Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.30

3.3 Rating 1,998 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 1,998 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

Visit Website

Write Your review

Tell us how Hastings Direct Smart Miles made you happy

Minimum 10 characters

Would you like to add a photos or videos?

Strengthen your review by uploading photos & videos.

Drag files here or browse

(Supported files: jpg, png, mpeg, ogg, mp4 & webm)

What's your name?

Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.

(Optional)

What's your email?

We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine

Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.

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

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Send me a login for my smart miles device. I was promised this by the end of je. I'm still waiting...september28th!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to your regarding this. Hopefully by now you have received your login details for your app. If you do need to speak to an advisor in future, please don't hesitate in contacting the team on 01733 308 380.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“I have had a policy with Hastings for just over 8 months, I have just been informed my policy is going to be cancelled due to my scoring being too low. However it’s only this low because my score ever since I got the box has been 0 for acceleration and everytime I’ve tried to contact them to discuss how to sort this issue I get the nonsense story that I’m an awful driver and they’re box has no flaws. Quite clearly the box has some issues as every review on here has the same reading considering there accelerometer. The customer service I have received off Hastings has been dreadful numerous unreturned calls and emails which I was guaranteed never been received - if you are a young driver or parent reading this review do not take insurance with them no matter how much cheaper it is. They are a scam. And they are scamming young vulnerable drivers looking for a good price.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for taking the time to leave this review. I'm sorry to see you have received an email warning you that we may have to cancel your policy. If this is the first email you have received it will state that you have 200 miles to improve your score above 40/100. This is more than achievable and with the help and support of our dedicated team, more than possible. I think it would be more than beneficial to speak to them on 0800 048 2955 or contact them via email at firstresponse@hastingsdirect.com. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“I would never buy this type of insurance again, the device given was very tricky to use. Since I was a new driver, pricing was a crucial thing, fitting the device to car was ok however; the driving style relating to the device doesn't seem correctly recorded. once is dropped, no matter how to drive (from slow to very slow) still won't brought it up, this makes me think that the device is a little bit tricky, because all records are going to use to determine the price for the forth coming renewal policy, obviously the lower the point the higher the renewal price. After experienced, I will not purchase this type of insurance again yet of course not renewing with this company again!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,I'm sorry to see you are having a few issues with the black box. I can imagine without speaking with one of our team about how the box works and best practise to get the scores where they need to be. We do have a dedicated team that would be more than happy to speak with you and support any problems with the box you have. They can explain how it works and give some really good hints and tips on how to improve. They can be contacted on 0800 048 2955 or via email at firstresponse@hastings direct.com.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“The only word that comes to mind is useless. This was my first ever car insurance which naturally cost me an arm and a leg. The smart miles box was ok but I hated the fact there was a curfew which didn?t allow me to use my car between 10pm-5pm without being penalised, it felt like an over controlling parent and a lack of freedom. Hastings have also been uncooperative in regards to claims and gave me incorrect information which has affected my policy with my new insurance meaning I had to pay more. They also tried to take money out of my account without my permission but then claimed they had sent out information but didn?t. As a young person I felt like I was taken advantage of because of my age and I will not be continuing my car insurance with them ever again. A waste of ?1200 and a poor experience, would not recommend.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,I'm really sorry to see your experience with us was a bad one. We are very transparent with the driving between 10pm and 5am and suggest that you do drive, this is to protect our younger more inexperienced drivers that could be exposed to potential accidents. I really am really sorry to see that you were unhappy with our claims process and the fact you were charged more when changing provider. This must have been very frustrating and for this I apologise. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Wanted change vehicle most places charge admin fee happy pay that but not £548 they were going charge customer service extremely rude would not recommend”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I am sorry to see that you have had so many issues whilst trying to change your vehicle. There are many factors that we need to look at when quoted, the size of the engine, size of car, alarm systems and desirability amongst other things. I do however apologise for the service you had from our Customer Services team. This is not acceptable. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. ~ Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“If there was a zero score we would be using that 1 is far too good !!!disgusting we are forwarding all information to watchdog as a matter of urgency ....your boxes are inaccurate and yet you fail to accept this ...”