Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.29

3.3 Rating 2,005 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 2,005 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

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

“I rang and it took me 3 conversations before getting the right department and that was I only to renew the policy”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi Amanda, Thank you for your feedback, I'm sorry to hear that you had?problems getting through to the right department but hope you got the renewal sorted out in the end. - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“No.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review. I'm sorry to see you think we are too expensive.~ Jamie

Posted 5 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 5 years ago

“i would love to give 5 stars so im sorry its only 3, i have problems with your box not being accurate and i feel so restricted on when i can drive, i work all day and like travelling on the weekend, im unable to do so because im scared my insurance will be cancelled due to me loosing too many points, if i were to be a "boy racer" i wouldnt opt for this policy maybe be a bit harsher on the scoring system but allow me to drive later at night so i can visit my long distant girlfriend, i know im just one case of this but it means so much to me and i cant afford 1000s for insurance, many thanks”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hello, Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We appreciate the points that have been made and the thoughtful manner in which you have done so. We're aware that due to the time constraint, this policy may not be be best suited for all customers and I hope your score isn't heavily affected by this -Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Change your current finance company as 50% apr is discusting. Almost as bad as have a pay day loan. Now paying an additional 100 on my renewal price because it is taken over monthly. If I never paid or was a bad payer I would understand but I am not. Wouldn?t recommend anyone now using this although I would have last year.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, we appreciate the feedback and it will be looked into by our team. ~Connor

Posted 5 years ago

“Scoring system could have been better; whenever I drove past 11 to get home from work my driver's score would take a heavy hit, and it would seemingly take weeks of driving in the day to get that score back up.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thanks for your feedback, unfortunately driving between the hours of 10pm and 5am will effect your score quite a bit, we do suggest that you don't drive between these hours. If you do need to though, as long as you counterbalance the night time driving with daytime driving, your score should improve over time.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“By having a Smartbox I saved nearly ?200 on my car insurance for 2017/2018. I'm not a new driver but I hadn't had a car for 4 years so I was starting from scratch, zero no claims bonuses. Nevertheless, I don't like the way they run their scoring, particularly time of day and speeding. There's no transparency or accountability. They can (and did) make up numbers to suit themselves, presumably to keep the customer under pressure to conform to their idiosyncrasies. The time of day score is nonsense. "40% of accidents occur between 10pm and 5am". Well, that's actually over 30% of the day, so it's not really statistically significant. I think many of those stats are for drink drivers: I'm a complete abstainer from alcohol, so I'm penalised for other people's carelessness/ recklessness/ wilfulness. I don't use my car for work, only for attending mainly church related events (mid-week prayer meetings/bible studies) which finish after 10pm, but no alcohol involved or rowdy socialising that's likely to make me lose concentration. If anything, I'd be more sensible and focussed than the average driver. The other one is the speeding score. Before Christmas 2017 a new road opened nearby. Hastings, in their wisdom, decided the limit was 30 mph, when in fact it was actually 40mph (which I'd kept within). Several weeks had passed before I got round to checking my App so I queried why I'd had 20% knocked off my score. They said they'd check it. Before they got back to me I noticed I'd been deducted another 10%- same stretch of road, but, of course, I didn't know at this stage that their system was wrongly saying I'd been speeding. Eventually they 'refunded' 10% for each of the two occasions when I'd made my enquiries. I was back work by the time they told me the reasons why I'd been penalised (in error by them) but I'd asked for communication by email, as I can't take phone calls at work. They agreed to make emails the primary means of communication. I emailed again to challenge their not restoring the full 100% on my speeding score. They refused to email me, and insisted that they had to discuss it over the phone. They have failed to address this matter correctly, and it hasn't affected my premiums for this year's renewal. I have obtained a greater discount than I would have done had I not had the Smartbox, so that's a positive. They have finally increased my (supposed) 'speeding' score to 95% recently, but they didn't reset the 'speeding' and 'time of day' scores for the start of the new insurance period. If I weren't a very careful driver, and my last year's scores hadn't been so good, I would be in a position in which it would be almost impossible to maintain a good score for this and subsequent years as penalties are cumulative, not averaged. e.g. my 'time of day' score was 65% last year. If I drive (very safely) for the next year, with the same time of day profile, I'd be down to 30%! Common sense indicates that I'm being doubly penalised here. My score for subsequent years ought to be the same for the same profile of usage as for the first year. Of course they make their own rules up. They don't have to be moral, logical, fair or just. If you're hard nosed and are prepared to be patronised intensely, like I was, it will save you around ?200 a year on your insurance.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“I think the service was good. However I did not receive my insurance certificate until I called back over an hour later.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi, Thanks for letting us know that the certificate was not with you within immediately. We're always working to make things as fast as possible and thank you for your feedback ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“Friendly staff, clear information. I was pleased that this year you told me on the 2nd April for my bill, however last year you told me on the 10th which wasn't so good. I wasn't so happy that compared to last year I had a discount of nearly 50%(score was on average 92), this year I only had a discount of ?40(9%)(scored on average 88), whilst a big initial discount after 1 years driving is great, it would help if you could tell people that the following year the discount won't be as big.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback, its great that you received a reduction on your second years insurance. Your comments will be fed back though in regards to the transparency of the third years premium. - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Can do most things on line, but still had to phone to clarify a few things”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, Thanks for getting in touch and leaving a review. We do strive to keep our website as up to date as we can but there are some things we still need to speak to our policy holders about. Hope you got the issues sorted out in the end. - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“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 5 years ago

