving but not to the point where I feel like im being stalked, has also beaten any quote I have been given 2 years on the run. I was unfortunate enough to have an accident within my first year of driving, but everything was simple and stress free with Hastings smart miles! Would definite recommend to everyone!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“I have never had any problems since the start of my policy 4 years ago! Great value for money and every year my insurance has gone down. Amazing!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“simple things well”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Recommended....3 yrs best deal available.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Have been the hasting smartmiles for 4 years now and on my fourth year my insurance is nearly still as high as it was in my first year even though I always score 80 and above on my black box score. I got charged ?250 premium for moving house and the staff are never overly nice when I?ve had to ring up.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi Lauren, Thanks for he feedback and review, I'm sorry your premiums hasn't been what you had hoped but I am glad to hear your score is quite high. Hopefully we're still highly competitive in the market for you each year?? ~Joe

Posted 6 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 2,006 reviews