Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.31

“Really good company only downfall is it update every 60 miles you drive and you go out once past 10pm it gives you 0 on time of day”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hello, Thank you for your feedback regarding the amount of time before an update in score appears on the app. This was put in place as to give drivers a reasonable amount of time to improve their driving scores so if it isn't working the team will be interested to look into this. Hastings Smart Miles does advise before the policy is purchased that driving at certain times is a measuring parameter and driving between 10 pm and 5 am can negatively impact the score. I do apologise if this information was missed ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“I CANCELLED MY POLICY ANS I WAS EXPECTING A CANCELLATION CHARGE AS PER THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF £45, BUT THEN I WAS HIT WITH AN ADDITIONAL £125 IN "OTHER FEES AS PER TERMS AND CONDITIONS". I LOOKED AT THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND NO WHERE DOES IT STATE THAT UPON CANCELLATION YOU WILL BE CHARGED OTHER FEES. WHEN I CALLED AND ASKED THEM ABOUT THIS, I WAS REFERRED TO THE PAGES ON "LEGAL STATEMENTS PAGE 2" AND PAGE 25 AS WELL AS THEIR FEES PAGE. NO WHERE I GUARANTEE YOU DID I FIND ANY TEXT STATING THAT YOU WOULD BE CHARGED ADDITIONAL "OTHER FEES" FOR CANCELLATION. THEY RELY ON THEIR CUSTOMERS JUST NOT BOTHERING TO CHECK THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND GET AWAY WITH CHARGING ADDITIONAL OTHER FEES WITH NO REAL JUSTIFICATION. AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I'm sorry to read about this and I appreciate the frustration the cancellation costs would have caused. We're unable to look at the cancellation of the Smart miles policy itself here, however a document should have been sent which showed the specific breakdown of the costs that were incurred when the policy was cancelled. If you look through the document and there any costs that you do not agree with please contact the smart miles team to discuss this. They can be reached on 01733 308 380 ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“I CANCELLED MY POLICY ANS I WAS EXPECTING A CANCELLATION CHARGE AS PER THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF £45, BUT THEN I WAS HIT WITH AN ADDITIONAL £125 IN "OTHER FEES AS PER TERMS AND CONDITIONS". I LOOKED AT THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND NO WHERE DOES IT STATE THAT UPON CANCELLATION YOU WILL BE CHARGED OTHER FEES. WHEN I CALLED AND ASKED THEM ABOUT THIS, I WAS REFERRED TO THE PAGES ON "LEGAL STATEMENTS PAGE 2" AND PAGE 25 AS WELL AS THEIR FEES PAGE. NO WHERE I GUARANTEE YOU DID I FIND ANY TEXT STATING THAT YOU WOULD BE CHARGED ADDITIONAL "OTHER FEES" FOR CANCELLATION. THEY RELY ON THEIR CUSTOMERS JUST NOT BOTHERING TO CHECK THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND GET AWAY WITH CHARGING ADDITIONAL OTHER FEES WITH NO REAL JUSTIFICATION. AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I'm sorry to read about this and I appreciate the frustration the cancellation costs would have caused. We're unable to look at the cancellation of the Smart miles policy itself here, however a document should have been sent which showed the specific breakdown of the costs that were incurred when the policy was cancelled. If you look through the document and there any costs that you do not agree with please contact the smart miles team to discuss this. They can be reached on 01733 308 380 ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“My daughter (20) is a very good driver. She has been driving for over 3 years and previous black boxes were never a problem. I have been in the car when she has driven long journeys. Her driving was excellent. No speeding, no late breaking, sudden acceleration etc yet she struggles to keep her score over 40. It just doesn't make sense. We had the threats of cancellation which really stressed her out and has spoken to them a number of times about how to improve her score. It just doesn't make a difference!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Jon, I'm very sorry to read that your daughter has had a negative experience with her telematics policy. I appreciate what you have said and perhaps other aspects could be affecting her score such as the time of day she is driving. If you do speak to the smart miles team and provide them with the policy reference, they can take a look and perhaps advise what exactly was the reason to the low scores. I hope this has since improved or if she is now insured elsewhere, that she has a more positive experience with her new insurer ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Absolutely shocking! I have had a black box with another company for over 5 years with well above average scores. With Hastings the data is completely incorrect they think I've done 220 miles when I've actually done over 3500 so making my scores low, they actually make the figures up. I have been in contact with the technical department who have not even answered and have taken to emailing my mileage every day to prove how incorrect their data is. I am disgusted with this company, I think it is a complete scam and I will be contacting the Ombudsman!