Login

Start Free Trial Are you a business?? Click Here

Are you a business?

Terms & Conditions

User Privacy Policy

Business User Privacy Policy

Data Protection

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

Write Your review

Tell us how Hastings Direct Smart Miles made you happy

Help future customers by talking about customer service, price, delivery, returns & refunds.

Minimum 10 characters

Would you like to add a photos or videos?

Strengthen your review by uploading photos & videos.

Drag files here or browse

(Supported files: jpg, png, mpeg, ogg, mp4 & webm)

What's your name?

Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.

(Optional)

What's your email?

We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine

Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.

Hastings Direct Smart Miles 5 star review on 29th September 2023

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“Just cancelled ours after 1 month and taking a £1000 from us As box shows phone usage - you are not allowed they say to change your music or use google maps !! Happy to sell insurance on a 58 plate fiesta which doesn’t have Bluetooth or steering controls Do I need to return this accurate highly engineered box back ? No just throw it away - a tin of sardines would be more accurate This box can track your braking cornering acceleration and touching the screen of your phone Scam”

Posted 1 week ago

“Ive only been using the app and tab since March 2021. It marked me down three times for speeding on a 30mph road, as it thinks its 20mph in places. I have tried disputing it and had an email requesting details and have heard nothing since. I also got marked diwn for accelerating 7 miles in 2.5 seconds! If it wasnt the cheapest (Im on a very low budget) I'd change as it is really making me anxious when driving. I usually have friends or family with me when driving and they think irs a joke. It is so frustrating.”

Posted 3 years ago

“Everything is 90+ but time of day is glued stuck at 0 and it won’t change no matter how long I drive during the acceptable hours. I drove down and back from my Mums (3hr journey) and still didnt increased. I ain’t got a scooby”

Posted 3 years ago

Hello Thomas, I apologise for any inconvenience caused by this, so we can look into this for you and advise on how to improve this score please call our centre on 01733 308 380. ~Freddy

Posted 3 years ago

“I'm 48, I have always driven very carefully and never had an accident. But was without a car for many years so got this black box thing as had no no claims. The thing is insanely sensitive. Totally safe braking can give you a fault, normal acceleration gives a fault. Many times this penalised driving to avoid risk. Wouldn't recommend if you have any other options.”

Posted 3 years ago

Hello there, I apologise you feel this way, to find out how to improve your score please call our SmartMiles team on 01733 308 380. ~Freddy

Posted 3 years ago

“I'm new to Hastings Direct youngdriver insurance. So far I haven't experienced anything terrible with them. My insurance was reasonable price, the app is easy to use and it updates quite quickly. Only frustrating thing is the first day I installed the blackbox I had to drive to pick my partner up which is a couple miles out of my town. The national speed limit applies in most areas but I always do around 55mph as we have a lot of pot holes and road works and in some areas its 40 or 30. I lost points from braking as there is a lot of road works to begin with and there was police and ambulances speeding through the cars which meant I had to slow down and brake quickly otherwise if I continued it would of caused an accident. The second thing to happen was I was in a village called edgcott it is a 30mph zone. I don't do this speed as it has loads of sharp bends so I done maximum of 25mph. A dog walker decided to walk out on a blind bend which also meant I had to slam my brakes otherwise I would of hit him. He did apologise as he knew crossing there was dangerous but apologies don't change my score. In the same area a DPD van reversed out of a garden into oncoming traffic which affected my braking score too. I'm good at braking, its one thing I feel comfortable with and one thing my instructor complimented me on (believe it or not) but its just sad that other people actions can and will affect your driving daily which will affect your score.”

Posted 3 years ago

Hello Eve, I apologise for any frustration this may have caused, we understand there may be some exceptions to our driving rules however we do need to take into consideration these braking instances. If you would like to discuss this further please call our SmartMiles team on 01733 308 380. ~Freddy

Posted 3 years ago

“My acceleration score has remained 37 for a couple of months, i have been consciously accelerating very carefully and slowly & my score won’t go down. Also my time of day score has been 55 for a few weeks and I haven’t driven between 10pm & 5 am once in this time. Why isn’t my score going up and how can I improve this please?”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Alex, I'm sorry if that's the case. We do have a team dedicated to helping you improve your score and you can reach them by calling 0333 999 8372, they'll be happy to assist. ~Elle

Posted 4 years ago

“Put the box in myself around a week ago been looking at the app on a daily basis and recently noticed that the braking score is going down randomly by either 1 or 3. I don't feel as though I am doing anything to make this happen but it just won't stop going down, went for around a 3 mintue drive to find it had drooped by 1 again hopefully it will sort itself out as I am driving with atleast 6 seconds behind another car just so my braking is good”

Posted 4 years ago

Hello there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see your braking score is dropping. Your box collates data through G-force so any harsh or late braking can make your score go down. We do have a team that can go through your scores with you and give the hints and tips on how to improve your score. The team can be reached on 0333 999 8372. ~Jamie

Posted 4 years ago

“Good but needs improvement,my scores are fairly reasonable and have not dropped badly like some people’s on here but when your score has dropped (my acceleration is 94 and braking 90) it’s near impossible to get your scores back up. I have to pull out on an extremely busy road Every time I get in my car which is also on a hill meaning I have to put my foot down but clearly get penalised for it even though it would be rather dangerous to pull out slowly and as for braking I always give myself enough time to stop and the only time I’ve had to brake a bit harder is at the fault of other drivers yet it looks bad on my score. Smart miles need to make it easier for you to get your scores back up as it isn’t fair.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hello Chloe, Thanks for taking the time to feed that back to us, we've passed this on to our development team to make sure they are aware of this. For future reference, if you do have any questions around your score and you need to get in contact with us, our first response team will be happy to help and you can contact us on 0333 999 8372. ~Ethan.

