Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.29

3.3 Rating 2,010 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 2,010 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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“My son has been told they are withdrawing his car insurance as his score has been below 40. Tell me why his speed has been scored at 30 for the whole 5 months and he did ring and query it and they said everything was fine. Also his acceleration is 0 and has never changed in the 5 months he's had his insurance?????? Surely this is a system that is faulty???? Is it fare that he loses his insurance and all the money he's paid??”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see your son has had so many issues with his SmartMiles policy. If you are unsure of the scores that your son has accumulated and want some clarity, we do have a dedicated team that can give examples, helpful hints and support to see him improve his driving behaviour score. The First Response Unit can be contacted on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Had been with the insurers for almost 2 years with a black box and they got me a good deal on my renewal after year one but as soon as I got a new car I had to be treated as a ‘new customer’ and they couldn’t give me a better deal even with a great black box score previously and they made me cancel my policy and make a new one for the new car, which impacts my no claims discount. For the black box to be fitted, they arrived late and broke my glove box door. They don’t listen to customers, they simply say ‘feel free to shop around for another insurer’”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I can only imagine how frustrating this must have been for you especially in the light that you had such a strong driving behaviour score the previous year. Unfortunately, as we use a panel of underwriters, some will cover a new vehicle and some wont, if the one you had at the time refused, it would be a case of having to take out another policy (having an impact on your no claims.) I really am sorry that this situation arose and hope you now have the cover on place meaning you can enjoy your new vehicle. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Avoid avoid avoid always telling u they going to cancel your insurance takes the whole fun of passing your test away... u cant always access the app to check your score and even after driving in the speed limit and driving like a saint the scores stay low and defo dont update as often as they say... had the policy for 3 days and they said will cancel it.. then there system had to b updated as the speed limits in our area had changed and there system hadnt updated this so was getting low scores all the time which was there fault. Complete nightmare wish i had just paid more and had no black box in the first place... my son has been with them 3 months and for some reason his score is lower than ever its like they keeping it low so they can cancel it....”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you have had difficulties with your SmartMiles policy. Our boxes update every 70-75 miles so you should see a change at about this time. If you feel you need help and support, we have dedicated team that can do just that. The First Response Unit can give you helpful hints and tips and also explain how the box works, they can be contacted on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Quite literally the worst experience I received from this company when comparing against any other company I've dealt with - They decided to try charge an additional £1000~ for not declaring claims which were in fact false, they then attempted to state we lied and had to do their job for them by getting records from our previous insurance company just to have smartmiles then try change the issue to not getting a blackbox fitted when in fact it was scheduled on the same day as paying for the insurance and that making sure smartmiles knew when it was getting fitted and finally have them send an outrageous letter saying they're cancelling the policy under no legal grounds and further demanding more money with none of the staff people polite in anyway and not even understanding how insurance works.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm so sorry to read that you have had such a negative experience with your SmartMiles policy. We are as professional as we possibly can be so to read that you were accused of lying is extremely disappointing and I apologise sincerely. I hope that by the time you receive this response the matter will have been rectified. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“awful customer service”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for you review. I', sorry that you have had such a negative experience dealing with our Customer Service team. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“My telematics box fitting was due between 9am and 1pm. I phoned smart Miles at 1:30 as no one had turned up Someone turned up at 3:30 We weren’t notified that they would be late, so I was unhappy with the service”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback, I'm really sorry to read you wasted your afternoon and nobody contacted you to make you aware that the engineer would be late. Hopefully you have not had any issues since. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“The member of staff was very helpful and listened to my needs giving me all options available I was dealt in a professional manner”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Fozia, Thank you for your 5 star review! We are so pleased that you felt listened to and that you were dealt with in a professional manner. ~ Amber

Posted 6 years ago

“Modern day robbers who give threatening behaviour, hiding behind Smart box technology whereby the consumer wouldn't be able to challenge if the data was correct or not or if its been manipulated. Only 10 days into a car insurance policy and I am sent an email saying my insurance could be cancelled by Hastings Direct Smart Miles if my score continues to be below 40 over the next 200 miles, but I won't be entitled to a refund on the £100 (1/3 of the insurance premium paid upfront) and they will charge another £45 for THEM cancelling the insurance premium!!!! What’s to stop this company taking the equivalent of 5-6 months premiums including the cancellation penalty and manipulating the data on the smart box to allow them to cancel the policy in the first couple weeks….”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to see you have had such a negative experience with our SmartMiles insurance. When our policy holders take out policies, they are made aware that we have four areas we observe and require you to have a score above 40/100. We also have a process in place and also help and support to enable you to get the score back to where it needs to be. I completely understand your frustrations but the First Response Unit would be more than happy to provide you with data examples of where and when braking or accelerating may have been a bit erratic, as mentioned they can also help with improving your scores. They can be contacted on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Great renewal price! Very happy with it, company been great with me over the year.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Rebecca, We really appreciate the time you've taken to share this with us. It's good to see that we were able to offer you a competitive renewal and reward you for the quality of your driving throughout the year. Thank you for choosing to renew with Hastings Smartmiles -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“Brilliant been very happy”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi Helen, Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review with us and for choosing to insure with Hastings Smartmiles. It's very good to see that you had such a positive experience with us -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“Very Good, however could improve more in the level of communication”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi Rasheana,Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us a review and for insuring with Hastings Direct. We really appreciate your feedback.~ Amber

