Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.28

3.3 Rating 2,011 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 2,011 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

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“Rubbish customer service. Also the box itself is a scam, no matter how good you drive you're guaranteed low score, would not recommend!!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“the whole company is a scam, they are doing this to take money on young people like myself.. I am 22 and this was my first insurance and I tried so hard to keep my score below 40 I didn't speed or drive after 10 (even though they say there is no curfew) and my score was on 39 for 3 weeks (funny how it needs to be over 40 to not be cancelled) they then told me they was cancelling my insurance and would be better for me to cancel it before they do to avoid future complications which I did and then got charged £40 for cancellation fee even though they have my £210 deposit!!!! its awful I would NOT advise to use this insurer!!!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“The box is murder to remove, I never even got any notification of my dashboard so have no idea how to log on & ive been driving for 1 year now. I have no idea ow the dashboard works. They refused to send me out anything to do with my policy & had to phone to get anything. Gladly changing insurance company.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“I need help as my sons braking score says 0 but his acceleration is 100. My husband went out with my son to see what he drove like and it was fine. My husband then drove the car he has been driving for 30 yrs without any problems but still braking is low. Anyone any advice and will they cancel the policy? If I cancel will there be a charge?”

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Posted 9 years ago

“I guess I could say that I am lucky my black box has not been rubbish like many other peoples, and I have been able to keep a consistently good score of around 80 (although I do not go out after 10 due to the fact it makes your score go so dramatically down). However after discovering a flat battery twice within the space of a week (when the battery was brand new!!) I got it checked out at the garage to find that it is the dodgy wiring of my black box that is causing a drain on the system. Hastings smart miles do not seem to care that they have a poorly trained mechanic, and have requested excessive amounts of paper work before they'll agree to send someone out to check it. I have complained and they still haven't got back to me two weeks later. I'm literally having to disconnect my battery every time I park to avoid it getting drained, and they don't care. Appalling!!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Robots with zero customer care Unfortunately too many obnoxious staff overshadowing their helpful colleagues. Conflicting and confusing information from an array of associates backed up by denial of accountability. A scurry of minor issues leaves me trust less in their ability to represent me in a serious scenario.”

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Posted 9 years ago

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Posted 9 years ago

“Currently on 2nd year of insurance with Hastings, as a young driver their cheap policies were obviously attractive. Literally the worst customer service ever, they have tried to cancel my policy a couple of time due to severe speeding , all 3 alerts were then revoked due to their malpractice and a faulty black box. The second time I got an email while in Switzerland with the car saying that my policy had been cancelled !!!! I am now in the middle of a fight with them about 2 more alleged recordings , there is never an offer of evidence or proof. Customer Services seem to have absolutely no idea what they are talking about or what to do. My driver rating is penalised heavily due to driving at night despite there being no curfew on the policy. I wish I had never taken a policy out with them, the cheaper price isn't worth the stress .”

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Posted 9 years ago

“I took out a Hastings Direct Smartmiles policy in 2013 for my son who had passed his test. All great. No problems. Told all my friends how pleased I was. Then I took out a second policy on another car, for my daughter who had just passed her test in 2016. What a different story. Complete nightmare. They have changed their black box supplier. The black box in my daughter's car is obviously faulty as it is returning a score of 100 for acceleration and 0 for braking. Concerned that something was amiss, I have been driving the car for the past three months. My daughter has not driven it at all. I have 30 years experience and have been driving super-smoothly. I have spent hours on the phone trying to get customer services to send out a technician to check the box, but they refuse. They insisted I go through a complaints process - which has taken another two months - and ended up with them telling me that the data from the box is correct. I am a chartered electronics engineer, and I can tell you that the box is likely suffering from a calibration problem. If the braking was really that harsh, that would indicate an erratic driver - but with a score of 100 for acceleration, I don't think so. Every time I ask for data analysis, they refuse, and every time I ask to speak to a manager - someone who can actually do something -they are all too busy. So I just end up repeating myself to yet another call centre person who knows nothing about electronics or signals analysis. Safe to say, I will be cancelling this policy. And for good measure I will cancel the other one too. I want nothing more to do with this bunch of cowboys. It seems that customer service is not part of their company operating values. Will they miss my two policies? No I doubt it. There will be some other 'customer' out there. Absolutely shocking. I have gone from evangelising about Hastings to absolutely loathing them. Tell all your friends not to bother.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“My 19 year old son insured with Hastings and immediately got low scores for his driving. he scored 0 for acceleration even on days when I was driving and definitely don't use fast acceleration. The policy states there is no curfew, however we have discovered that you get marked down considerably for driving after 10pm making it impossible to keep your driving score above 40. He has been threatened with having his policy cancelled without refund. His previous insurer rated his driving as very good, so how could it change overnight! Do not use Hastings Smart Miles..”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Alright insurance was two hundred pound more expensive once I had purchased insurance.”