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Donna, I'm very sorry to read about the poor experience you had while you were with Hastings Smart Miles and that it has caused you to raise a complaint. I hope that the steps that you have taken has yielded some positive results and I hope that the complaint is being dealt with in a satisfactory manner. The Financial ombudsman may request that a complaint is raised internally before referring to them. You can do this with the smart miles complaints team by visiting: contact@hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“We had just finished our first year with a score of 91. The black box has worked well for my 18 year old daughter if you drive within the speed limits, don’t slam the brakes on & not too mad with the acceleration the scores stay high. My only gripe is the 10 night time curfew as she finishes her part time job at 11 as with most students. The curfew would work better for 12 till 6. They were by far the better price very happy with the renewal which has halved from last year they really do reward safe drivers.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Avoid at all costs. My son broke down scored 0 despite informing Hastings. Really hard to build score on breaking acceleration... old car? No support when he phoned them. Score 0 for the day if out passed 10 pm. Threats of cancellation during his A levels.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I'm sorry to read that your son struggled to get to grips with the scoring parameters on the telematics box and I can appreciate this would have caused some frustration. We do suggest speaking to the First Response Unit if our Smart miles customers have any problems with the scores. They specialise in training your drivers to work with the telematics box so they can get the best our of their driving. They can be reached on 0800 048 2955. Driving between the hours of 10pm and 5am is a measuring parameter on the policy and the company does strive to disclose that in this time frame can negatively impact the driver's scores. I'm sorry if this information wasn't seen before this cover was purchased ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Avoid at all costs. My daughter has just had notification three weeks from her renewal date that her policy is being cancelled. She had a note one month in to this policy saying her score had dropped below 40. When she rang she was told it was one incident of breaking that had brought the score down. She pointed out that a tractor had pulled out on her and she had no alternative but to break. The customer care consultant was sympathetic and told her not to worry about it and to ring should she every have to break suddenly. She then continued to drive incident free for the next 10 months and received this letter out of the blue to say her policy is being cancelled and charging her £195 for the privilege. Crooks in my mind, putting young drivers in financial difficulty and making her lose out on 1 years no claims 3 weeks before her policy is due for renewal. The ombudsman needs to step in, in my opinion, based on the horror stories amongst these reviews. I will never entertain them for any insurance again! I would have given a zero if it had been possible.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to see your daughter is in this position. We wouldn't penalise her for one braking event though as an insurer, wouldn't be fair put her in danger. We average the braking over the whole journey and if there is some late braking, this will have a negative impact on the overall score. We do have a dedicated team who can advise and support during this process. The First Response Unit can be contacted on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“I’m quite confused about these reviews, I have had my black box for 3 months now after taking up the policy immediately after I’d passed my test, I find the app easy to use and feel the scoring system is fare, my score has never dropped below 85, and can occasionally be as high as 91. The only problem I have with the policy is the time of day and braking section, I feel many teenagers (like myself) have part time jobs at bars etc which involves shifts finishing past 10pm this makes the curfew very unfair and can kill your score badly when your driving is safe. The braking score i feel is too harsh, you can’t help braking harshly sometimes and I feel sometimes it’s made me dangerous as I’m reluctant to slam the brakes on in emergencies as I don’t want to damage my score. My speed and acceleration scores have never dropped below 100 as I have stuck to the speed limits (it’s not hard) my time of day score is 75 after driving back from work every other week and my braking score is 65 (I feel I rarely harshly brake and when I do my score plummets down and is hard to get back up) my overall score is 88 and I’m set for the biggest discount at renewal. I feel these reviews give a biased representative of the policy, I feel only people who have had problems have reviewed it which means it looks awful when it really isn’t, for the price there’s no point going anywhere