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm really sorry to hear you've not had the best experience with our telematics box and that it has caused so much frustration. If you need to discuss this and wish to arrange correspondence with our smart miles team please email the policy reference and a contact number to help@hastingsdirect.com. We'll do all we can to arrange some assistance for you -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“Avoid!!! Absolute joke! They should be ashamed of themselves.. that nasty device to monitor driving is utter rubbish.. We have just cancelled and had to pay £210 for the inaccurate box.. the stress if was causing with it’s monitoring was just too much, if you don’t want your son or daughter to become paranoid of getting in the car when there driving is perfectly fine then do I plead that you don’t use this company!!! I hope people read the reviews and take this as a warning I only wish we had :-(”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, I'm so sorry to see you have had such a negative experience with your SmartMiles box. The purpose of the box is not to make your child paranoid of driving but to monitor it, we do have a dedicated team that just works to help improve scores and give hints and tips to for them to use. The box also gives potential crash alerts so we can call out and make sure your children are safe when out driving. I completely understand your frustrations and wish the best with your new provider. If you do want to disuss this further you can cll our team on 01733 308 380. - Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“This is the most horrific and nasty device that I have ever come across. And Connor I would much prefer if you didn’t reply to this with your made up nonsense desperately trying to prove some sort of value in something which is quite obviously a failure. Save my sanity please. The box doesn’t work. It is a nasty piece of equipment that does not take reality into account. It’s doesn't consider the place you live, traffic or the necessity of using your brakes in such a way as in to react to what’s going on around you stopping collisions, or the necessity to accelerate at roundabouts. If you actually drove to the standards that the box requires your driving would be less safe, especially when considering the area I live, there is no doubt about it. You naturally have to drive with a little more panache and energy than if you lived the countryside otherwise you would be such a worried driver that it would make matters worse when considering how everyone drives around you. Anyway despite that. I made a real conscious effort over the warning week to drive a lot better. I was one point under the minimum of 40, I made an 8 point increase. I have no idea how I still scored so little as I was driving very carefully. I explained to the person on the phone that there should be a probation period whereby if you’re making obvious progress and you’re genuinely trying to improve you should be then given more advice to then improve for the week after instead of loosing £500 and your insurance being cancelled just like that. Furthermore, how am I supposed to know how much my driving has improved/ what points I have gained if I have not been told? It is unquantifiable as I have no information about how much my driving has improved according to the black box. If I knew it had only improved by a little i would have naturally been able to calculate what I needed to do to improve further. Instead my insurances was just cancelled throug email. She didn’t seem to understand what I meant. Must have been trained to say “there must be a cut off point” without being given the ability to consider what the caller is actually saying. Now this is disgusting, unfair and deceitful. It’s a company that should be closed down for this and quite frankly should go to court over this. I can only do what I can towards this and that is to write letters to who I can to make this happen. This is what I will do week in week out if necessary. Please steer clear form this! It is not a reliable or intelligent enough piece of equipment to give a realistic account of how good your driving is and you will lose money from not doing anything wrong.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hello there, thank you for leaving such a detailed and frank review. Firstly may I apologise that we have had to cancel your policy as I can imagine how much of an inconvenience this must be for you. I would like to clear up a couple of points though. We would never cancel a policy without contacting you and giving you an opportunity to improve your driving score, we would have emailed you to advise your driving score was under 40 out of 100 and gave you 200 miles to improve. We also understand that this sometimes is a tough fix so if your score hasn’t improved in that time frame we email you to give you another 7 days to improve. In regards to the driving itself, your scores are generated over an average journey so individual moments of hard braking to avoid accidents are not taken in to consideration, this is the same for acceleration as well. The box updates every 70 miles to give you an idea of what areas are improving and which are not. We also have a dedicated team that try and help you through the whole process. We would be more than happy to speak to you about any issues that have arisen from this on 01733 308 380 I'm so sorry that your policy has been cancelled and wish the best for the future. - Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“The system does not work and Hastings Direct are selling a product that is not fit for its purpose. Hastings Direct have made no statements on this site to show that the system works as they can't it's just flawed technology they use and just simply avoid the issue. The system could never work and customers are being mislead by Hastings Direct the technology being used is not capable of what it claims it can do, this will lead to young drivers effectively being ripped off by Hastings Direct and the evidence of this can be seen all over the internet.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hello there, I'm sorry that you feel the box data is incorrect, if the review is regarding your driving behaviour score, we do have a dedicated team that can go through individual journey that you have made and show you ways to improve certain elements of your driving. They can also explain how the box generates the data through G-Force ect. You can contact them on either 0800 048 2955 or via email at firstresponse@hastingsdirect.com. I hope this helps. - Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“As a low mileage user the system is biased against me especially the curfew.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hello there, Thank you for your review, even as a low mileage user you still have a great opportunity to obtain a high driving score, the time of day score may affect your overall score but as long as you stick to the speed limits, brake nice and early (and smoothly) and the same with your acceleration your score should still be OK. - Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Quote me happy. Care that I have found lots of much better quotes. Endeavour to keep old, loyal customer who has never claimed!”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. We send our renewal quotes out 28 days prior to your policy expiring in 'real time pricing' meaning the price on that day. This price can change constantly and completely out of our control, you may well find it has gone up or down in the meantime. If you have a quote reference from a comparison website, we would endeavour to match it for you. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Telephone service was not helpful at all. Online Portal did not allow payment details to be updated”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry that you had a negative experience with Hastings Direct SmartMiles. We will however look in to any issues you have had. Thanks - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“The app is dreadful. Keeps going back to the sign in page.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi Paul, I'm sorry to see that you have had issues with the app, hopefully this has all been rectified! If you do have any further issues with it you can contact 01733 308 380. Hope this helps. -Jamie