Posted 6 years ago

“Always easy to get hold of on the phone and very helpful. Never had any problem and all for a reasonable price.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi William,Thank you so much for your 5 star review. It's great to know that you have found it easy to contact us and that you feel our pricing is reasonable. Thank you for insuring with us.~ Amber

Posted 6 years ago

“Exactly the same experience as others! 1 month in and the braking is at 0!! Threatening to cancel the insurance after 40 miles!! It is truly a scam as these boxes which do not update after every journey must cost under a £1 and they charge you £150 when they cancel your insurance. I have contacted BBC watchdog and they are aware of these cowboys but need more complaints as they can’t go by the many hundreds on here. Please contact them on the bbc website so we can shut them down.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm truly sorry to see that you had such a poor experience with us. The team does strive to disclose all potential fees before the policy is purchased so I do apologise if this was information was missed and added to the frustration as a result. I hope that you have been able to find suitable cover for your vehicle since this review. If you do wish to raise a complaint regarding the experience you had please contact the team to do so by visiting: contact@hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“The SmartMiles 'black box' just seemed to be very inaccurate - my breaking and acceleration scores were very poor even though I drove as if I was taking my test every journey. The speed score seemed to work fine, but having a curfew at 10:00pm is ridiculous as that isn't that late at all, and often I'd find myself having to come back from work after those hours, again giving me a very poor score. Overall, it did the job in getting my insurance cheaper for the first year but it was the cause of a lot of stress as due to the inaccuracies of its recordings, I nearly wasn't eligible for the discount. - James”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,I'm sorry that you feel the box was inaccurate, especially surrounding your braking and acceleration scores. The box picks up G-Force and require very smooth and gently movements which can take a bit of practice to emulate. WE are very transparent about our requirements with time of day driving as statistically you are more likely to have an accident between the hours or 10pm and 5am. We have this time to protect our policy holders, suggesting they don't drive between these times. Its great though, to see you managed to save some money at renewal and thank you for letting us cover you for another year.~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“An absolutely diabolical company, who are dictating to it's customers with 20+years no claims, how to drive. I would not recommend this company to anyone. Neither would I give it any stars. Unfortunately most, if not all of us, do make some poor choices if life - taking my car insurance out with this company was one of mine.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm very sorry to hear that you didn't have the best experience with us at Hastings Smartmiles. I appreciate that this policy may not be suitable for all drivers and it does tend to be aimed at younger drivers starting out on their driving experience who may need assistance managing their driving and getting used to the road. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and I do hope that you've been able to find more suitable cover since this review -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“Find the system a bit frustrating as it marks you down for driving late at night which I do often due to work. Also scored me very low, and i do not believe it is a fair score.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to see you obtain a low score and that may have been for your 'time of day. driving. We are as transparent as possible about driving between the hours of 10pm and 5am as more accidents happen between these hour and as an insurance company try to protect our, younger, more inexperienced drivers. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Hasting directs customer service has been alright in all fairness, however they seem to give different information between each representative on the phone. This caused problems when it came to charges and payments, etc. Furthermore, the telemativs box is very slow at telling you how your driving is. And it also seems very inaccurate. It can take almost 2 days after a harsh brake (for example) for it to register on the app, and reflect it in your score, which is very very misleading and unhelpful.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback, our boxes update every 70 miles or so, so unfortunately it can take a few days between updating if you drive a low mileage. We do have a dedicated team though who can give you really helpful hints and tips to improve your breaking and acceleration. The First Response Unit can be contacted on 0800 048 2955.~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Awful company !!! Never go with them!!! Rude employees ! Scam !! Black box is a total scam makes up you have bad score when you don?t!! Money grabbing !!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review. I'm sorry that you feel we have not given you a good enough service and that our staff were not professional enough, it's very disappointing to see you have had such an negative experience and apologise sincerely. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Excellent service and using the black box has reduced my premium”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Customer service is fab. The dashboard is okay. But I can never improve my score. I feel like because my car is older it gets a worse score due to having to accelerate more to get power.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 2,010 reviews