else, it’s a year with the black box then I can renew without one ore I can switch companies if they refuse to remove it as I would have built a years no claims discount + a years experience”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your honest review. We are really pleased that you find the app easy to use and that you feel the scoring system is fair. I have passed your feedback on to the SmartMiles team with regards to the 10pm curfew and also regarding feeling reluctant to brake in emergency brake situations because of not wanting to drop your driving behavioral score, which has sometimes made you feel dangerous. Our SmartMiles team are more than happy to discuss tips for improving your driving behavioral score if ever you would like to talk about this with the team. The SmartMiles team can be contacted on 01733 308 380. ~ Amber ~ Amber ~ Amber

Posted 5 years ago

“Hastings WILL think up numbers out of thin air and make you pay it!! I have been with Hastings for 2 years and my car insurance for this year went up by £200. When I challenged them they couldn't give me a direct answer and just got annoyed. Customer service is terrible - everyone I spoke to didn't seem phased I was leaving them at all. First person I talked to said there would be no cancellation fee. Second person said there would be a small cancellation fee. Then they charge me an additional £100+ AS WELL AS as the cancellation fee (said it was 'cover charge' and interest, in addition to the first monthly charge I had paid). I spoke to 5 different people who all told me different things. Anyway, they spoke to their management and gave me some money off as a "good will" then sheepishly ended the call with "that first month's interest did seem like a lot"... Good luck cancelling folks :)”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you were unhappy with your initial renewal quote, quotes are generated in live pricing and sometimes you could get a reduction on the price due to the price changing constantly. Its really disappointing though that you feel that the staff you spoke to mis-advised you and seemed annoyed when confronted with your question. I'm glad to see you managed to get some money back as a good will gesture and hope you have managed to find alternative cover. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Avoid at all costs.... unpleasant staff and unhelpful. My son has been driving for just over ten months now with a few weeks to go to the end of his policy but now getting notifications of poor braking but his speed is always good. Now threats of cancellation of policy. I am usually in the car with him and his braking has been fine and never speeds. I think this is a way of getting more money from people and it is unfair to put this pressure on younger drivers as he is afraid of driving now Incase of getting negative results. I appreciate why these boxes are installed to help younger drivers and ensure they drive sensibly but there is sensible driving and ridiculous restrictions placed upon them. I even got his past driving instructor to passenger beside him and when the journey was over we got negative results of braking only. Why can this be especially when driving correctly???”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, Its more than disappointing that you have found the staff unhelpful and unpleasant. We strive to be as professional and courteous at all times so if this wasn't the case I apologise. We do have a dedicated team that can guide and support your son through the last few weeks of his policy, giving advice and helpful tips to get his score back to where it needs to be. The First Response Unit can be reached on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Awful customer service been on the phone today to four different people and still feel like nothing is being done. I phoned this morning to enquire about changing my policy to a new car or cancelling my policy. Only to find out later when I finished work that my policy was changed to my new registration and I was driving around with no insurance on my car because they had made a mistake. Luckily nothing happened but I had no phone call or message to say that it had been changed. Only an email when I got home to say my new policy had been taken out to which I rang them straight away to see what was going on. They didn’t seem to think it was a problem and said that it’s all sorted now. I spoke to two other people before speaking to a manager who was very blunt and didn’t seem to care. I had also asked them to change my mobile phone number twice by two different members of staff and even when I rung the third time it still hasn’t been changed so they had no way of phoning me. They didn’t even try and persuade me to stay with their company it was more money to change my car over than it is to stay with them. I think it’s awful and I wouldn’t advise anyone to take out insurance with them. Extremely poor customer service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to see you seem to have had such a negative experience trying to speak with an advisor to get this matter resolved. If you feel you have been mistreated in any way and would like us to raise a complaint for you, please email us with your policy details and complaint points to socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com where we will investigate in full. