A review on YouDrive policy with telematics.
In terms of black box insurance, it’s probably the best. The tab they give you is self-application, so you can stick it where you like e.g. corner of your windscreen. Your driving will be monitored, but from my experience it was quite lenient on speeds, cornering and acceleration. Had a bit of a problem with braking, even if sudden braking is unavoidable in busy cities and rush hour traffic. Braking smoothly also didn’t really work in keeping the score 5/5, so I thought that was a bit strange. Another thing to keep in mind if you're thinking of going with Hastings' YouDrive policy, is that their tabs are Bluetooth connected, so it tends to drain your phone battery.
Prices are not very competitive. Price went down by half once I moved to a different post code, but when I tried to add on additional mileage later on due to longer commutes to work, they wanted to increase my premium by nearly 30%, from around £65 a month to £87, when other insurance providers offered cheaper premiums than what I was paying on the old annual mileage. No additional cover such as breakdown or courtesy car was offered either, when again, other providers offered most types of extra cover for a cheaper price than what I was paying, all included in the price, with no telematics. Ended up cancelling my policy with Hastings and switching to a different provider due to price.
Customer service has room for improvement. Staff didn't provide much substance to my complaint, and didn't seem willing to even attempt to price-match what other insurance brokers offered me. I cannot imagine how helpful they would be in case of an accident claim. Despite this, my policy was cancelled without much issue, and the cancellation fee was surprisingly low. Let's hope it stays that way.
Overall, I would hesitate to recommend Hastings to anyone else, but their telematics scheme is possibly one of the best if you absolutely must go with a black box. There are cheaper insurance providers out there, however, so keep searching around.
Reviewed on: 8th March 2022
