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Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

3.3 Rating 2,006 Reviews
56 %
of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles
3.3
Based on 2,006 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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Don't bother using if you have to accelerate slightly faster to get up very steep hills and pull out on to National Speed limit roads, all whilst going to and from work before 5am and after 10pm.
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Posted 8 years ago
Very inaccurate scoring. Money making scam.
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Posted 8 years ago
My 19 year olds daughter has just had her policy cancelled for having 39 points (below their 40) Her speed and acceleration are above both above 90 but she has 0 for the time of day and 15 for braking. She was then really careful with her braking but apparently didn't drive enough to improve her score! How they expect the car not to be driven after 10 is beyond me. At no time was this made clear when taking out the policy. Given 7 days to improve her score she was frightened to drive the car. Only when I rang was I told that if she didn't drive after 10.00pm that would improve her score and she would be fine. Wish I had read the reviews before taking out this policy.
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Posted 8 years ago
The mechanism for calculating the driver rating is completely floored. My Son has been an excellent driver and this is 2nd Year of insurance. No issues at all with Coop insurance and the telematics box yet with Hastings absolutely ridiculous. Tried to talker the the rationale with customer services and only answer I got was a patronising 'This is how telematics works madam' I would not recommend this service for any you driver. Cancelling the policy and returning to Coop
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Posted 8 years ago
We took out this policy because of the price... BIG MISTAKE. I am a Grade A instructor of 30 years experience and even my driving would not add points to the pitiful 30 that they put my Daughter down to for her braking ! We were told to install the box 9 days before the start date of her insurance, which we did, but did not expect them to penalise her before the policy came into effect! The result of this is that she was afraid to brake, and this is supposed to promote good, safe driving ?? We have cancelled the policy ( be aware your 14 days notice of cancellation begins when you install the box NOT when the policy starts). We were charged £25 to cancel and told the telematics ( black box ) was non refundable, total cost for just 3 days insurance was just over £225. Total Ripoff !! Reading the reviews on here I am convinced these boxes are faulty and intend to follow this up. In the meantime tell everyone you know about these scammers, I am telling all my pupils. One had a narrow escape, as his parents were just about to book with this company.
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Posted 8 years ago
Highway robbery !!
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Posted 8 years ago
My son had his insurance cancelled due to poor breaking.. what a joke of a company PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read the other comments before buying from these guys.. do not use Hastings there is nothing smart about our children being ripped off by an insurance company... you may as well flush your money down the toilet.. I will never use this company ever again..
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Posted 8 years ago
Well personally for me this insurance company have been really good. My first year I paid just under 1200 including breakdown cover and when I came to renew my insurance I was quoted under 500 ! Including breakdown ! It was fantastic !
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Posted 8 years ago
What went wrong? It would be easier for me to explain what went right!. Absolutley terrible service! Sent me 4/5 letters threatening to cancel my insurance for absolutley no reason! They have me 2 warnings for 'excessively speeding' when I phoned them to find out the speed I was supposedly doing they refused to answer. The staff are terribly rude and not helpfull at all. Don't be fooled by the cheap quotes because you will pay for it in the long run! Thank cod I have switched insurers! Do NOT go with Hastings direct smart miles!!!!!!!
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Posted 8 years ago
DO NOT TAKE OUT A POLICY WITH THEM- My speed is FINE and scored HIGH AND SO IS MY ACCELERATION! TIME OF DAY: 86% DAYTIME DRIVING BUT STILL SCORES ZERO. BRAKING: 0 They have cancelled my policy and told me to drive more carefully next time I drive. Cancelled my insurance and still took a my money for that month. STAFF ARE SO RUDE. I am now in my overdraft because I have to fork out another deposit. 26 days in. Really upset and broke. :-(
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Posted 8 years ago
I took this smart miles box out a couple of days ago. I've done one journey of 86miles mostly motorways. I drive at a steady 50-60mph to get fuel economy - guess what... on this one journey I scored 100% for speed, 100% for braking, but 0% for acceleration. I guess Hastings Insurance don't know how to join a motorway correctly... For the record, i'm 45 years old and rather awkard so intend to be a fly in the ointment with Hastings and beat their target of 50% despite their scams. I voted this 5 stars to draw attention, as it looks like most people wouldn't even rate 1 star. Watch this space in 2017 for further feedback.