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“10 months in 2 to go thank god! Not happy with the accuracy of the journeys record...It show my son drives through houses through their back garden then back through a garden and house and joins the next road, goes across fields,and he even once drove through a river !!! Braking and acceleration scores are a joke too.. Spoke to customer service about this and all I got was attitude from some jumped up bloke who thinks he is a perfect driver trying to tell my son to drive with a cup of water on his dashboard then he will get a better score.. If i turn his car on to check lights etc without moving it says he has driven 1 mile which I do 2 times a week.. His score has been good since taking out the policy not dropping below 50-55 points . He's now 6 weeks from his renewal date it has dropped to 40 points overnight and he's driving no different as I regularly check his dash cam.. very suspicious indeed 🤔. You are in my eyes putting unessary pressure on young vulnerable drivers.. I can guarantee one thing I will not be renewing with this shambles of a company... Que the computer generated reply....”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, Thank you for your review. Unfortunately with any Sat Nav based product there can be satellite drift at certain times. In regards to my colleagues advice on your sons breaking and acceleration scores, the cup of water theory is a hypothetical one and smooth measured driving will improve both scores. I do apologise if you feel we are putting undue pressure on our younger more inexperienced drivers which is why we have a dedicated department to help, support and try and assist in getting their scores back to where they need to be. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

Hello Andy, It's disappointing to read that your son is having such a poor experience with his Smart miles policy and I apologise if the particular customer adviser that you spoke to did not provide you with the level of customer service you deserve. The Smart miles team does have a specific First Response Unit that can look at the telematics box, discuss the scoring and see if there are any issues there. You can reach them on 0800 048 2955 if you need to discuss this. I appreciate that your son has not had the best experience to date and I hope that some positive progress can be made concerning this ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Everything”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hello Abbie, I do apologise if you feel you've had a poor experience with us and I do hope you have since had this issue resolved. If you do have any other questions or queries or you need to arrange a call back, you can contact us at socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com. We'll do all we can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“I found Smartmiles through a comparison website, I entered my details and included details of a speeded offence. I received a quote and I paid the full amount. The black box eventually arrived and my dad fitted it. Then came the bad news, Smartmiles stated I hadn't told them of my speeding offence and now my insurance was going to cost over £1200. The original quote was for £680. I cancelled the policy, but they charged me nearly £280, £150 for the black box, £45 cancellation fee and I'm not sure about the rest. My advice would be to avoid this bunch of thieves.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Emily, I'm sorry to hear you're no longer insured with us and i hope you have since got this issue resolved. We do ask that you check through your documents once the policy has been set up to make sure all of the information is up to date and correct. For future reference, if you do need to get in contact with us you can contact us at socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com. We'll do all we can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“My experience with smart miles so far has been ok at best as i thought a road was a 40 but it was a 30 and I went up that road multiple times without realising. My score is on 40 and I have not gone over the speed limit once after being super careful for the past 4 days and I’ve done at least 100 miles but my scores aren’t improving and on my miles aren’t going up either it seems like my app has just froze and nothing is updating. Is there any way on fixing this?”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Matthew, I'm sorry to hear your score has decreased and I hope this has since improved. If you're not sure as to why your score isn't increasing we do have a specific team who will be able to instruct you on how to improve it and you can contact them on 0800 048 2955. They'll do all they can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“Possibly the worst insurance company I've ever known, I barely use my car and my score is 37/100? I don't speed as I'm a new driver and don't really have much confidence behind the wheel but yet they give me a speed score of 30/100!? Avoid at all costs.