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Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

3.3 Rating 1,960 Reviews

57 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

Company Reviews

Product Reviews

3.3

Based on 1,960 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 5 star review on 29th September 2023

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“Useless YouDrive with Hastings - Would give 0 stars if possible. Took me 2 days to get the stupid app and device to work with my Android phone and still it doesn't record all journeys/data? Customer services and tech support still can't tell me why??? Now having to charge phone all the time because the app uses up battery and Hastings insist you turn off power save/battery optimisation. Then the driving criteria? Despite driving for 25 years with only one accident which was not my fault (cut up by idiot on roundabout) I am scoring low all the time usually failing on braking despite all other scores being 100% but still overall score down. Worrying about speed, acceleration, taking corner at normal speed instead of the Hastings apparently obligatory 5 mph and braking too quickly. Constantly slowing other road users and would say this kind of driving necessary to keep scores down is actually more risky. Scared of braking if a car suddenly stops or someone pulls out or a pedestrian steps out in road or even too hard at traffic lights/junctions? Absolutely ludicrous. If my 'normal' driving is such a risk how have I avoided accidents for so many years??? Really not worth the money saved but probably stuck with it for the year now.”

Posted 6 months ago

“Absolutely terrible i am.an experienced.druver cant get score abive 15 no speeding or any poor driving constantly worried about how to get score up when driving a hinder rather than a help”

Posted 7 months ago

“Insured the Sons car through this lot and what a big mistake. This has to be the most useless company as regards insurance. Have been driving over 40 years and some 400000 miles covered and have never seen the likes of it in my life of driving. Insurance was taken out with this lot and Black Box fitted he had one with another company the previous year and had no issues, but the mistake I made was trying to help him with the young driver insurance scams. This company is a total scam. His score had been in the 70 to 95 range and by reading the reviews hear he was doing good. Anyway he had used the car for a short journey with me in it as a passenger and as he was approaching a side road a car decided to pull out he applied the brakes but not what I would call hard, but not a normal breaking event. His score was 30 as the journey was short this had a bearing on his score as well. He then had not used the car as was off school due to being not at home. It would appear that score are a average over some made up time which I am still not sure how it's worked out. The bottom line from what I can see if your score is low because of some event you need to drive more to get it back up but you need to apply certain factors like time of day and the roads you drive on. He received a letter about his driving score and his policy being cancelled. He then received another letter about getting his driving back on track. Then another email telling him his policy would be cancelled due to his score falling below 30 which was clearly the result of him applying his brakes. I spoke to them and to give some credit the person I spoke to appeared to agreed that looking at the stats it was some what unfair. Any way I cancelled the policy as by the look of things it was going to be cancelled anyway and I moved it inline with my own. He is now on a policy with no black box and can use his brakes when he needs to without feeling the need to be thinking should he apply or hit the object. His insurance was a bit more expensive but a way better company. My word of advice is steer clear of Hastings I really could not trust them if there was to be a claim if this is the way they treat people. The number of people I have passed comment on about this company does surprise me. It is certainly a company I will never be with or any of my family and my advice is if you don't want scammed you should do the same or you will regret it.”

Posted 7 months ago

“Hastings Direct takes your money and then finds all sorts of trivial issues to fail you on - such as: acceleration, cornering, etc. Then they advise that they’re gonna cancel your insurance. When you contact them, they try to get you to cancel the policy, so they can take more of your money - using the argument ‘it would not look good for future insurance if you tick the box when asked if you’d ever had insurance cancelled’. Paid £865 and only to receive £600 back after a couple months. HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!! WORST COMPANY I’VE EVER HAD THE DISPLEASE TO ASSOCIATE WITH!!!”

Posted 7 months ago

“Such a money grabber insurance company. Had the Hastings you drive that their telematics/ tab driving scores is impossible. Then they will cancel your insurance and deducted almost 20% of your actual amount of insurance paid in just 47 days!”

