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Hastings Direct: Car Insurance reviews

Name: Car Insurance
Rating: 3.14 (642 reviews)

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3.10

Based on 642 reviews, last reviewed 29th Jan 2025

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

20% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

34%

20%

34%

Latest highest rating:

5

Sensible approach to black box (You Drive) policy. I had a black box (You Drive) policy. My car needed repairs which took several weeks and meant I wasn't driving it. Hastings Direct contacted me askin... Read more Reviewed on: 20th October 2024

Latest lowest rating:

1

DO NOT USE HASTINGS PLEASE Terrible - my car gets stolen and they refuse the claim for a key discrepancy issue and THEN LOSE THAT key! Car has been found by the police and Hasti... Read more Reviewed on: 29th January 2025

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About this product

Looking for your new car insurance provider? Check out the Hastings Direct car insurance reviews on Smart Money People, left by genuine customers to help you make an informed decision when choosing your next provider.

Founded in 1997, Hastings Direct offers car, van, bike and home insurance, providing flexible policies with a wide range of optional extras. Its car insurance policies come with varying levels of cover, alongside a telematics policy, YouDrive, which rewards good driving with lower renewal rates.

What factors do you consider to be most important when choosing a car insurance provider? Are you looking for a telematics policy that can save you money? Perhaps you require breakdown cover or courtesy car cover? What about windscreen cover, or protection from vandalism? Whatever your needs, check out our Hastings Direct car insurance reviews to see how existing customers rate their policies.

Have you had a Hastings Direct car insurance policy? Share your experience with the Smart Money People community to help us increase trust and transparency in financial services. Tell us how satisfied you were with the price of the premium, and whether you managed to find cover for all of your needs? If you’ve had a YouDrive policy, did you find the scoring of your driving fair, and did you find a noticeable discount on your renewal? Leave a Hastings Direct car insurance review today and help other drivers.

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Hastings Direct Car Insurance reviews (642)

Poor service

They made making a simple change to my policy hard work. Overseas call centre (South Africa?) with a call handler who just couldn't seem to understand my request. It took several calls and having to escalate my complaint to get the matter resolved. Reviewed on: 19th July 2020

Good Value

Good value insurance , and would recommend Reviewed on: 18th July 2020

bad company

bad company canceled policy with them over the phone and paid £58 fee, 1 week later found out they were taken £17 a month for cancelation fees also, no mention of this on the phone complete made up charges to exploit me. Technical terms theft. i was also stupid to take out another policy with the promise of £58 refund for a new policy, blah blah blah. avoid this company is my advice and don't be sucked into there cheap quotes, they will also try to extort money from you if you pay in full for the policy and have incorrect personal details.(they will search your personal details via price comparisons sites to see if you made things up) they make money from this and cancelation fees. proberley would be nightmare to claim. have now gone to a proper insurence company, more expensive but peace of mind. Reviewed on: 18th July 2020

Great value but beware of renewal hikes

I’ve been with Hastings for 7 years. Fortunately I have not had to make a claim except for a chipped windscreen. However when I have had to contact them for whatever reason they have been very friendly and helpful. The only thing to watch out for is how much they hike up the renewal costs each year. If you do a comparison you will find the same insurance for maybe £200-£300 cheaper. So never auto renew without giving them a call and negotiating first! Reviewed on: 15th July 2020

Great Service & Cheapest Around

Friendly and helpful staff and have been the cheapest provider for me year on year. Reviewed on: 14th July 2020

Brilliant company

Hastings direct is a brilliant car insurance provider. I cannot fault their costumer service and the ease of the company. Well-thought out app that can be used to check policy and amend details with no problem. Reviewed on: 14th July 2020

Great value

Having not driven for quite some time I had no no claims but using sourced me a great insurance desk that was adorable and offered good extras. Reviewed on: 13th July 2020

Good

All the staffs are well trained and experienced with good sense of humour Reviewed on: 27th June 2020

Good policy & easy to use app

Really useful to have the mobile app to view documents and amend many aspects of the policy quickly and easily. The claim process was made simple and it was handled professionally. Reviewed on: 22nd June 2020

Hastings Direct: The Tragedies

Incompetent when it comes to making a claim. If you are involved in a car accident (even if the accident was not your fault) DO NOT MAKE A CLAIM. They will write your car off for the slightest of damage. When you challenge them on the write-off they will neglect all other responsibilities, like sending your photo evidence and statement over to the third party. They will hire a garage to forge evaluations for the cost of repair, which are always exceedingly high, so they can hide behind their infamous motto ‘uneconomical to repair’ so they don’t have to repair your vehicle. Hence justifying what they call a write-off. If you are unfortunate enough to have a policy with this incompetent bunch, there is 1 thing you need to understand: the less you tell them the better. If you’re involved in an accident and your car is indeed repairable, my advice would be to find a garage that works on vehicle repairs. Go about getting this done yourself. It does mean that you will have to dip into your own pocket (those of you who were not at fault). But it is far less painful and stressful than if you were to try and achieve this goal through hastings direct. Do not make a claim through hastings direct. Better still, do not give them your money to start with. Those of you who have an existing policy I strongly urge you to start looking elsewhere. What I went through with this inadequate sort I would not wish on my worst enemy. Reviewed on: 15th June 2020

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