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Hastings Direct: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 3.04 (676 reviews)

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3.04

Based on 676 reviews, last reviewed 23rd Feb 2026

92% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

75% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

34%

20%

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

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 insura... Read more Reviewed on: 23rd February 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 (676)

Terrible!

Quite possibly the worst insurance company I have ever had the misfortune of using. Apparently leaving someone by the side of a motorway for 8 1/2 hours after an accident is perfectly acceptable and if you think you are going to get a courtesy car, think again! Over two weeks of chasing and I never did get a courtesy car. Oh and to top it off, when you do not agree with their valuation of your vehicle, they just proceed and deposit the money into your account! AVOID at all costs, please do not make the same mistake I did. Reviewed on: 18th February 2022

Absolutely appalling service

After practically 30 days of inaction from Hastings regarding my claim, decided to cancel the claim and get the repairs done myself. Terrible customer service. Never experienced such poor and ineffective service. Reviewed on: 17th February 2022

Take ages to pay out

Hit by one of their customer, they have had all the paperwork and receipts for my injuries 18 months later they still haven't paid out. Now gone to court and told the earliest date to get this resolved is 5.1.2023 Wouldnt use them at all slow and drag their heels when it comes to settling a claim yet their insured party got a driving course and 3 points Reviewed on: 24th January 2022

They will increase your policy price

Hastings Direct decided they should use possibly incorrect information from comparison websites, instead of the information which I declared to be true, to increase the price of my car insurance by almost twice the amount! I didn't know my contract included comparison websites, I thought it was just between us. It's just a way of increasing the cost of my policy once I'm in the contract. Very sneaky. I won't be using them again! Reviewed on: 5th January 2022

Horrid company

On the 12th October 21 My car was damaged by a car in the next parking bay catching fire . Today the 16 Dec 21 Ive just been told that the fire to the other persons car was not due to faulty work or criminal act . So its classed as an act of god and i will now loose my excess fees and it will go against future insurance premiums so its classed as my fault !!!!!! I've been lied to over this and treated disgustingly from the very start . So please everyone beware that this company will rely on the small print and claims its the industry standards to avoid honouring there end . They say oh we are fixing your car !!! Yes of course but at my cost in terms of excess and future insurance costs .. i ask whats the point of Paying full comp insurance when this rubbish lot wont protect you or me as there customer . How on earth can a car fire if not arson not be a mechanical fault on the other car . There were no lightning bolts that night !!!! So please save yourselves check small print ask questions and don't use Hastings Direct Reviewed on: 21st December 2021

Horrid experience

Dreadful rules

Blackmailers !! My son is insured with Hastings "brickwall" direct. He pays for car insurance by direct debit as young driver insurance is inexplicably high. How does any insurance company know me or my driving history etc at first? But I'm 54 so my quote is £300 a year but my sons is £4100 !!!!! Utterly ridiculous. Anyway......... He was involved in an accident that was not his fault. His car was smashed into by a big van and it rammed him into another car. HD agreed completely that he was in the clear and he would receive a payout for the written off car. He got the call this week assuring him that he would have the money Friday or following Monday with which he plans to buy the new car he is looking at today, Saturday. HD then called to say, unless He puts a new car on to his insurance, they will take the rest of the years monthly dd premiums from the total of his payout. This works out at £2859.45 and his payout is £3000.00. So, his custom to HD, his trust in them to look after him in the event of an accident, which as Ive said and HD agreed was not his fault, ..... has now ended up with him possibly getting the princely sum of £150 !!!!! We have both been on the phone with different people at HD who just don't even try to listen or help in any way whatsoever! They say its purely because he has paid by dd. He is 20 yrs old which means , highly unfairly, that his insurance is extremely expensive. There is no way he can pay a year up front so he is immediately forced down the dd route. I've tried to reason with them all but they just can't understand that it's a blackmail technique that they are using. Do something or we take your money !!! They say its in the t's & c's so that's it!! Like I said, brickwall. I asked all 3 I spoke to what their mobile phone contract says is the international call rate as that is in their t's and c's and guess what? None of them knew. As I said, no-one spends all day reading all the small print , especially younger people, and that is exactly where HD explain this little blackmail trap they foist on the young drivers. I looked on their website at the faq section about making a claim. Guess what? No explanation of this blackmail trap anywhere !!! Well they wouldn't have customer if they did explain it !!! No one at HD was even prepared to even try and sort out some kind of arrangement to help him out. He needs the money from the payout to buy this new car which HD are insisting he has put on the insurance so that they dont take his money !?!? I know, stupid isn't it? Anyway, a complaint has been lodged which I already know will be ignored "because its in the t's & c's!!!!" My advice, don't use Hastings Direct for anything ever. They are not there to help you, they just take your money. Awful company. Look out for the HD reply to this as well because you will see no offer of resolution from HD . This is going on to as many public forums as I can get it on to hopefully make others aware of young driver dd blackmail trap. Well done Hastings Direct. A lot of possible customers now lost as I will be advising many family , friends etc to steer clear of you !! Reviewed on: 18th December 2021

Worst Insurance company ever

I have had nothing but issues with Hastings, there was an issue with the black box and despite calling and emailing many times, there was no positive outcome. Trying to speak to anyone was an issue and even when that was possible there was no real advice given only the same old instructions. There was obviously a fault with the tab but nothing was ever done. I would never use them again and I would advise against using them. Reviewed on: 14th November 2021

Felt ripped off

I have used Hastings regularly, but do keep an eye on the other prices out there. I had a car insurance running and moved area from Yorkshire to Merseyside which seemed to double my monthly premium. I left the insurance as it was as I assumed that if I cancelled, they would sting me with some fee. Ive got a good driving history and drive a Hyudaii i10, so very basic. On renewal, the premium was around the £470 mark. I rang to cancel and the assistant (as they do) went off and came back with a figure of £35 a month and said shall we put this in place now. I said no, you need to tell me what the whole premium is, i.e. over 10 or 12 months etc. So they had managed to knock over a £100 pounds off what was a high price. I said no and told her thatI felt that they had ripped me off over the last year. I had found a policy through Saga for around £270, but went through topcashbackand got it for £235 and with a £30 cash back (although still waiting for this) so great result - less than half of Hastings price! Reviewed on: 8th November 2021

theft of money

Refused to give me all of my money back when they cancelled my insurance took £20 and the policy hadn't even started avoid Reviewed on: 4th November 2021

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