Posted 6 years ago

“Really disappointed with renewal quote especially with a 73 score on my driving for the year”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hello there, I'm sorry that you are not happy with our renewal quote, have you spoken to our Renewals team? They may be able to help further? Thanks - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Following on from what everyone else has already said, i do not recommend smartmiles! I have been with smartmiles from the day I passed, which was only 4 months ago, and already my score is at 37 and been told my policy is going to be cancelled if my behavior does not improve? I do not speed, I do not drive fast enough to have to break hard, I don't accelerate much simply because I don't have to as my car basically drives itself and maybe 3/4 days out of 7 my car is home at 11 O'clock instead of 10 and my time of day is at zero? okay! so how can I fix this? not drive too much for a few days? oh wait, you have to A LOT drive for your score to increase apparently! well, so I've been told! My score has never increased, even though i'm nearly 100% sure that I am the most careful driver out there! Honestly wish, i had read the reviews before i took this policy!”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi, I am sorry to hear you are having a poor experience. It is important to increase the amount you drive to improve your score as the more miles safely driven achieved, the more the instances where we have recorded events that will negatively impact your score will be balanced out. In terms of time of day, consistently going outside of the 10pm-5am parameters will have a negative affect on your score. This is because data has shown us that you are much more likely to be involved in an accident at night compared to the day. As your score has dropped below 40 you should have been contacted by our team to provide some coaching on how to improve your score, but if this has not occurred please contact us on help@hastingsdirect.com with your policy number. ~Connor

Posted 7 years ago

“Customer service nice and friendly but not helpful. Constantly hassled for my driving throughout my policy as a result of a dodgy black box giving me incorrect scores that never changed whilst I drove perfectly. Going even 1mph over the speed limit brings your score down forcing me to spend my time watching the speedometer while I drive in fear of going over and effecting my driving score negatively and being cancelled. Threatening letters saying my policy was cancelled when it was not. Not the best insurance.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry you had a negative experience regarding your SmartMiles box. We do have a dedicated team that would be more than happy to give you any coaching, hints or tips as to how to improve your overall driving behaviour score. You can contact them on 0800 048 2955. - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Absolutely disgusted with my service at Hastings Smartmiles. My policy was originally £471, then to change address it went up £230! Then I noticed from the previous year they had not updated my car purchase date correctly, which I remember changing back in Nov. They insisted it was my fault. So now they wanted another £180 (including admin fee) so I rang to dispute and a lady said she'd look into it and see whether they could sort it out. I never got an email from her, just an urgent email requiring me to pay the £180. So I cancelled. They then had the nerve to try and only refund me only £464 out of £700 for just under a month's insurance. They added a £88 commission fee undisclosed to me. They worked out my refund wrong and added an administration fee on wrong. Anyone see anything wrong here? This company have managed to squeeze as much money out of me as possible over these last 2 years. The funny thing is, if I put my new details (new address and purchase date of car) in for a new quote, Smartmiles were quoting £185 less anyway. All I did was ask them to match it and this is the trouble I get.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi Megan, I am sorry to see you have had a poor experience. When a change is made to a policy, we do need to recalculate your premiums as you may fall into a different risk criteria. In terms of the charges you have incurred, we do try to communicate clearly at the start of the policy that the telematics fee is non-refundable, so I apologise if you feel this was not presented clearly. ~Connor

Posted 7 years ago

“Terrible service made you feel like a child. Damaged car on installation of black box which took 3 months to come repair. Then I complained about my black box being faulty and they wanted to charge me to come service and fit a new one. My black box stopped working 5 months after install. I changed my address in September and my policy was due this month, they stated they sent letter when trying to take ?800 out of my account. I didn't receive these letters due to them not actually changing my address so I was charge from my bank for the bounce. Disgusting treatment then wanted to charge me another ?100 for the removal of the box. So on top of the ?1,600 for the policy they were looking for another ?300 whilst I was a customer!”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry you have had a bad experience with Smartmiles, I hope everything has been sorted now though. - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“I have been quoted 3 different excess fees none of which are stated in my policy. Cannot get through to custimer services. Have emailed and said i need to phone.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, You can access your policy through this link in future ?ow.ly/Ukamg. Hope this helps. - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Misadvised for insurance and decided a claim was fault when my stationary car was hit by a guy driving a stolen vehicle! Would not recommend them for new drivers.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

I am sorry to hear you are dissatisfied with the claims process. You can have the matter investigated by the team by using the e-mail form on the link below. https://www.hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com/contact ~Connor

Posted 7 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 1,998 reviews