Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews

Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.30

3.3 Rating 1,998 Reviews

56 %

of reviewers recommend Hastings Direct Smart Miles

3.3

Based on 1,998 reviews

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

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Hastings Direct Smart Miles 1 star review on 12th July 2024

James

Hastings Direct Smart Miles 5 star review on 29th September 2023

Jason Major

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Exactly the same experience as others! 1 month in and the braking is at 0!! Threatening to cancel the insurance after 40 miles!! It is truly a scam as these boxes which do not update after every journey must cost under a £1 and they charge you £150 when they cancel your insurance. I have contacted BBC watchdog and they are aware of these cowboys but need more complaints as they can’t go by the many hundreds on here. Please contact them on the bbc website so we can shut them down.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm truly sorry to see that you had such a poor experience with us. The team does strive to disclose all potential fees before the policy is purchased so I do apologise if this was information was missed and added to the frustration as a result. I hope that you have been able to find suitable cover for your vehicle since this review. If you do wish to raise a complaint regarding the experience you had please contact the team to do so by visiting: contact@hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“The SmartMiles 'black box' just seemed to be very inaccurate - my breaking and acceleration scores were very poor even though I drove as if I was taking my test every journey. The speed score seemed to work fine, but having a curfew at 10:00pm is ridiculous as that isn't that late at all, and often I'd find myself having to come back from work after those hours, again giving me a very poor score. Overall, it did the job in getting my insurance cheaper for the first year but it was the cause of a lot of stress as due to the inaccuracies of its recordings, I nearly wasn't eligible for the discount. - James”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,I'm sorry that you feel the box was inaccurate, especially surrounding your braking and acceleration scores. The box picks up G-Force and require very smooth and gently movements which can take a bit of practice to emulate. WE are very transparent about our requirements with time of day driving as statistically you are more likely to have an accident between the hours or 10pm and 5am. We have this time to protect our policy holders, suggesting they don't drive between these times. Its great though, to see you managed to save some money at renewal and thank you for letting us cover you for another year.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“An absolutely diabolical company, who are dictating to it's customers with 20+years no claims, how to drive. I would not recommend this company to anyone. Neither would I give it any stars. Unfortunately most, if not all of us, do make some poor choices if life - taking my car insurance out with this company was one of mine.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hello, I'm very sorry to hear that you didn't have the best experience with us at Hastings Smartmiles. I appreciate that this policy may not be suitable for all drivers and it does tend to be aimed at younger drivers starting out on their driving experience who may need assistance managing their driving and getting used to the road. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review and I do hope that you've been able to find more suitable cover since this review -Theo

Posted 6 years ago

“Find the system a bit frustrating as it marks you down for driving late at night which I do often due to work. Also scored me very low, and i do not believe it is a fair score.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review, I'm sorry to see you obtain a low score and that may have been for your 'time of day. driving. We are as transparent as possible about driving between the hours of 10pm and 5am as more accidents happen between these hour and as an insurance company try to protect our, younger, more inexperienced drivers. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Hasting directs customer service has been alright in all fairness, however they seem to give different information between each representative on the phone. This caused problems when it came to charges and payments, etc. Furthermore, the telemativs box is very slow at telling you how your driving is. And it also seems very inaccurate. It can take almost 2 days after a harsh brake (for example) for it to register on the app, and reflect it in your score, which is very very misleading and unhelpful.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback, our boxes update every 70 miles or so, so unfortunately it can take a few days between updating if you drive a low mileage. We do have a dedicated team though who can give you really helpful hints and tips to improve your breaking and acceleration. The First Response Unit can be contacted on 0800 048 2955.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Awful company !!! Never go with them!!! Rude employees ! Scam !! Black box is a total scam makes up you have bad score when you don?t!! Money grabbing !!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review. I'm sorry that you feel we have not given you a good enough service and that our staff were not professional enough, it's very disappointing to see you have had such an negative experience and apologise sincerely. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Excellent service and using the black box has reduced my premium”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Customer service is fab. The dashboard is okay. But I can never improve my score. I feel like because my car is older it gets a worse score due to having to accelerate more to get power.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Advisor easy to deal with , knowledgeable and helpful .”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Really helpful App, allowed me to monitor my driving. When I had to ring up to enquire about something the person I spoke to was very helpful!”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Fraudulent scammers”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your review. I'm sorry to see you have had such a negative experience with our SmartMiles insurance.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Easy renewal just what you eant”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Very good service, end of the year, they gave discount because of our good driving.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Very easy and great second year insurance price”

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Posted 6 years ago

“The chap was very pleasant but my goodness the experience was painful. I was on the phone for approx 47 minutes just to pay and I still haven?t received an email receipt!!! Instead you?re quick to send me several email survey requests.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,I'm sorry that the process seems to have been a negative one when trying to make a payment. Hopefully by the time you receive this response, you will have received your receipt. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Fantastic service! And they really do give great rewards unlike other companies! Will be stcking with them.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Rip off”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you are unhappy with the service we have provided for you.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Price was excellent, however, i phoned to pay with a credit card but unfortunately the transaction was taken from my bank account NOT the card I wanted.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“I would not give any stars if it gave you the option because these illegal corrupt company are committing criminal acts by illegally putting young drivers mostly at risk by playing with people lives by illegally scoring drivers false targets to put pressure on the driver to set them up to fail and when are made to make their customers look like they don’t know how to drive despite passing there driving test years ago and because these black boxes are not calibrated and hence give incorrect reading and false marks for driving , since having the box fitted some 4 months ago I have with the help of the sat nave kept UNDER the SPEED LIMITS but they still mark you down for speed what a bunch of fiddling misfits tha talk so nicely to get you signed up and when they got your money they treat you Ike s—-t the ombudsman need to receive more complaints about the criminal company to be able stop these people stealing money from parents and your drivers who work hard to pay these fiddling sods. Please email me to add you to the list of unhappy customers so we can put a stop to these people and hold the person at the top him responsible in a court of law which was mentioned and get the government who are aware of this scam. Please send a message to. Meenagary1@gmail.com. We need to get these people help accountable for their criminal acts and to stop them trading and ruining people’s lives.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“They should NOT have taken payment for the ensuing years' insurance BEFORE the due date: Also i should have been notified that I could protect my no claims bonus BEFORE the payment was taken, I was told on the 'phone last Saturday that had this been the case, I could have done so, but once the payment had gone, no. NOT IDEAL.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there,Thank you for your feedback. I'm sorry to see you have had your policy renew without your prior knowledge. We do send our renewal invitations out 28 days prior to your policy expiring and have a level of responsibility as an insurer to make sure you are always covered. If we don't hear from you, and you have an automatic renewal, your policy will renew. I completely understand how frustrating this can be, especially if you wanted to add additional extras to it and hope you have managed to speak with an advisor to rectify the situation.~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

Hastings Direct Smart Miles is rated 3.3 based on 1,998 reviews