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Hastings Direct: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 3.13 (651 reviews)

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2.95

Based on 651 reviews, last reviewed 10th Aug 2025

100% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

600% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

34%

20%

35%

Latest highest rating:

5

Great experience recently when renewing Great experience recently when renewing Reviewed on: 21st June 2025

Latest lowest rating:

1

Their systems are an absolute mess. Their systems are an absolute mess. I received a quote for 493. They asked me whether I want to “check the price to protect my NCB”. When I did, the b... Read more Reviewed on: 10th August 2025

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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 (651)

Very unimpressed

Recently paid for car insurance, but can't access my online account as website won't accept my password or allow me to create a new one. The emails they promise never materialise. Chatline service is worse than hopeless and Hastings is claiming they also have problems with their phone lines. So basically company is completely uncontactable. I should have stayed with AA Insurance - big mistake. Reviewed on: 15th November 2022

Expensive with hidden costs

Very expensive for what you get - which isn’t much. Poor customer service. Untrustworthy. Reviewed on: 14th November 2022

Very poor company

Still waiting for my excess refund. Company already acknowledged that they need to refund but refuse to do it yet. They drag it out and keep making excuses that the manager need to confirm the refund. Very poor Reviewed on: 11th November 2022

Appalling Customer Service

I received an email stating my car insurance was being renewed. I called to say I didn't want a renewal as I had gone elsewhere (I wasn't aware auto-renewal was on). The email stated that I wouldn't be charged if I cancelled within 14 days of the policy starting (policy starts tomorrow) so I'm still on my current policy, only to be told I will still have to pay a £20 handling fee. Obviously, I wasn't happy about it but what can I do - this is how these companies make a quick buck on the side. I asked the customer service advisor to send me the bill. Her response was to tell me that she will email me the bill but I should read everything carefully and, if I didn't pay after a certain period of time, they will pass my unpaid £20 fee onto debt collectors. At no point did I say I wasn't going to pay. Why would one of your agents say that?! I won't be buying insurance from here again. Unnecessary extra fees and extreme customer service agents. Reviewed on: 30th October 2022

Don't have an accident if you are insured with hastings insurance.

Not completed in a timely manner, confusing/inadequate comms, no courtesy car available even though part of the contract of insurance, ...This is supposed to be fully comp. The car is still not repaired, I've not seen it since it was collected to be assessed a month ago, the accident was almost 4 months ago. The repair job has been closed, Hastings not replying to my comms, repairer refuses to tell me what has been repaired so far and the car is waiting for a new light. Hastings have asked for a review & I still haven't even seen my car yet!!! The worst Insurance policy yet. Reviewed on: 14th October 2022

Absolutely useless

I insured my new car in December 2021 and this firm was quick enough to take my business. 11 months later when the new insurance was due I got a letter saying that they couldn't insure me anymore. When finally getting through on the phone, the chap told me that it was the underwriters that couldn't insure my car and no reason given, and here was me thinking I was insured with Hastings Direct, silly me. If you value your sanity and your car stay well away from this firm. Sybil valentine Reviewed on: 12th October 2022

DO NOT BUY INSURANCE WITH THIS COMPANY

DO NOT BUY INSURANCE WITH THIS COMPANY DO NOT BUY INSURANCE WITH THIS COMPANY. This company is ridiculous, IF WE NEED TO CONTACT THEM IT WILL TAKE YOU HOURS WAITING ON TEH PGONE FOR ANYOEN TO PICK UP, and after speaking with them saying i don't want to renew my insurance they haven't done anything and they tried to renew and ask money... now on the phone again to tell them once again i don't want to renew, waiting now for 55 minutes and no one pick up the phone, when one guy pick up the pone keep saying the connection is not good and put me on hold again... Really, is this how you want to keep clients? VERY VERY BAD SERVICE..ALREDAY BOUGHT INSURANCE WITH OTHER COMPANY... Reviewed on: 12th October 2022

Cheap but unprofessional

Renewal is an issue ! Cancellation is an issue ! Customer service is terrible ! Avoid at all costs ! Reviewed on: 12th October 2022

AVOID

This company is an absolute joke. They have a snazzy advert on Sky and a Defecto 5 star rating but if you are buying for a young driver avoid like the plague. My son had an accident on the 9th September. The initial person he spoke to on the phone seemed to be inexperienced, asked questions and for information that should have been readily available in the policy documents i.e., what size is the engine? He was over an hour on the phone. The police attended the scene and were even getting annoyed at the length of time they were taking to take details. The car had to be recovered by the police as it was in a dangerous position for other road users. Hastings Direct were going to leave a vulnerable person by the road for 5 hours waiting on recovery. They assessed the car on the 16th September it took them until the 28th September to say it was a total loss but didn't update his website account until a couple of days ago. Had to phone them three times, twice they said they'd phone back and never did. He had to fill in a 52 question online form on the 3rd / 4th October, again with information already provided and some that was too in-depth (DVLA licence checks for myself and my wife, who weren't driving???). They sub-contract to various companies and they don't speak to each other. Had a letter from Coplan to send spare keys and V5 but wanted the final settlement in black in white, broken down to state what exactly is being deducting as I wish to claim back recovery costs if included, still waiting. They were meant to send e-mail twice but never. Will phone back for third time tomorrow. Been writing this while waiting to get through to substitute car phone number (30 minutes and counting). Couldn't give them 0 stars as website wouldn't let me. 1 star is being generous in the extreme. Reviewed on: 11th October 2022

This company is a scam!!!

Someone drove into my car last week. It's over a week now and I still haven't got a courtesy car despite having a fully comprehensive policy. Hastings Direct passed the repair to Enterprise, then Enterprise allocated it to the local garage. I'm calling every single one of them daily and I'm being told a different story each time. The most shocking is that Hastings takes no responsibility after the claim is made. I'll escalate this matter to a higher instance. Reviewed on: 10th October 2022

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