Posted 7 months ago

“Typical robbing insurance company... I received an email that my car insurance was due for renewal a week before my renewal date (aware that I was selling my car and did not need insurance, I ignored it). I continued as normal, checked my bank account a week later and the new policy renewal price had been taken from my account. They claimed that I had signed up for auto-renewal but I don't believe I would have as every year prior I have rung up and rearranged my insurance. After calling to cancel my policy - aware that if I cancelled within 14 days I would receive all my money back - they informed me that there are still charges that must be paid! Insurance companies should not be given any authority to auto-renew your policy without specified consent at the time and the arrogance to still try to take my hard-earned money is appalling. Terrible customer service, typical tactics, and horrible company, will never be using Hastings for insurance.”

Posted 8 months ago

“Had a black box and then had a fault accident. We were assured don't worry keep insurance for 30 days so can add new car! Nope threats to cancel insurance as score dropped. Explained We ve no car so can't improve score. Didn't care! Instead had to cancel so didn't go against in the future. Well they then wanted the whole year premium!! Over 2.5k. Been an awful experience. They ll still not been in touch with the 3rd party.”

Posted 9 months ago

“Avoid this insurance company and don’t get sucked in by there cheaper prices. The black box insurance that they sell is a way for them to get your money and then they cancel your policy. The customer service is shockingly bad. The black box data is over sensitive and if you were the best driver in the world they would still cancel your insurance.”

Posted 9 months ago

“do NOT get this black box, it is not worth the low price. God forbid you go round a round about faster than 2mph or build up speed to merge onto a motorway. This thing critiques everything! i literally can’t drive without losing points due to using motorways and multiple roundabouts every trip. I try to drive waaaay slower and go round bends slowly but it doesn’t matter what i do - my score sits at around 30 AND if someone else uses your car, the drive isn’t recorded but you lose points anyway?? so stupid”

Posted 9 months ago

“Partner had a fault accident and the car was taken to storage, garage has been assigned, but the car is awaiting collection for it to be assessed for repairs or write off, paid extra at the start of the policy for a hire car, 3 weeks on, and I keep being told until the car is not assessed either for repairs, then a courtesy car will be given by the garage, if its a write off we get a hire car. This is a complete joke, pay for comprehensive and hire car so that you are not left stranded without a car, and Hastings do not honour this, and to make matters worse the complaints team are a complete waste of time, another week or 2 before anything can be done. Totally understand a shortage of parts at the moment, but why pay for the extras when this is not honoured, a hire car should be provided until a decision is made. Would never use Hastings as an insurance provider ever again.”

Posted 10 months ago

“Having insurance is a necessary item we need to have with a hope that we never ever have to actually use it. Well after many years of careful house ownership I had to call on my insurer Hastings Direct. I discovered a crack in one of my walls and feared I had subsidence. I contacted Hastings right away but they just were not interested ...their excuse that they don't actually insure me , one of their underwriters do but they didn't know who that was! After many calls and being passed from pillar to post i managed to find out who my insurer was. The company they had used "Get out and run brothers inc" were as much use again. They passed me on to loss assessors who after many months came and had a look and said yep it's subsidence. These guys then put together a quote of the work without actually doing a full survey. The work they detailed equated to some paint wallpaper and to patch up some plaster. This is with major cracks appearing through the building. Then after another long wait an engineer came to do boreholes and check drains and water. This was 6 weeks ago. I have not been contacted by Hastings or the insurer at all to explain what is going on. So if I was you I really would avoid they have let be down beyond comprehension.”

Posted 11 months ago

“They were cheap, but when I had to make a claim they have been absolutely useless. I submitted the claim in August 2022. It's now May 2023 and after them never proactively contacting me (I've always had to chase them) my repair has still not been carried out.”

Posted 11 months ago

“You can’t literally brake. I called them, explained it must be faulty as when I tested this I’ve been driving like miss daisy. The best driving in my life that any human could do, when I was given a score of 51 out of 100 for sudden breaking, it’s clearly faulty or a conspiracy to mentally want people to crash or take away one’s insurance for increased premiums, they can not answer. These should not be legal, are EXTREMELY dangerous & mentally damaging. Hastings fix take down the breaking element. If you can’t break people will die! Is that what you want?”

