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Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

3.3 Rating 1,958 Reviews

57 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

Company Reviews

Product Reviews

3.3

Based on 1,958 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

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“This is a scam. They install a smart miles box the cost of which is £210. 15 days after you take out the insurance they accuse you of exceeding the speed limit and threaten to cancel the policy. Your right to free cancellation expired after 14 days. Clearly the risk of an insurer cancelling your policy would leave you exposed to ever getting cover elsewhere in the future. You are left with no choice but to .cancel the policy yourself They then deduct £45 cancellation charge, you lose the £210 cost of the box, and they want to charge £91 to remove the box. Hasting smartmiles is a scam. You have been warned. Do not take cover with these scam artists.”

Posted 8 years ago

“The app is intermittent at recording trips and says recorded trip but no phone present even though the phone is positioned in the same place every time The tab settings would rather you have a accident than use your brake's to avoid idiot road users that pull out on you or brake suddenly with no warning. The tab is also very sensitive to even moderate acceleration to enter a motorway for example.It's totally unrealistic and dangerous to amble onto a motorway into 70 mph traffic.”

Posted 2 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.”

Posted 7 years ago

“Breaking because of hazards Infront of you gets you marked down. Accelerating on a roundabout gets you marked down. Breaking at a zebra crossing gets you marked down unless you brake 5 minutes before hand and come to a crawl before stopping. Utter nonsense. Hard breaking saves lives and this app wants you to think that you're doing something wrong. I'd rather hard break a hundred times and avoid a crash or a death but the app seems to not ever want you to break in a dangerous situation. The app seems to think that other people and cars don't exist on the road so even if another driver causes you to break it's still your fault. App hasn't been recording my data for days now and judging by the reviews this is going to be my problem very soon, regardless of whether their app or black box is in the wrong. Absolute con.”

Posted 2 years ago

“This was a great choice for my daughters first insurance and by far the cheapest quote. We are coming up to a year now and her score is 98 out of 100. Most of the bad reviews for this product are by young men or their mothers claiming their driving is being wrongly represented. Let me assure you, when mummy is not there, those boys are trying to race me at traffic lights, breaking the speed limits, taking corners and braking too fast and driving too much after 10 pm. When mummy asks them about why their insurance is cancelled or their renewal is higher “ It wasn’t me mum, the black box is recording it wrong “ Anyway, just to recap..... if you are a genuinely compliant driver, this insurance is top notch !”

Posted 3 years ago

“If you're looking for accurate information reflecting your driving and a lower premium as a result of good behaviour, DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT use this company. When I first bought the policy and had an appointment booked to fit the box I was then threatened with cancellation a few days later because apparently I hadn't set an appointment date, which they were able to later verify I had. I have always driven respectfully and within the parameters the box (excluding when the car is driven admittedly, but that's unfortunately related to work as with many others) and yet, when I went to look at my renewal quote it had all but doubled with it set for AUTOMATIC renewal. I then looked into the dashboard to see that much of the information is inaccurate. I have already previously phoned to notify them I don't wish to renew my policy and whilst the customer service was polite and respectful, it seemed as though my leaving wasn't a concern of theirs at all. My Time of Day score sat at 30, but 84% of my driving had been done during the day according to the dashboard so how can it fall so low? My braking score also sat at a marvellous 1! I was never once notified of this fact and I would uphold it to be a completely unfair and inaccurate representation of my braking. I'm a young, male driver who has worked hard to keep his premiums as low as possible against the prevailing tide of insurance companies scalping my age group and this last year has been an absolute waste of time because of faulty information on their end. When I spoke to customer services I was told that it wasn't possible to tell me how my driving is rated, nor am I able to know why this affected my premium so greatly. It feels to me, and clearly many others, that this company is geared to either using faulty technology or trying to drive up insurance premiums for younger, more vulnerable drivers. I WOULD IMPLORE YOU NOT TO EVER USE THIS COMPANY, ESPECIALLY FOR YOUR CHILDREN'S INSURANCE. YOU WILL NOT BE VALUED AND YOU WILL NOT BENEFIT FROM THEIR SERVICE.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Adam, I apologise if you were unhappy with the use of your telematics box. We have a team dedicated to helping you improve your score and you can reach them by calling 0333 999 8372. ~Elle

