Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.28

3.3 Rating 2,013 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 2,013 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

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“I purchased this policy for my daughter for her first car. Although Hastings Direct provided the cheapest quote, they fail to tell you some major drawbacks with the policy until after you have purchased it. The SmartBox scores drivers on four aspects. Acceleration, braking, speed and time of day. The first 3 are quite reasonable, but it is not made clear until after you buy the policy that driving after 10pm drags down your score considerably and can result in cancellation of the policy at considerable financial loss. As a result, you are severely restricted as to when you can use your car. If anyone still wishes to buy in this knowledge, do pay the ?35 for an engineer install of the SmartBox. The blurb says it just attaches to the battery terminals, which sounds straightforward. But this info is incorrect for many cars. In my daughters case (2015 Ford Focus) the engineer had to remove trim and rubber seals to roll back the carpet and then hard wire into a large tightly bound wiring loom and drill the SmartBox into the floor of the car. This would be impossible for anyone to do themselves unless they are an electrician. I also wasn't happy about having the immaculate car that I had just bought for her pulled around like that. Finally, the SmartMiles App and Website are both hopeless. The website doesn't show correct info (trips get missed etc) and shows wildly different data to the App. It also doesn't allow you to log off. The App shows more of the trips, but they take an age to update and, when they do, they sometimes only show part of the journey, wrongly implying that your car was left overnight somewhere other than your home which, again, can impact on your insurance and result in possible (and unfair) cancellation. I thought there was a fault with the SmartBox but miraculously, the App seems to sometimes correct itself and complete the rest of the trip a few days later. Had I known that this policy would be so restrictive and the SmartBox data so hopelessly incorrect and unreliable, I would have paid the extra for a policy that doesn't require a telematics box. Even though my daughters score is currently a very respectable 99, it's all far to stressful worrying that you may be penalised due to poor system reliability and inaccurate data and not being able to drive after 10pm without major risk of having the policy cancelled. It is very unlikely that we will renew with Hastings as a result and wish that I had read the countless appalling reviews on this review site before I purchased this policy as I would have shopped elsewhere.”

Helpful Report

Posted 8 years ago

Hi and thank you for your feedback. You can find information about Time Of Day driving ?our website under Facts and Questions which says 'For the purposes of the policy, night driving is considered to be between the hours of 10pm and 5am'. Under the section of 'How SmartMiles works', it states that 'we won't charge you a penalty for driving at night. However driving between 10pm and 5am will lower your driver rating, so we recommend you don't do this regularly between 10pm and 5am'.box install damage. We are sorry for the distress the installation caused, our professional engineers are fully trained and experienced in installing our boxes. ?It is extremely rare that any damage is caused during installation but please let us know if there were any issues following fitment. ?The Self install SmartMiles box is different to the Professional install version. The self install the box is attached to your battery terminals, we provide instructions for easy fitting, app and site usability and accuracy. SmartMiles boxes will start to collect driving data as soon as they are installed. Once the box is full it transmits the data which is then uploaded on to your dashboard and app, this happens approximately every 60 miles but it can vary depending on your driving style. On occasions the Dashboard and App ?may upload at slightly different times, if you look at your journey data alongside your scores, you?ll be able to identify which journeys have been uploaded and included.Hope this helps.? Please let us know if you would like us to contact you to discuss any of your points in more detail. ~Joe

Posted 6 years ago

“Very easy to set up this policy. Gave plenty of notice that it was due to expire so I had time to shop around for prices. They automatically renewed the policy for me without me having to do a thing.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Was very helpful and great”

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Posted 8 years ago

“very helpful easy to deal with hassle free”

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Posted 8 years ago

“I was just presented with an ultimatum. If I didn't do this, I would not be insured. If I didn't do that within a certain length of time,I would not be insured. If I had had more time I would not be insured with you.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, Sorry to see you've not felt you got the right service from us. There are safeguards or processes that we must adhere to and many insurers operate in a similar way. Documents like your V5 and no claims bonus will be important each year so it's a good idea to have them safe ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Scammed to fuck put my score low on my black box and didn't give enough time or even to chance to get it up before cancelling me. Wankers”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Try to ring to arrange appointments to fit the required device into my vehicle after I bought the insurance. But it looks like no one ever answers the phone . I have try this for the past seven days. At the meantime I received a few reminders and ask me to get in touch to keep my policy. No email option”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, I'm very sorry to see you've had difficulty getting in touch with us and we are working very hard to improve the waiting time as swiftly as we can due to this. Hopefully you've gotten the service you needed now ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Website easy to use. Needed insurance quickly so picked Hastings as prices competitive. Didn't like the fact that you had to agree to your driving being monitored through a "black box" no way out of this unfortunately. Seems a bit intrusive and somewhat " big brother is watching you".”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, Thank you very much for letting us hear your feedback, it's welcome. Our product is a telematics style offering which uses the data from your driving to not only keep you safer, better skilled but also offer you a personalised discount at the end of the year. I hope you find it as helpful as many of our other customers do ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“their programming didn't recognise my car , took 20 mins on phone to sort out the next day , then half hour on phone mainly on hold to try and get an apt for their contractor to fit the box , savings are good , but that's about it”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, Sorry to learn there was an issue when you installed the box - we're also working on answering faster so that you don't need to wait as much as well ~Joe

Posted 6 years ago

“My agreeing to use the SmartMiles box has made it possible to avoid a swingeing insurance premium hike. The box was delivered promptly and it was easy to install. The online monitoring of my driving serves to be both interesting and encouraging.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Very professional and helpful.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Seems a very good and efficient service”

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Posted 8 years ago

“It is ok, as it was quick to mark down every hard breaking, but was not as quick to put the rating back up if you were driving well.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, Thanks for your feedback, we're always looking at ways to help customers improve driving and therefore get a better quote at renewal. All comments about your experience are very welcome ~Joe?

Posted 6 years ago

“Very easy to talk to on the phone, were ready to answer any questions or had, would definitely recommend and plan to use again in the future”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Worst service I have ever exepencd I would not recommend anyone to go with this company what so ever!! Avoid at all costs the staff are very rude and not very sympathise still waiting for a ?200 refund”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, I am very sorry to see that you've been unhappy with your experience and don't feel we provided the right service to you. It's very important that we ensure all calls put the best face of our company forward and appreciate your feedback in this ~Joe

Posted 6 years ago

“Excellent service through out”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Amazing customer service very helpful and informative.”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Good customer service and honouring previous quotes”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Can't comment bought the car and returned it on the 3rd day cancelling policy”

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Posted 8 years ago

“Can be pretty stricked when it comes to your diving score, but worth it when it comes to renewing. Saved ?400 I renewed!”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 2,013 reviews