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Hastings Direct: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 3 (677 reviews)

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3.00

Based on 677 reviews, last reviewed 13th Mar 2026

100% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

50% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

36%

19%

35%

Latest highest rating:

5

I've been with Hastings Direct for a good few years... I've been with Hastings Direct for a good few years now - they've helped me with carious claims and at a difficult time when I had a car accident they... Read more Reviewed on: 23rd January 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

Charged for a renewal I didn't ask for. Charged for a renewal I didn't ask for. Find policies like this manipulative and deceitful. Very little understanding from customer services when ring... Read more Reviewed on: 13th March 2026

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About this product

Hastings Direct provide award-winning car insurance.

You can get a Hastings Direct car insurance quote online and manage your policy via the mobile app. There are three levels of cover, Essentials, Direct and Premier. They're available as an online product which is a lower cost, self-service policy that you manage yourself.

Hastings Direct car insurance reviews help you find out what it’s really like to be a customer. If you’ve used Hastings Direct before, you can also leave a review and share your experience.

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Hastings Direct Car insurance reviews (677)

Charged for a renewal I didn't ask for.

Charged for a renewal I didn't ask for. Find policies like this manipulative and deceitful. Very little understanding from customer services when ringing to explain, just 'we sent you an email weeks ago', with loads of hidden small print that says we're gonna rip ya off! Reviewed on: 13th March 2026

Dodgy fees.

I just finished a contract with this company. My car insurance was finished at 23:59 of the 19th of Feb. They have automatically renewed my car insurance morning of that day. Hence, I called them to cancel it as I was going to call them anyway as my new insurance has started the same day. Now they asked me to pay 20£ cancellation fee!! How is that even fair? I know its only 20£ but aren't we all working hard for a living? I only realised the mistake of paying it when my wife asked me why have I paid for the cancellation fee as technically the insurance hasn't lapsed yet when I called to cancel a new contract. I wonder how many more clients have they asked to pay for things such as this. Defo contacting FOS for this if they can't give a proper explanation. Reviewed on: 23rd February 2026

I've been with Hastings Direct for a good few years...

I've been with Hastings Direct for a good few years now - they've helped me with carious claims and at a difficult time when I had a car accident they helped me win my case. They've also been reasonably priced throughout the years. Reviewed on: 23rd January 2026

Rejected claim approved by FOS - AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Hi Everyone, hope this helps someone being scammed by Hastings. I wanted to share a rather unhappy exchange with Hastings Insurance (Advantage Insurance Company Limited) for a recent and valid insurance claim, which they rejected and I had to go through FOS to get approved (it was). My neighbor was sadly scammed by a roofer and during the garage roof installation they purposely damaged my roof beyond repair resulting in a large hole in the roof and needing replacement. I am a single parent and luckily have insurance to cover such eventualities. I also could not afford to replace the roof due to my situation (its also why we have insurance) The day it happened, I spoke with Hastings, had a call with the claims assessor and straight away they rejected my claim. The reason given was they said it fell outside of the boundaries of the property, which was a very obvious error on their part. During the initial exchange, I sought some legal advice and reviewed the policy booklet and fine print and could not find any language in the policy that defined borders in they way they were presenting to me. what was very funny was the specific definition for Garage(s) mentioned within the boundaries of the property (indicating they acknowledge multiple boundaries on a property. Several other terms made a similar reference to boundaries. Hasting rejected the claim again and stuck to their guns and said if I don't like the outcome I can submit a complaint through their complaints team. I submitted a complaint straight away and Hastings again rejected the complaint stating it does not fall within the boundaries of my property. Yet again I provided them a copy of my land registry plot proving the garage was very much within my property boundaries. after multiple requests for Hastings to highlight where in their policy booklet is defines the boundaries or in the exclusions they could not. Their response again was if I don't like the outcome I can complain the to financial ombudsman. I submitted a claim against Hasting with the financial ombudsman service waited the appropriate time, and essentially as soon as the case was picked up it was awarded in my favor because the claim was so very clearly valid. In the FOS investigation it was noted they agrees with a comment that corrective actions and training should be implemented by Advantage to ensure cases like these are avoided in future, and I would ask that they prioritise doing so. Unfortunately FOS are not a regulatory they are a mediation service so cannot force them to do anything other that pay a claim. The claim was settled in full and I was offered £400 compensation. This was honestly not enough but I have no other recourse. because the claim was Reviewed on: 31st October 2025

We had an absolutely dreadful experience with Hastin...