Posted 4 years ago

“Avoid this scam of a company they offer you cheap insurance after 3 months they lower your scores significantly forcing you to cancel the policy as you will not get another insurance if they cancel it. They will then charge you stupid over the top cancellation fees now that's how they make their money back. It is impossible to get the scores up even after perfect driving with 32 yrs experience yet the scores reduce immediately. This company should be banned from trading avoid this shocking scam of a company pay that bit extra and go elsewhere.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Installed a black box in sons car. Acceleration now down to 0 despite braking and speed being very good. Only a month left to run on policy so I imagine this figure has been fixed so you can cancel the policy. I am a DSA Driving instructor and have hours of video evidence to prove my son has been driving in an acceptable manner. I also have been driving this vehicle in an acceptable manner..... This is a warning to Hastings that I am in the process of taking my proof to a solicitor and to the insurance ombudsmen. Hastings are clearly defrauding their customers out of millions by selling and cancelling policies without giving any refunds and charging customers hundreds of pounds for worthless black boxes.”

Posted 5 years ago

“I have not been with this company long and I already hate it everything apart from the acceleration scores accurate but I have been driving very carefully in my car making my parents drive it who have perfect driving records and over 20 years driving experience and the acceleration scores still went down I'm sitting currently on 19/100 for acceleration and it will not move up it just keeps going down, does anyone else have this problem?”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry if you were having difficulties with your telematics box. We have a team dedicated to helping you improve your score and you can reach them on 0333 999 8372. I hope you manage to make some positive progress soon. ~Elle

Posted 4 years ago

“I really dont feel like driving no more due to the score. Its ridiculous, ive come do a point where im trying not to use my breaks to a point where it’s dangerous. The score never seems to go up only down. If i dont press my gas my car will stall but if i do my score goes down. I tried calling the numbers listed below for help however its always busy. Im not happy.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry if you've had some difficulties using your telematics box. We have a team dedicated to help you improve your score and you can reach them by calling 0333 999 8372 and they'll be happy to assist. ~Elle

Posted 4 years ago

“Faulty system. Admit it Hastings. Nice little con you have going here, maybe this will be the next PPI scandal. Please read the bad reviews people. Wish we had but lesson learned. This insurance is dangerous, maybe once someone is seriously injured, Hastings smart miles will realise their flawed system”

Posted 5 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.”

Posted 7 years ago

“DO NOT PICK THIS COMPANY PLEASE!! REGRET GOING WITH THEM”

Posted 8 years ago

“I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND HASTINGS SMART MILES TO ANYBODY. WAS TOLD NO CURFEW, YES THERE IS. INFORMED THEM THAT ACCELERATION REPORT WAS INACCURATE - THEY HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING ABOUT IT - THEY SAY IT IS CORRECT. MY MUM AND DAD ARE ALSO NAMED DRIVERS AND THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN THE ACCELERATION REPORT REGARDLESS WHO DRIVES THE CAR -TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY HAVING IT FITTED AS INEVITABLY IT WILL NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO MY RENEWAL. 26 JANUARY, TO NAME A DATE, WAS MY COUSINS WEDDING AND MY MUM DROVE THE CAR TO THE HAIRDRESSERS (A TEN MIN JOURNEY EITHER WAY) AND THE ACCELERATION REPORT WAS POOR BUT EVERYTHING ELSE WAS 100%. HOW CAN YOU HAVE 100% BRAKING AND 100% SPEED BUT POOR ACCELERATION I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!!”

(Car Insurance) - Posted 9 years ago

“A note for any driver who gets the letter of cancellation, call them and cancel the policy yourself this then shouldn't affect any new policy. insured my daughters car with these, after 2 weeks got a letter stating low score and policy will be cancelled. Very strange has she had a perfect 12 months with Direct Line. Even more strange I own a telematics company and have a separate telematics system fitted to her car to record everything that Hastings telematics box is supposed to. on the information i have it shows completely different to Hastings which is a poor quality product with a value of probably £5.00. If your phone is connected to your in vehicle handsfree for use of car Play or Android Auto and is being used for maybe music streaming or just handsfree connection this product marks you down. Anyway good luck to anyone who uses them, have cancelled the policy with them..and moved on....”

