Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.33

3.3 Rating 1,960 Reviews

57 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

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

Jason Major

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“wasn't great but ok”

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Posted 6 years ago

Thank you for taking time to leave a review, it is much appreciated. ~Connor

Posted 4 years ago

“I am happy with the price, that is fine, other areas are harder to rate as satisfactory. Getting in touch with someone via the phone is difficult due to long waiting times. I also received a letter telling me that my insurance was to be cancelled with little/no reason why which caused me a little panic.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi, I am sorry about the lengthy waiting times and sorry to see we caused panic. Hopefully we can now continue without any further issues. ~Connor

Posted 4 years ago

“I think they should have responded to concerns quicker and, make one time allowances for the curfew on the black box as I really needed it extended for a shift at work by 3 hours and they wouldn't even negotiate the case.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi, unfortunately we aren't able to manually change scores without functionality issues in the fairness of all customers. I hope you understand and will continue to try and improve your score to receive some great discounts. ~Connor

Posted 4 years ago

“Cheap and cheerful black box is a bit sensitive”

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(Car Insurance) - Posted 6 years ago

“Really good cheap Insurance but because the black box acceleration score is measured from throttle usage it can give inaccurate scores with small cars where a higher throttle level is required to maintain the same speed (eg Toyota Aygo 100 speed, 98 Breaking, 0 Acceleration) Which is enough to bring down discounts. Work on that and it will be a solid 5 stars”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi, thank you for taking the time to leave this really helpful review. I will pass it onto our SmartMiles telematics team for review. ~Connor

Posted 4 years ago

“Great service, was poor in regards to waiting time on the phone - don't mind holding however there is no indication of how long you have to hold for”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi, I do apologise for the lengthy waiting time. We are currently looking at upgrading our telephony system so that we are able to inform approx. wait and number in the queue, so your feedback is very much appreciated. ~Connor

Posted 4 years ago

“they didn?t want to know my issue when I rang and said they would ring me back another time”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm sorry to hear that you didn't have the best customer experience with us. I hope that you got your call and the situation has now been resolved. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review with us -Theo

Posted 4 years ago

“Overall they are a great insurance. However I think some of their fee's are abit steep. An added excess because your under 21 is slightly ridiculous especially when I'm due to turn 21 within the next two months. This should be looked at by a case by case basis.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi, I'm pleased to see you are happy with our SmartMiles product. We charge our young drivers excess after much investigation into how best to provide a competitive product for young drivers. Charging an excess like this allows us to cover the risk of insuring young drivers, whilst being able to provide consistent, cheaper prices.? If you do have concerns regarding the functionality of your black box, I would recommend contacting our SmartMiles customer service team on?01733 308 380? ~Connor

Posted 4 years ago

“My overall rating is increasing however the individual sectors are not changing. Also I do have concern that the box is not measuring the acceleration mainly because it has stayed at zero since the box was fitted however it went down before I even got to drive it with the smartbox installed.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi Chanice, If you do have concerns regarding the functionality of your black box, I would recommend contacting our SmartMiles customer service team on?01733 308 380. ~Connor

Posted 4 years ago

“Understaffed, have rung many times at different times of the day and have always been waiting to get through for 15 mins atleast, but staff they have are good”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hello,? I'm sorry to hear about the wait you've had when trying to contact us. We appreciate the feedback regarding this as we explore methods to get to your call in a more timely manner. I'm happy to hear however that the service you received was satisfactory -Theo

Posted 4 years ago

“takes too long to answer i was placed on hold 30 minutes before i even spoke to anybody, renewed my car insurance then they charged me ?50 to cancel it when i told them i didnt want to renew, then charged another ?30 im not even sure why.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi Katie, I do apologise for the call waiting time, we're working hard to reduce it as fast as possible. For clarity on our fees, just get in touch on?01733 308 380 and we'll be happy to explain more ~Joe

Posted 4 years ago

“Having been scared by so many bad reviews after taking out the policy with Hastings direct if felt it was appropriate to leave a positive review. My daughter has had this policy for two weeks now. I've had to talk to them three times to get the account sorted and EVERY time it was a helpful conversation and the guys really knew what they were talking about. Fitting the black box was a breeze at less than 10 minutes and so far it seems to have been very accurate. One slightly negative point is that when she took the policy out she was told not to drive too frequently between 10pm and 5am - she got home at 10:05 the other night and got 20% knocked off her perfect score which I think is a bit rich, but in reality losing all the time of day score is only 25% so won't drag her down to below 40%. All in all so far I'm happily impressed. That may change, but for now I'll settle for that.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“May be cheaper insurance but costs extra to change the box if you change vehicle and don't think the black box worked that well, restrictive when you can drive as heavily penalised if you drive after 10.00 pm. Would not recommend”

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(Car Insurance) - Posted 6 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 6 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 4 years ago

“Helpful & polite on phone. However price was higher than last year so looked elsewhere.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Service is often good, although on two accounts I've been promised a call back and nobody has called! Staff are normally very polite....guess I feel slightly bitter because of an ongoing claim from 13 months ago which has increased my premium by ?780”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi Daniel, I do apologise for the delay in both your call and claim. I can appreciate how frustrating a prolonged ?claim can be. If you need it, the free number for the dedicated team is?0800 035 4260 ~Joe?

Posted 4 years ago

“You may reciece a lot of feedback; the main reason any reasonable person would find time to do so is to offer a description of their experience at one of two ends of the spectrum... extremely good or extremely bad. I am of the opinion however that your service is completely average. Neither spectacular nor poor. What I like about your policy is the price as it is one of the most competitive. For any young driver the cost of insuring a vehicle is the most important factor when deciding on an insurance provider. What I dislike however is: the reward system, the late night driving points deduction and the constant fear of insurance cancellation. Let me elaborate. Firstly, the reward system is floored as a result of the late night driving points deduction. Despite my acceleration, speed and breaking being exceptionally high it counts for nothing when the time of day score is taken into account. Since starting my policy (over a year ago) my time of day score has not moved from 0. My partner who is also with hastings has drove at night once since starting her policy and alone, this one trip has halved her score. I understand the dangers of late night driving, but as a student and an employee it is simply unavoidable when travelling home from university or work. It seems every young adult is tarnished with the same brush. Furthermore, the fear of cancellation becomes a real burden after a while. For me, more so in my first year of the policy it took the enjoyment out of driving. By this I do not mean driving recklessly, fast or dangerously but generally. The expectation of perfection in driving from a newly passed driver is unrealistic. Revs may be high due to the fact a young driver has not yet perfected clutch control or breaking may be constant when first passed. A friend of mine had his policy (with Hastings) cancelled within the first few months of driving as a result of his time of day score and unperfected driving skills. His insurance now costs ?3000.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi Nathan, Thank you very much for taking the time to provide your feedback, we are grateful to receive it. I understand that driving after ten may be unavoidable in some instances and that is why we don't apply a curfew. The policy is not suitable however for someone who will travel after tn frequently so it is important to work around this and then the renewal quote could be highly reduced in return ~Joe?

Posted 4 years ago

“Good”

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Posted 6 years ago

“The box points system does not work after 3 phone calls highlighying the failure it remained the same and would never change...”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi Zoe, Sorry to see you feel the box isn't what you expected. We are more than happy to explain how it works and also how we use the data to generate your scores. Just give us a call anytime on?01733 308 380 ~joe?

Posted 4 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 6 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 4 years ago

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