Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.29

3.3 Rating 1,999 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 1,999 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 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Do not buy the box it is faulty. My son had a previous box with another company for a year and averaged 80% which is considered excellent driving. He took out Hastings smart miles 6 months ago and within a couple of weeks he had a warning that he'd dropped below 40 points. We complained to the company and suddenly his score went up although the individual scores stayed the same. Last week his individual scores - acceleration., speed, braking and time of day all went up but his overall score dropped fromy 50 to 38. So his policy will be cancelled. It cofirms the boxes must be faulty. How is this company allowed to get away with ripping youngsters off?”

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Posted 7 years ago

“I completely agree with everyone who has posted about this company. The Telematics box is very erratic and sensitive to braking and acceleration. I was not made aware that if the score drops below 40 then they can cancel the policy and charge £240!! This was not made clear when I took out the policy. This is a significant feature of the policy and should be brought to the attention to customers at the outset. I have received an email stating that my score is below that if the score stays below 40 after another 200 miles then the policy will cancelled. I have raised a complaint and have every intention of taking my complaint to the Insurance Ombudsman. Some advice, yesterday I drove the car on a motorway for about 20 miles ,it's only a 1.0 Peugeot so not really a motorway car anyway the score went upto to 43 almost immediately afterwards. I am sure the score will drop once I start driving on normal roads where you have to accelerate and brake according to traffic situations. So I suppose motorway driving is the answer to keep your scores up. Certainly not ideal but seems a way to deal with this underhand insurer!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Although I am guess many people have a positive experience with Smartmiles, it does not take into account geographic differences. I live in Milton Keynes, well known for its numerous roundabouts. Smartmiles registered the constant brake/ acceleration process due to these roundabouts as a "low score". Even when my mum, a named driver on the insurance, with over 30 years of a completely clean driving record, and a high mileage user, used the car, it recorded a low score. I contacted Hastings but they refused to acknowledge that the geography affected the score. If you check out internet reviews you will see similar feedback. What a pity, it's a great idea to reward safe drivers, but "safe" seems to be determined by computer algorithms rather than common sense.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, Thanks for your review, I'm sorry to see your scores weren't as you'd hoped. The box uses an accelerometer to judge how harshly you brake rather than the number of times you do it. I appreciate that your area has many roundabouts to navigate although with more smooth accelerating and braking you should see your scores increase?? ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“Unfortunately i had a terrible experience with Hastings Smart Miles. When i received the telematics box and fitted it to my car (2006 Vauxhall Corsa) it interfered with the electronics of the car and the car would not re-start. We called out the RAC who fixed the electronics, refitted the telematics box and the same issue arose. The RAC engineer wrote a report saying that the telematics box was not fit for purpose and was a danger to my car. I forwarded this information to Hastings (within my 14 day cooling/ cancellation period) and they argued that i had to pay around ?300 for the 8 days i had been using the insurance. I argued that i was within the cancellation policy, but they dragged out the argument saying they had to contact different departments and get back to me. Unfortunately, during this time, i was involved in a non-fault accident and therefore needed to stay with Hastings so they could sort out my claim. I have just bought new car insurance with another insurer and will never use Hastings again, regardless of how cheap they may be. I would rather pay that bit extra to remain with a company that actually cares about my safety.”

Helpful Report

Posted 7 years ago

Hi,? Sorry to see you were not happy with the product. The box only draws power from your battery and does not connect to your car's electrics, however we're always happy to hear from an engineer to investigate their report. Cancelling within the cooling off period does still incur some charges however and we will calculate them for you upon request. Even if you've had an accident with us, there are no barriers to cancelling or choosing another insurer - we will still continue to process your claim ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“Better customer service”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, Sorry to see you were not happy with our service. If we can help, please don't hesitate to get in touch and let us know ~Joe

Posted 5 years ago

“Unhelpful and don?t call back when they say they will. 2 years of the same issue that was never sorted so not great”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi,? If you email help@hastingsdirect.com I can ensure that the issue is investigated for you. Just reference this review and provide your policy details? ~Joe