Posted 4 years ago

“Spoke to Hastings before taking out policy for my daughter. Explained that she does work until 10pm twice a week, but only 1 mile from home. The guy told me that they understand people have jobs, but if she drives more during the day it will counteract this. After a 27 mile trip today, her time of day does not seem to be improving. How many miles do we have to drive. Feel like I’ve been misold this policy. Any advice???”

Posted 4 years ago

Hello Jo, I'm sorry to hear you feel this way and I do understand the frustration this can cause. Your scores will update every 60 miles and we do have a specific team designed to help you improve your score and they will be able to inform you of the best ways to do so. If you'd like to discuss this further, you can contact our first response team on 0333 999 8372. We'll do all we can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 4 years ago

“Really good company only downfall is it update every 60 miles you drive and you go out once past 10pm it gives you 0 on time of day”

Posted 4 years ago

Hello, Thank you for your feedback regarding the amount of time before an update in score appears on the app. This was put in place as to give drivers a reasonable amount of time to improve their driving scores so if it isn't working the team will be interested to look into this. Hastings Smart Miles does advise before the policy is purchased that driving at certain times is a measuring parameter and driving between 10 pm and 5 am can negatively impact the score. I do apologise if this information was missed ~Theo

Posted 4 years ago

“Hasting directs customer service has been alright in all fairness, however they seem to give different information between each representative on the phone. This caused problems when it came to charges and payments, etc. Furthermore, the telemativs box is very slow at telling you how your driving is. And it also seems very inaccurate. It can take almost 2 days after a harsh brake (for example) for it to register on the app, and reflect it in your score, which is very very misleading and unhelpful.”

Posted 5 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback, our boxes update every 70 miles or so, so unfortunately it can take a few days between updating if you drive a low mileage. We do have a dedicated team though who can give you really helpful hints and tips to improve your breaking and acceleration. The First Response Unit can be contacted on 0800 048 2955.~ Jamie

Posted 4 years ago

“Find the system a bit frustrating as it marks you down for driving late at night which I do often due to work. Also scored me very low, and i do not believe it is a fair score.”

Posted 5 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to see you obtain a low score and that may have been for your 'time of day. driving. We are as transparent as possible about driving between the hours of 10pm and 5am as more accidents happen between these hour and as an insurance company try to protect our, younger, more inexperienced drivers. ~ Jamie

Posted 4 years ago

“Customer service is fab. The dashboard is okay. But I can never improve my score. I feel like because my car is older it gets a worse score due to having to accelerate more to get power.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Price was excellent, however, i phoned to pay with a credit card but unfortunately the transaction was taken from my bank account NOT the card I wanted.”

Posted 5 years ago

“Good deals at renewal which was promised.”

Posted 5 years ago

Hello, It's good to hear that we were able to provide you with a competitive renewal and thank you for choosing to insure with Hastings Smart miles. I hope your second year will be even better than the first-Theo

Posted 4 years ago

“I was disappointed to find that i was still on limited mileage but my sister same age same car was unlimited. also on my first year the price of going over my mileage was horrendous”

Posted 5 years ago

Hi Natasha, I'm sorry to hear about the frustration that this process caused and that the price wasn't competitive on this occasion. Concerning the mileage, please do not hesitate to contact the smart miles team if you haven't already done so. The advisers there would be happy to look into this for you. The number for them is 01733 308 380-Theo

Posted 4 years ago

“Generally a bit slow and though i changed one item on the renewal before the renewal date, as i had already paid they charged me a ?25 admin fee on top of the ?64 adjustment! I have emailed to ask why but I'm not hopeful!”

Posted 5 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see we charged you this administration fee for the late change to your renewal. Hopefully we will get back to your email and the right decision will be made.~ Jamie

Posted 4 years ago

“Scoring system could have been better; whenever I drove past 11 to get home from work my driver's score would take a heavy hit, and it would seemingly take weeks of driving in the day to get that score back up.”

Posted 5 years ago

Hi there,Thanks for your feedback, unfortunately driving between the hours of 10pm and 5am will effect your score quite a bit, we do suggest that you don't drive between these hours. If you do need to though, as long as you counterbalance the night time driving with daytime driving, your score should improve over time.~ Jamie

Posted 4 years ago

“I think the smart miles service is average, I have had 3 black boxes from the company within a year due to them malfunctioning and not sending information, it also takes the company months to tell me it has malfunctioned meaning I?m not sending information. I have also emailed countless times about my information to put into my app for the smart miles box but never received anything back. I do believe they are a helpful thing to get as a new driver as they help you with your speeding, breaking, and times that are best for you to be home or out. It also helps to make your insurance significantly cheaper if you have been a good enough driver within the year before your insurance renewal. So I would recommend smart miles even though I have experience a few problems.”

Posted 5 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review. I'm sorry to see you have had so many issues with our boxes and have had to have a couple of them replaced. Its great to see you would recommend us to other though and that your safe, controlled driving has given you the opportunity to reduce your policy over time.~ Jamie

Posted 4 years ago

“It was alright, very average and can't change the policy online which sucks”

Posted 5 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to see you are unable to make amendments to your policy online. This is something that we are looking into but do appreciate that it can be frustrating having to speak with an advisor to carry out changes.~ Jamie

Posted 4 years ago

«
1
2
3
4
5
»

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