“I do not think they go through the benefits and drawbacks of the system sufficiently. In the event I cancelled because it was not right for me. I have yet to receive my refund.”

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Posted 8 years ago

Hi,? I'm sorry to see you weren't happy and I thank you for the feedback. If your refund isn't processed after 7 days please do gt in touch? ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“Hello Hastings. Service was pretty poor I have to say.was quoted ?35 to protect my NCB but when I telephoned to renew that option was no longer available.i requested that a manager call me back within2 days of me renewing but goy no call to date...disgusting service.also you renewed my policy 4 hours ahead of my renewal time and ignored my previous request not to auto renew my policy.and lastly you were un-flexible with my request to remove the curfew measure from my policy.ridiculous that you insurance companies expect 18yr old students to be off the road by 10pm...i have a job that requires me to be working sometimes past 10pm.ridiculous.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi Jack, Thank you for taking the time to let us hear your thoughts. I'm sorry that you weren't happy with your service. While we cannot change one of the core terms of the policy to accomodate drivers, we should always adhere to offer to call or to stop a renewal. I apologise for these issues and will ensure your feedback is recorded ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“I think the whole point system is a bit of a joke, i?ve struggled to get above 50, however my score when i was ready for renewal was 52 and it made my renewal price literally half of what i paid in my first year, baring in mind it was my first year on my own name, so i?ve continued my second year with smartmiles due to it being my cheapest option, although the score may be unreasonable the price is definitely worth it”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry that you found the "points system" a struggle but as you have found out the higher your diving behaviour score the more discount you receive at renewal. Having your policy reduce by half is a testament to your good driving so well done. - Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“I think that they should increase the score just as much as the decrease the score! For example when I went out past 10 they took my score down a lot but when I stayed in it took ages to go up!”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, Thanks very much for the review and feedback, we're grateful to receive it and hear from you. We're always looking to improve so value your opinion on our product highly ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“It?s alright SmartMiles.... but I don?t see how using your car once on a night journey can drop your scoring by 7% Overall it?s given me a discount in year two, but I?d of got that with other brokers too. ??”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, Thanks for your review. The time of day score is a percentage of your night time driving (10pm - 5am) and your day time driving (any other time). We have a group of people here called underwriters who are?essentially risk assessors who look at what risk you pose driving during the day to driving at?night hence the drop in score. Hopefully this explains it a bit better for you. Glad you got a reduction on your renewal though. Thanks?- Jamie ?

Posted 5 years ago

“Good deals at renewal which was promised.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hello, It's good to hear that we were able to provide you with a competitive renewal and thank you for choosing to insure with Hastings Smart miles. I hope your second year will be even better than the first-Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“I dont have any issues with hastings itself .. however someone has to explain how they work out the driver ratings , i did phone up about them and was told it was a complicated algorithm ... basically they could change your score at anytime and not give any explanation...”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feed back, I appreciate you have spoken to one of our advisers about how the box data is collated but we do have a dedicated team that can go through all the individual scores with you and how the box works them out. You can reach them on 0800 048 2955 and they are available between 9.00?and 5.30. hope this helps. Thanks - Jamie ?

Posted 5 years ago

“The service is ok, but I was on Hastings smart miles, and naturally thought that my insurance would be cheaper this year due to the decent score I received via the telematics box in my car. It?s actually gone up, despite another year of no claim bonus.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Good customer service”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hello, It's good to see we were able to provide a satisfactory level of customer service for you.? Thank you for taking the tme to leave a review with us -Theo

Posted 5 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 2,005 reviews