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(Car Insurance) - Posted 9 years ago

“terrible company cancel your insurance with NO warning whatsoever and do it via royal mail so you get the letter too late, then the claim dangerous driving, even when I drive and I have been driving for many years the scores don't go down the box is rubbish they don't work and we have reported this to them and got no response. speeding was at 100% in the positive night time driving we lost 5 points because she came home at 10.01p.m. even though it is meant to be a non curfew box. Accelaration has stayed at 0 since day one but apperently the box is fine. So please think twice about parting with your money”

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Posted 9 years ago

“I urge people not to use this awful company. They lure you in with cheap premiums but the whole time they are looking to cancel your policy even though the box is ridiculously inaccurate and scores do not correspond to reality. Customer service is also a shambles they dismiss the facts as they are just after your money. Please do not take the gamble with your hard earned money and go elsewhere.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Everything I've read below is the same as my 19 year old daughters experience - low driving score, cancellation of her policy after 2 months driving when her previous insurer classes her as a good driver. Never was a problem with previous insurer even when having to drive for a night shift. The night shifts did make a slight difference to her scores but NEVER had low scores. Hastings Direct said she won't get penalised for late night driving and no curfew, but I beg to differ on that! Hastings Direct have said her scores were too low so breached her contract and now cancelling her policy after 2 months. It is a disgrace. We will be cancelling her policy and will NEVER even consider any companies associated with Hasting Direct Smartmiles. Complete rip off. Seems to me they don't even want to help young drives, once they say policy will be cancelled that's it they take your money for nothing!!!!! BEWARE, please do your research thoroughly and don't get caught out like many of us have. Lesson learned!”

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Posted 9 years ago

“My 18yr old son's experience is very similar to all the negative reviews on here. No communication, phone calls not recorded, no data so he didn't know what he's score was or what needed to be improved. Then two weeks ago he received a letter telling him to improve his score or they would cancel his policy. So he rang again, still no data available and the customer care consultant he spoke to was very unhelpful and suggested he avoids roads with potholes!! He was told he needed to talk to the supervisor who was never there and when promised they would phone him they didn't. In the end to avoid anymore Stress and his policy being cancelled we cancelled the policy and are now out of pocket. I believe this company preys on young drivers who aren't confident in dealing with such tricky situations and they are pushed to cancel their policy before the company does it which would make insuring with another company more expensive. This company should be ashamed of themselves.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“My daughter got insurance from Hasting Direct Smart Miles and has had an absolutely dreadful experience. She was insured on 12th September and got the black box installed on the 20th. Unfortunately her car broke down on the 23rd and had to go to the garage for 2 weeks. During this time her points fell from 51 to 25 even though she hadn't driven her car. E mail from Hastings arrived saying her policy was being cancelled in 7 days. Despite numerous phone calls (costing a small fortune) and e mails from myself and the garage proving that her car was in for repair Hastings Direct Smart Miles cancelled her policy. My daughter is now uninsured, has a cancelled policy on her driving record. Has been charged 45 pounds for cancellation, 210 for the useless telematics box, admin fees with interest and is not getting her money refunded for at least 14 days..... I really do not know how this company can get away with treating young first time drivers with such absolute contempt, cancelling policies, charging unbelievable cost, leaving my daughter distraught. This is an out and out scam.. luring young drivers into believing that they are getting a good deal and then conning them out of hundred of pounds. DO NOT INSURE WITH THIS COMPANY PLEASE.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“Got out this insurance in February 2016, as it was the cheapest one for me as a first time driver. After purchasing the insurance I started to read reviews and really should have listened to them but chose to see how my own experience with them would be. All I can say is don't! First of all, the preference of you not to use your car after 10 is not a preference, it affects your score massively, and it feels like I have my mother in the car with me at all times, cutting social events short because I have to be home before 10! (The reason I wanted a car was for my own independence, and that's gone out of the window!!) Also, the clutch went on my car last month, meaning in the run up to that happening my car's accelleration was very high for a few weeks. Therefore my score for the accelleration has gone down to below average. After ringing the company to explain my situation to see if the score could be undone at all (even willing to provide the supporting evidence), they turned around and told me nothing could be done, the score is based on my driving and that was my driving at the time. If you're thinking of going with this insurance please don't make the same mistake as me and others, spend that little extra on a better insurer.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“After three years using Insure the Box without the slightest problem I changed to Smartmiles to save my daughter £200. What a big mistake it was! After a few months using it she split from her boyfriend who lived miles away hence the use of the car rapidly declined. Her score was great without any issues until then but now she's hardly using the car apart from locally in town where of coarse one uses the brakes more often and one has continuous stop and go. And yes because of this she's been punished and received a letter cancelling her insurance even though not once she was accused of speeding. So 7 months ago she paid £800 and now she's gonna get £80 refund for cancelling before they cancel it and leaving a negative impact on her future when it comes to buy another insurance. Smartmiles? Perhaps smartcrooks is better. Shame on you, picking on the young and early drivers. CROOKS.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“The service is terrible, tried to up my premium after two month in due their own mistake. Nobody listens to you and they don't even put things down on the notes for the next person to deal with the case. Wouldn't recommend to anyone.”

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Posted 9 years ago

“NOT EVEN WORTH 1 STAR. Unfortunately before getting insured I didn't read the reviews but I wish I had! Within 1 month of driving, I received an email saying that I was way below the needed score of 40/100 and that they were going to cancel my insurance if I didn't 'improve' my driving even though I had been driving perfectly fine... One thing they do not make clear is that their 'no curfew' part of their policy is a load of lies as you cannot go out after 10pm without your score being significantly dropped. Just the other day they called to tell me that I had not improved my driving and they were cancelling my insurance and that I was going to have to pay them £260 "plus any other fees". When I asked to hear why and asked to hear the stats from the records, they were unable to provide any information as he "didn't have hold of them". Long story short, if you actually want to drive a car then don't insure yourself with this company.”

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Posted 9 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 2,011 reviews