We had an absolutely dreadful experience with Hastings Direct. A claim was deemed our fault without anyone from Hastings ever viewing images of our vehicle — which, by the way, had no damage at all. The other vehicle had significant damage, which made the whole thing scream “crash-for-cash”, yet Hastings didn’t even bother to investigate properly. We received no calls, no letters, and no emails from them throughout the process. We had to chase them every single week for months just to get basic updates. Eventually, we were told to submit photos of our undamaged car ourselves — only for Hastings to say their “IT system” had to verify the attachments as safe before the case handler (who we’ve never spoken to) could even view them. To make matters worse, we only found out the claim had been made and closed when my partner went to renew their car insurance! Hastings had made a decision, closed the case, and never once contacted us. When we challenged this, they admitted they couldn’t determine who was at fault — yet they still left the claim as our fault, even though they never viewed the evidence. We raised a formal complaint, but (surprise, surprise) no one ever called us back. They eventually closed the complaint, acknowledged that there had been failings, but refused to correct the record. They still haven’t viewed the images we sent and refused to tell us what the so-called “technician’s report” said — and they also refused to put anything in writing. In short: terrible communication, poor investigation, and zero accountability. They’ll happily mark a claim against you without doing their job. Avoid Hastings Direct completely. Reviewed on: 24th October 2025

!!!AVOID!!!

I am writing this review to detail a significantly negative experience with Hastings Direct concerning a telematics (black box/tag) policy that resulted in the unilateral cancellation of my insurance and excessive charges. Prospective customers, particularly those considering a telematics product, should be vehemently aware of these issues. The core of the issue was a monumental failure in service delivery. The policy required a telematics tag to be sent and connected within 10 working days of the policy start date, as stipulated on their website. The tag was never delivered. Despite this clear service failure on their part, the company unilaterally cancelled the policy after only 14 days of use. When I contacted them, I was met with uncooperative and contradictory customer service. They refused to reinstate the policy and attempted to shift the blame, stating I should have checked an email notification regarding the non-receipt of the tag—an email which I can confirm was never sent. The customer service agents offered excuses rather than solutions, effectively punishing the customer for the company's own breach of contract. The policy cancellation led to the most concerning issue: an excessive and unfair cancellation charge. For only 14 days of cover, the charged amount was grossly disproportionate to a reasonable daily pro-rata rate. The company refused to cooperate on adjusting this charge or offering any fair resolution. I urge potential customers to exercise extreme caution with Hastings Direct, especially regarding their telematics policies. The combination of service failure, unilateral policy cancellation, misleading communication, and uncooperative handling of excessive charges demonstrates a deeply flawed customer experience. I highly recommend seeking insurance elsewhere to avoid similar future complications Reviewed on: 22nd October 2025

They are deceiving people!!!

Don't buy this insurance! They're ripping people off! We decided to cancel our policy just three days after signing up, and they charged us £40, even though the policy costs £83 per month. When we tried to cancel, it clearly stated that we could cancel within two weeks. This is usually free with other companies, but here they charged us £40 for nothing! This is what they wrote to us: > "We charge £40 for a non-refundable setup fee for setting up your policy and a telematics service fee. The remaining amount (£5.76) is for the entire term of your policy." Don't bother with this company—they make money by charging people to cancel their policy within few days! Can you imagine, £5.76 for three days of insurance, and the rest is a non-refundable registration fee for your policy and a telematics service fee? We haven't even received any Telematic* Grey box) yet, and they're already charging a fee. It's like being addicted and not knowing how to get out without financial loss. Also, if you forget your phone at home, you'll be fined for driving without it, as the telematics panel in your car will alert you. Check out YouTube—there are plenty of videos from angry customers sharing their negative experiences. This is the worst car insurance company in the UK! Reviewed on: 13th October 2025

Better value for money

The price drop from my last insurer was very impressive, for a lot of the same coverage. I haven't as of yet had to report or claim anything but everything was clear early and whenever I needed to ring up for help they were very useful. Reviewed on: 1st October 2025

Really good, helpful customer service, sorted issues...

Really good, helpful customer service, sorted issues out straight away Reviewed on: 7th September 2025

Excellent Service.

Hastings are always quick to answer the phone, extremely helpful when you have a query and always understands your needs. I wouldn't go anywhere else!! Thankyou all :) Reviewed on: 6th September 2025

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