Posted 5 years ago

“PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT INSURE WITH THIS COMPANY AND GO THROUGH A TOTAL SCAM WHICH I HAVE GONE THROUGH AND WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE BY THESE REVIEWS 90% OF EVERYONE THAT HAS LEFT A REVIEW!! Injusticely taking money! Lies after lies! By the looks of it they must make up scenarios that they throw at different people to cancel insurance and get even more money off of you! I have never in my whole life recieved not only the worst customer service but pure lack of untrained staff and people with no manners by every single person that I have spoken to. Just absolutely disgusting. I have got full proof of how injusticely I have been treated and I am taking this to the ombudsman, I advise anybody who has been treated extremely poorly by this company to follow these steps also. This company needs to get shut down by trading standards, it is truly disgusting how they can get away with all of these scams & fraudulently taking people's money by making stuff up, lying, cancelling insurance to get extra money (without notifying you) adding on ridiculous premiums for 'excuse my French' ... Bullshit!! PLEASE DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY!!! STAY AWAY!!!”

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Posted 7 years ago

“by sending the information re renewal to the correct e-mail address when notified on several occasions but like this e- mail yet again it has come through to the wrong person as this is her step-fathers e-mail and we no longer live at the same address”

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Posted 7 years ago

HI Katherine,? I'm sorry to see you don't wish to receive emails from us. I will ensure it is removed from the policy and if you are in the position to let him know he needs to give us an alternative it would help him I'm sure ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“This should be a 0 star, I agree with all other negative reviews that it’s essentially a scam. It’s cheap so they draw you in and then you have to pay a bunch of fees after they cancel your insurance for reasons that make no sense, such as the curfew of 10pm - 6am, in which I rarely do, but apparently 50% of my journeys are in this time period. Even if you look at the better reviews with 4 stars or so, they still state that the black box is a bit sensitive, which it is. Very sensitive, it’s ridiculous. I suggest you read all reviews and see why you shouldn’t use this stupid company.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Disgraceful service all round. The box I had in my car was complete rubbish. I was told that it would decrease my score if I drove after 10pm however it decreased my score after 8pm. My acceleration constantly decreased also...upon ringing Hastings smartmiles I was told to ?pretend you have a bucket of water in the passenger seat and try not to spill it when you accelerate?. Although this is ridiculous advice I tried it...the score still continued to decrease. I also had several issues with payments. They told me no more payments were required and I was actually due a refund, to which they then took ?120 out of my account two days later. This put me into an overdraft that I don?t actually have so my credit score has now been affected. Terrible customer service on the phone during this time. I was literally told I was a liar on the phone. I was then told I wasn?t allowed to put a complaint in. Would never recommend these to anyone!”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, I'm very sorry you didn't get on with the scoring and that you had a problem with payments. Please send your complaint to help@hastingsdirect.com and we'll ensure it is looked at? ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“If there was a zero rating this would sum up this company, the box is fraudulent, they scam young drivers out of hundreds of pounds and you are forced to cancel before they do, warning do not insure with this scam company”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Absolutely disgraceful company, had nothing but problems with them for a year. When I took out the insurance I got it 3 weeks in advance, which the website allowed me to do. I then receive several emails (no letters, phonecalls, etc) telling me they are cancelling my insurance because I have not had the box fitted. After several calls with unhelpful staff telling them I do not own the car yet they eventually rescheduled and I got the box fitted. Straight away the braking score went down to about 30 out of 100 and remained there for the entire year I had the insurance. My mum and dad are both insured under this policy and both drove it regularly, neither of them being able to get the score up. I rang Hastings to discuss the braking score and was told not to use my brakes in traffic. Very helpful! I also realised soon after getting the box fitted that it has a curfew on it despite Hastings repeatedly stating to me on the phone and on their website that there is no curfew. They told me I would have to pay cancellation charges so I suffered through for a year and rang them telling them I do not want the policy renewed as I had read many reviews from people saying Hastings automatically renewed their insurance. Despite me telling Hastings this, I receive an email (again, no letters telling me my insurance is coming to an end, not even an email!) telling me they have automatically renewed my policy (I received this email a hour after their phone lines closed to boot!). Fat waste of time that is as I recently had a seizure and cannot even drive the car now for six months, so in the midst of spending time in the hospital having scans and tests I am now having to ring Hastings to cancel this insurance. Absolute nightmare of a company, extremely incompetent. I find it hard to believe they are still in business. I have written multiple negative reviews and sent various emails throughout the year and have not had a reply to any of these. They are a nightmare to call as you spend a ridiculous amount of time on hold only to speak to rude and unhelpful staff. Would not recommend this company to anyone and I have told everyone I know to stay well away. They are the cheapest for a reason.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Hastings direct smart miles was fine in the first year. I was under the impression that once you had completed your year of having a black box that you would then move onto not having a black box anymore. This was not the case and so the discount I earned from having a good score was wasted as I could either continue to have a black box or have to change company. I thought that the discount could be transferred from Hastings smart miles to regular Hastings insurance but this was not allowed. Would not recommend.”