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Lauren, I do apologise if you feel this way. If you're not sure why your score has decreased we do have a team specifically designed to help you increase your score and they can instruct you the best ways to do so. To contact our first response team, you'd need to give us a call on 0800 048 2955. They'll do all they can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“Absolutely useless company. I rang to ask how the scoring works as my son had been on holiday yet somehow his points went down after his car had sat unused for 4 days! (I check it every day) The staff have no idea how the scoring works, I was told only 8 people in the company know how it works & they're the underwriters! I did ask if it would be a good idea if they shared this info with their customers so they knew how to keep a good score but noooooo they cant do that! While on the phone I found out he was docked 5 points for coming home at 22.02! Yes, 5 points for being 2 minutes after 10pm even though they sell this policy as having no curfew, just a suggestion that you do not go out between 10pm-5am. It's either a curfew or not. If I'd known it was treated as a curfew, I would not have bought this policy. They cannot explain how the braking or acceleration scores work, my sons acceleration score is 0, hasn't moved for months, his braking is now 10 after it went down 5 points even though the car had sat unused for 4 days! I asked how can you make this go up, but they have no answers just a sheet they all seem to read from telling you how you should accelerate & brake slowly. I regularly check my sons dashcam, there is nothing wrong with his driving but his box has him down as madly accelerating & braking as the software DOES NOT WORK. If you go over bumps or brake, it deducts points. For this black box to work & give you a good score, you should never brake or drive on bumpy or hilly roads as they will say your acceleration & braking is harsh. AVOID, AVOID, AVOID, THIS IS THE WORST BLACK BOX POLICY YOU COULD EVER HAVE THE MISFORTUNE TO BUY!!!!!!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I do apologise you feel this way and i appreciate the frustration this process could have caused. If you're not sure how our scoring works, we do have a team of experts who will be able to instruct you on how to improve your score. You can contact our first response team on 0800 048 2955, they will be able to look into your score and let you know how to improve your score. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“I looked on reviews because we too were beginning to doubt the accuracy of the black box readings. We have come to the conclusion that the box rates you poor for speed even if you do not break the speed limit if you drive on faster A roads and motorways. I have borrowed my daughter's car for 2 weeks to test this theory and have driven like Miss Daisy in and out of the town centre at 20 and 30mph and the speed score is firmly stuck on 15 'poor' in spite of the car's average speed computer saying 26mph over this period!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, If you are concerned that your speeding score is inaccurate, we are able to pull data from the blackbox and give you examples of when the speed may have been compromised. If you call the First Response Unit on 0800 048 2955 an advisor will be able to look into this further for you. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“1 star is too much but unable to give a zero! Avoid this company at all costs!! Had this insurance for my son who have just passed his test as it was the cheapest (big mistake), however my elder son drove it for a week and the score went down to 16!!! How is that even possible, he has a box in his own car and his score is 98! He drove exactly the same way as he already does. My other son still drives like he did on his driving test, I know because I’m with him most of the time. Plus he’s a much safer driver than me with having over 22 years experience! Reading all the other reviews, which I admit I’m sorry now I didn’t read them before taking out the insurance, it seems that Hastings just inputs any old numbers into the dashboard, how they come up with these numbers doesn’t make any sense at all, and when asked numerous advisors, NONE of them knew how the score system works??!! The score the advisors gave me was totally different on the app.. no one knows what the hell is going on.. Unless you drive on a straight, flat road where you don’t need to break or accelerate then avoid Hastings!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, Without being able to look into your sons policy its hard to understand why the score has dropped so considerably, it could be that the damage was done so to speak prior to your eldest son driving the car. This is because the box updates every 70 miles or so, it may improve next time it updates. I'd be more than happy to investigate this further for if you'd like? If so, please email the team at: socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
On-time Delivery	Greater than 72%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour

Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews