Very confused with how sensitive my Hastings smart miles telematics box is? Each time I drive my car (Vauxhall Corsa) my overall score declines. It is currently showing up as a good overall score of 61/100 but I’m very worried why my score seems to in no way shape of form improving? I’ve had my policy for nearly 3 months now and I’m just struggling to figure out how to keep at least a good score to avoid any cancellation. Being a new young driver I don’t want insurance to be anymore difficult to afford than what it already is and the stress of worrying about something that shouldn’t be so stressful! I’ve read everything about my policy and about the insurance company on how I can improve etc. Queries about my score : Acceleration : Since taking out my policy my acceleration score 90% of the time declines, normally by 1 or 2 points each journey I make. So I did my own experiment on how I could improve. I began by using 1st gear just to pull away with and crawling in traffic, 2nd gear for crawling in slow moving but not standstill traffic and building up speed. Then 3rd gear for driving in 20 zones and in built up areas and other roads for example which may have many parked cars to then build up some speed to change to 4th gear in 30/40mph zones. I only use 5th gear while on dual carriageways and on the motorway. This did manage to start building my score up again but only for a short while. I managed to build my acceleration score from 53/100 to 59/100 just for it now to fall back to 51/100 even though my driving hasn’t changed since that time of improving... it doesn’t make sense. It’s even caused me to stall many times, especially on hills as I’m too scared to rev on the accelerator thinking that my score is going to drop. I live in a city where there are many steep hills and slopes so sometimes it’s unavoidable. Braking - Now braking is my worst score! I’ve got 4/100. I’m considering getting myself a dash cam to prove that I keep more than enough good distance behind other cars and giving myself plenty of time to brake. Could it be that I may have a problem with my brake pads? I’m not sure but I am having them changed this upcoming weekend and I’m hoping new brakes might help improve my score and performance. Even on a sunny clear day I brake in plenty of time and as smoothly as I can almost like I’m in icy conditions! I think they are too harsh with the braking score. Sometimes you can’t help needing to brake sharply or suddenly, especially where I live, other drivers just have the audacity to pull out in front of you or chance dangerous manoeuvres! Has anyone else managed to improve their braking score or is there no going back? Speed - My speed score is pretty standard. It is 80/100 even though I know I never speed. I can not stand speeding, even in 20mph zones. I believe it’s that speed for a reason. Black box or not I keep to the rules of the road on that one. I believe my score may have dropped because a road may not be updated on their system yet. There is a new dual carriageway in my city that’s recently changed from a 30mph to a 40mph and I use that road at least twice a week. Could be the culprit so I’m not too worried about that as I trust Hastings will have there’s record of roads updated regularly. Time of day - I understand and I know that is has been stated on the policy that there is a ‘curfew’ between 10pm and 5am. Hastings do state that driving after 10pm could affect your score but understands that people can’t always avoid driving after this time. Especially for me I get the odd shift at work which requires me to finish at 10pm. Even though I rarely get a shift like that, I still have to drive myself safely home otherwise it’s a 2 hour bus journey and why should I catch a bus and be less safe when I have a car and license! I’ve very rarely drove between these hours and the latest I’ve ever drove is 11. I do believe they should extend the hours between 11/12 till like 5. I know they say that accidents are more likely to happen between the hours they have stated and at least they give a bit of way with that. It’s not advisable to take the policy if you have to drive after 10pm regularly. I do disagree with having a curfew, it doesn’t make driving feel as free as it should be. I know they’re trying to avoid accidents and look out for their drivers but really? If something bad is going to happen it’s going to happen and can happen any time of the day. I don’t tend to drive after 9pm anyway but when I need to drive later it can be very frustrating. Overall, it’s just an average black box and telematics system. I believe that some people can get faulty problems with them and I don’t believe they’re always true. What ever happened to us relying on technology now a days. It’s proven that all types of technology isn’t always correct so the same out look should be for the black box. Not too long back the Daily Mail flagged up an article ‘Can you really trust your vehicles black box ?‘ So far I won’t be renewing with Hastings smart miles if this problem with the black box persists until I see improvements again. It can not be blamed just fully on my driving, they also need to realise that new drivers don’t learn how to drive properly until after passing and driving on their own. Also take in to consideration that every car feels different to drive and drivers need a chance to get use to their car and how their car works. For example my corsa could give a completely different score to an Mercedes or Fiat as they all work different in some way? And how do they expect to receive more customers when all they seem to do is get bad reviews? Won’t surprise me if they go bust when everyone stops renewing with them or serious legal action is taken against them by the sounds of things. My personal experience so far is 40/100 and it’s now up to Hastings if they want to be fair to me and their other customers that seem to be having the same problems as I am. All they need to be is more considerate and have more faith in their drivers. Fingers crossed I see improvements !