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Posted 7 years ago

I'm sorry to see there was some confusion. The black box is a vital stipulation for all of our SmartMiles policies and is a fantastic opportunity for young drivers to make savings. We do have a wide range of other products on offer if you would like to visit our website. ~Connor

Posted 5 years ago

“I had quite a distressing experience with Smart Miles. I was threatened to have my insurance cancelled due to my score being at 39 instead of 40 due to my time of day driving. I work night shifts occasionally so this was essential. The website specifically promoted no curfews at my time of purchasing which I later was told meant that it would still give me a bad score if I drove within the selected times. My braking was also said to be poor and I was told this could be due to traffic conditions and was no indication of my actual driving which makes no sense as the box was not meant to monitor external factors or let them effect my score. Overall I felt like I was not given any proper advice on how to improve my score and was not given any solid information from anybody at the company. I feel as though I was treated extremely poorly by Smart Miles and thus chose not to continue my insurance with them.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, I am very sorry to see you received poor customer service and I will ensure this is fed back to our team for future improvement. Statistics show that you are much more likely to crash at night, hence us scoring negatively when driving at night. ~Connor

Posted 5 years ago

“Worst insurance company EVER! Cancelled my policy because I was 1 point under the expected point of 40. Only received an email to say they had cancelled it. I am a typical 19 year old who doesn't even use emails so I was driving around for 2 days with no insurance and did not realise. When speaking to an employee on the phone to discuss my score I was disgusted with the service by the employee speaking over me in a aggressive manor. My score was down due to "harsh braking" I explained that I live in the countryside and this means driving through 20-30 minutes worth of very narrow country lanes with blind corners but this didn't seem matter. I was told to drive slower but It wouldn't matter if I drove 5mph in the lanes as if you approach someone who is going 20-30 you still have to stop straight away. Absolute joke of an insurance company I would not recommend to my worst enemy. Now I have a new car insurance which is costing me £150 a month and is the only company that will insure me for less than £3000 a year as I now have a cancelled insurance on my policy. Also they have a 10pm-5am curfew which is ridiculous. Honestly can't stress enough to how much I wouldn't want anyone to insure their cars with this company.”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Absolutely have no faith in the accuracy of the Telemetrics Box. Why ? A few days ago the car was moved on my driveway literally by a few feet just to allow some more room at the side of the car. Telematics recorded this as a one mile journey....”

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Posted 7 years ago

“Had nothing but problems since I purchased my insurance with this company, had customer service operators hang up on me and the service is appalling. Would 100% not recommend. Only reason I haven't left is because they have no given me my years no claims for no reason and Because of this I can't afford a new policy the whole think is a con”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, I'm sorry to see you've not been happy and apologise for any disconnects. We will offer customers NCB if you complete the full year without making a claim that reduces it. ~Joe

Posted 5 years ago

“Why do I not have a choice on whether or not to take legal protection. I don?t need it neither do I want it. Customer service is a joke.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hi, Our comprehensive cover come with Legal Protection as standard so you don't have to worry about not having it's benefits? ~Joe?

Posted 5 years ago

“Do not insure with this company it’s a total rip off and has given me nothing but trouble WARNING DO NOT USE”

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(Car Insurance) - Posted 7 years ago

“Shocking service, refusal to renew policy with no valid reason even though I have been a loyal customer and never had to make a claim. Promise to call back and never do, they also cut the phone off mid conversation.”

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Posted 7 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 1,999 reviews