Posted 1 year ago

“A frustrating, unhelpful device. I drive a hearse for a living and even when driving in a hearse-driving like manner I have had lousy scores. I drive a 3L Discovery only when I have - it is a tow car for our caravan. Have had to deactivate every notification source I can as I was penalised for using the phone. I NEVER EVER use the phone when driving. After 1 week of driving since then my scores have crept back up but last night's short trip, driven in a saintly manner, has inexplicably brought them right down to low 40s and in an amber warning colours. I drove as though I was in my hearse. Really thinking of paying the upper premium. They haven't got it sorted.”

Posted 1 year ago

“tried to add a temporary driver for 1 day to our policy and was told that hastings would not do this. upon asking for a reason i was told by the agent that they would not tell her. for lack of transparency on something so simple i am concerned if actually have to make a claim. complaints procedure told me that this was because it was an australian licence. i have personally added temp drivers to a policy before and numerous people iasked the same. all with international licences. not very impressed with the complaints experience even though never expected anything other than the reason. obfuscation and the email received from her glosses over the issue. she gets a 1*”

Posted 1 year ago

“Don’t use! The most sensitive black box ever. Says you’re breaking harshly all the time when you are just breaking normally. Hard cornering is anything over 15mph & you can’t accelerate at all without it marking you down. If you drive like a normal person then avoid this insurance or they’ll cancel your policy after 3 weeks. Marks you as on your phone when you’re using a sat nav. Was told I should put the phone in a holder at all times just in case the phone moves in my pocket and the screen gets touched as this will mark down as phone use. no one can use your phone whilst driving. My old black box before this one gave me a happy face 95% of the time and now apparently I have a score of 12 with the Hastings you drive. How did it go from almost perfect with admiral to so poor with Hastings? Cancelling the insurance & getting a new one as it’s a joke. Not worth the stress & having to drive like you’re on a driving test all the time. If you got out and pushed the car it would say you was going too quick Guy on the phone was very unhelpful & told me to drive better & didn’t seem to have an explanation on why my driving was good with admiral but a week later it was poor with the hastings black box”

Posted 1 year ago

“APP doesn't work so. Cant seem to find live chat anywhere despite the advertisement of it. Email address for complaints won't accept any mail. Wouldn't even help me with the app on the phone despite numerous password changes. Seems to work on the computer but that is not going to work with the black box or the app. Nightmare and will not give full money back!!! I would steer clear of this company - pardon the pun!!!! Cheap means poor service by the looks of it.such hassle”

Posted 1 year ago

“They put a claim against me as a policyholder with hastings , when the accident fault was deemed to be because of the third party not myself. Tried to contact them to at least understand why they do that & they never responded to my emails . Of course this affected me on my next car insurance .”

Posted 1 year ago

“My daughter had the box for 2 months then it stopped working. After contacting hastings she was told she was force stopping it by swiping it off her screen. This she did when she got inside the house. No where did it say to keep it open at all times. The box itself wouldnt connect no lights on. She was constantly phoning and being put on hold for 30 mins at a time to be told if it didnt start recording miles they would cancel her insurance. She kept telling them the box wasnt working but they were not interested. Finally we decided the best thing to do was change insurers and cancel hastings. Awfull experience for her and from what i have read a lot of other youngsters too. Avoid at all costs”

Posted 1 year ago

“Terrible customer services. Called a few weeks backs as my score was low due to me using my 'phone' i use my phone as a sat nav within a secure phone holder. I was told this would be fine as long as i don't touch the screen and not to worry. Called this morning as my score is low again due to me using my 'phone' was told i need to switch my phone off once the maps has been enabled so the screen is black and just hear the sat nav talk. If anyone knows how Sat navs work, you look at the screen to navigate your route. Sat navs can be very unpredictable with telling you in little notice so viewing on a screen can be alot more helpful for some. I have been told to leave the app running in the background whilst i drive. Which i have and this makes no difference whatsoever. I was told by one staff member as long as the app had tracked one teip a week then that's all that matters, that's not how a black box should work. Being told numerous of things by different staff to then not get issue solved. Will be looking elsewhere for a new insurance policy.”

Posted 1 year ago

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Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 1,960 reviews