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Posted 8 years ago
I'm 19 and i took this insurance out as it was the cheapest, sadly I didn't read the reviews! I've had it for a few weeks and already my score is dropping dramatically! My boyfriend is normally in the car with me when I use it and he even says my driving is perfectly fine! Even when I drive slow to avoid braking as much it still seems to go down! If it continues to go down then i will be cancelling my insurance! They've already added £70 on each month for reasons I still don't no! Customer service was a pile of Sh*t as well! Very Arrogant! Wouldn't give my parter any infomation as to why is has gone up even though his name is on the system as a second driver! I'm only a couple of weeks in so I dread to think what it will be like in a few months! 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻
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Posted 8 years ago
It feels overly generous giving 1 star since I was sold insurance that wasn't fit for purpose. Despite knowing I'm a nurse (adding a young driver) they never mentioned I'd be penalised greatly on the black box due to my shifts. Only mentioning the expected rush hours. The advice to improve my score is to car share/use other transport when travelling late at night to reduce the use age of my car! Looking for an alternative company. Of very little use to young drivers who often top up studies/income with bar/waitressing work. Avoid!!!
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Posted 8 years ago
If I could give 1 star I would. This company is the most ridiculous insurance company ever. My sons speed score was 95 and his acceleration was 60. In two separate incidents someone pulled out in front of him causing him 2 brake and his score dipped to 38. I was in the car on both occasions with him so was witness to it. Policy cancelled because of OTHER people even though his speed was excellent. SAVE YOUR MONEY take insurance elsewhere. Very unhelpful
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Posted 8 years ago
Took out the policy as soon as i passed, the price was great and so no questions was asked, two warnings later and a threat of cancellation i have had to cancel the insurance myself. Unclear terms and conditions such as the curfew, claims that there isn't one yet driving between 10pm-5pm affects your score. Don't insure with this company, it is a terrible organisation especially for young drivers. I have insured myself with a better company with clear conditions.
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Posted 8 years ago
Complete scam of a company! Avoid at all costs, wish I'd known what I know now. The black box scores are VERY unfair and unless you drive like your grandparents expect your policy to be cancelled. I had mine cancelled last year and have now entered a battle with them as they are trying to charge me the full premium balance (over £1,000). DO NOT INSURE WITH THEM!!!
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Posted 8 years ago
If I could leave 0 stars then I would, acceleration and braking both gone down to below 50? But speeding is still at 100... Surely if I'm accelerating that harshly and then that would mean I was speeding? AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS, going to save up and then cancel them as soon as.
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Posted 8 years ago
Absolute joke of a company. Avoid it as if it was the plague, currently still stuck with them, (3 months so far). Advertise as no curfew, yet drop your score dramatically after 10pm. When I first got this faulty black box off them it didn't track my speed or breaking for about 6 weeks. Instantly put my time of day to below 20 because I came home one day at 10.30. Called them 7 times so far pointing out the box doesn't work correctly, but they're adamant it's fine. After 3 month with my brakeing score at 80+ it has dropped down to 30 within 1 week. Apparently I must be doing an emergency stop every 5 minutes. My acceleration has gone from 20-40 since I decided to stop caring as they're going to cancel it anyway, and have been accelerating hard. Waste of time talking to them, even pointed out that my speed is 95/100 and I HAVE been speeding so clearly it's not working or else it would track me. But no apparently the box is fine. Avoid at all costs!
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Posted 8 years ago
Absolute shite, cancelled my insurance because their readings are wrong, it's said my breaking has been 0 since day 1, after ringing them up to sort it, it was left so I thought nothing of it. Useless scamming company making it near to impossible for young drivers.
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Posted 8 years ago
So they cancelled my policy and naw there not sure why they did #asholes
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Posted 8 years ago
Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 2,006 reviews