Posted 2 years ago

“Hastings you are one big con. My car has been off the road until today when I took it out for a short drive. Firstly I was stuck behind some muppet in a Audi A3 doing 20 everywhere secondly I drive how I always drive like the first day of using the app you were saying I was a excellent driver and now my score is low and you may cancel my policy. I emailed you in the beginning because the original quote on moneysupermarket.com did not state you have to have this black box and you have lied by photo shopping a picture to show you did advertise the black box in the quote. Bunch of crooks avoid all insurance companies are a rip off anyway welcome to the UK but these crooks are probably owned by the government con artists”

Posted 2 years ago

“If you're looking for accurate information reflecting your driving and a lower premium as a result of good behaviour, DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT use this company. When I first bought the policy and had an appointment booked to fit the box I was then threatened with cancellation a few days later because apparently I hadn't set an appointment date, which they were able to later verify I had. I have always driven respectfully and within the parameters the box (excluding when the car is driven admittedly, but that's unfortunately related to work as with many others) and yet, when I went to look at my renewal quote it had all but doubled with it set for AUTOMATIC renewal. I then looked into the dashboard to see that much of the information is inaccurate. I have already previously phoned to notify them I don't wish to renew my policy and whilst the customer service was polite and respectful, it seemed as though my leaving wasn't a concern of theirs at all. My Time of Day score sat at 30, but 84% of my driving had been done during the day according to the dashboard so how can it fall so low? My braking score also sat at a marvellous 1! I was never once notified of this fact and I would uphold it to be a completely unfair and inaccurate representation of my braking. I'm a young, male driver who has worked hard to keep his premiums as low as possible against the prevailing tide of insurance companies scalping my age group and this last year has been an absolute waste of time because of faulty information on their end. When I spoke to customer services I was told that it wasn't possible to tell me how my driving is rated, nor am I able to know why this affected my premium so greatly. It feels to me, and clearly many others, that this company is geared to either using faulty technology or trying to drive up insurance premiums for younger, more vulnerable drivers. I WOULD IMPLORE YOU NOT TO EVER USE THIS COMPANY, ESPECIALLY FOR YOUR CHILDREN'S INSURANCE. YOU WILL NOT BE VALUED AND YOU WILL NOT BENEFIT FROM THEIR SERVICE.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Adam, I apologise if you were unhappy with the use of your telematics box. We have a team dedicated to helping you improve your score and you can reach them by calling 0333 999 8372. ~Elle

Posted 4 years ago

“I have been with this company since age 16, i am now 22. all was fine until i decided to take out a car on finance to celebrate moving out and getting my first proper job. Of course ,this required a new box, which i offered to fit myself. i followed their instructions to the letter and the box was fitted on roughly the 14th of january. I then heard nothing until this morning , where i got multiple texts and voicemails insisting i call them. When i did , i found out they wanted me to pay £40 . i had no idea what they were on about and it was literally only then i found out it was a cancellation fee. When i got put through to the customer services team i then found out that not only were they trying to charge me , but that my policy had been cancelled since the 19th of january (its now the 3rd of feb) without me having any clue . when i asked why , i found out they hadnt gotten a signal from my box and so they insisted it wasnt installed . When i said it had been , and either i must have installed it wrong (though i followed the instructions to the letter) or the box must be faulty , i had 2 employees insist i must be lying. When i tried to suggest ways to recify what was obviously an honest mistake, such as me sending a picture of the box as proof ,having an engineer come out at my cost to check the box is installed correctly and functioning and/or having an engineer talk me through the box installation incase i made a mistake -i was shut down with nothing but 'you need to pay the fee and then take out a new policy with us ' (at a massively increased cost, of course) . when i expressed annoyance that my policy had been cancelled out of the blue without my knowledge, i was informed they had sent 2 emails roughly a week ago . 2 emails! 2 emails to cancel my policy after 6 years , but they can ring me multiple times in a few hours to get the cancellation fee out of me ?! this is appalling ! I now have a cancellation on my record for life ! i literally cried from the stress because i dont have allot of money as a trainee and im dreading how much my insurance is going to increase. Im now terrified waiting for what my new insurance is going to say. all because i wanted to treat myself to my first self-brought car. Do not go with this company , they do not care about you . they just want to con you out of more money.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi there, I do apologise if you've had a negative experience. I hope you've since managed to resolve this, however if you do wish to raise a complaint due to the service, you can do so by calling 01733 308 370, or emailing contact@smartmiles.com and they'll be happy to assist with this. ~Elle

Posted 4 years ago

“fucking bollocks of a company, rip off pricks, id rather drown my self then recommend them to anyone.”

Posted 5 years ago

“braking 100% night driving100% speed 70% acceleration 0% this in a 10 year old car which is a very small diesel driven by a 75 year old!!!!!!!!!!!!! GET REAL HASTINGS SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG.”

Posted 5 years ago

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Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 1,958 reviews