Name: Hastings Direct Smart Miles
Rating: 3.31

“Please read for your own sake —- When I first read the reviews for this insurance company I just assumed that they were people complaining about nothing and that it couldn’t really be that bad... well it is. Firstly, my acceleration score started on 20 when I first got the box and the other 3 scores started on 100, and my acceleration score, no matter how slow I pull off / accelerate while moving, my score physically can’t go above 20 and very rarely ever moves at all - same with the rest of the scores. Even when my parents drove my car to pull off even slower it still marked them down as harsh acceleration... Furthermore, my score doesn’t even increase anymore. My Time of Day score dropped from 100 to 60 after driving at 11pm for 20 minutes but I now haven’t driven after 10pm for 3 WEEKS! And my score is still stuck at 60 and hasn’t increased. To add to that, my Speed score is stuck on 80 and hasn’t increased in the past 2 weeks and a half, despite purposely driving 5 mph under the speed limit to try and make it go back up. My braking score is also stuck on 94 and hasn’t increased in the previous 3 weeks either. No exaggeration, that’s what happened. My acceleration score is now also stuck on 15, which doesn’t allow me to achieve any Total Score over 80, reducing the potential amount of money I could get off my next insurance renewal. I haven’t purposely done anything bad to see if my scores will still decrease but they sure aren’t increasing. Especially time of day which isn’t even down to how well I drive. We contacted them to complain and they said that they had actually put someone else’s speeding data onto my box and offered to fix my score and remove those errors. It then took us a week and 11 phone calls till we finally got through to them and they then said the data is right and they aren’t fixing my score - Despite all the 5 speeding data scores being during a time that my car wasn’t even driven, as proven by the “Journeys” section on the black box app. Customer service is like talking to a brick wall who just repeatly say “you’re wrong”.... can’t be wrong when I hadn’t even driven my car and my score went down. Although, they were fast at providing me with a courtesy car while mine was in a garage but it took a month... A MONTH before they even contacted the garage saying that they’d pay the damage repairs cost caused but someone driving into me, not my fault - so my car just sat in the garage as they weren’t going to fix it without being told that they will be paid - which is understandable. We asked to have my black box cancelled but they told us that we have to pay off the entire rest of the year in one lump sum if we wanted to change insurance, which we can’t afford so we can’t even escape what ever scam or methods of trying to lower your score so they can cancel your insurance and take your money they have going on. Will be 100% not renewing with them next year and beg anyone who reads this to not get insurance with them!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi Jack, The box in your vehicle updates every 70 miles or so, so at times when you feel the score has or hasn't improved, it is just waiting for this mileage to be completed. This doesn't however explain why you were told that you had another drivers data so for all the times you have called and seemingly got nowhere I apologise sincerely, I'm sorry for the delay in this response and I hope this matter has now been rectified. In the unlikely event that it hasn't, please email the team at socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com so that we can investigate this further for you. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“My son had a black box fitted a month ago up to now is great also as a mother gives me peace of mind.. customer service is also very good.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“We have had nothing but trouble with the box since installing it. The scores have dropped almost each day to the point of being given 200 miles to improve scores (which he did) the stress on the family and my son for what should be the best feeling of owning his own car is intense. He is worried when he drives anywhere, because the score drops dramatically - we have only been insured with them for just over a month and already wishing we could find alternative cover. Why young drivers are penalised so much when the majority of them are safe considerate drivers is beyond me. I feel patronised when I call Hastings Smartmiles to discuss the policy and why the scores drop - they do not know how points are awarded, or what increments that they are deducted it seems a very big grey area that nobody knows. I am yet to find a person with a consistent score of 65 as they suggest in their smallprint that most drivers are at - all of the blackbox companies seem hell bent on giving insurance to young drivers then doing all they can to cancel it or take it away form them. I wish there were a competitive company that could offer insurance transparently and fairly as these kids are being made to pay hefty premiums. It is very unfair.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, We are very transparent with the terms and conditions surrounding our scoring and that we require all policy holders to have a score of above 40/100. The box pick up data as if the driver is driving on their driving test and any harsh breaking or accelerating too quickly will affect the score as will speeding and driving between the hours of 10pm and 5am. We have a dedicated team (The First Response Unit) that are on hand to offer help and support in these situations and give helpful hints and tips to improve. They can be reached on 0800 048 2955. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“I took out smartmiles for my daughter on her 1st car, but after reading the hundreds of poor reviews on smartmiles I decided that it was not worth the risk and I cancelled the insurance within the 14 day cooling off period (I know I should have read the reviews 1st). That's where the nasty surprise hit my inbox, instead of cancelling the policy and issuing a refund, Hastings immediately issued a new annual policy WITHOUT my authorisation! if I had not checked my email or the attached documents I would not have know, fraudulent behaviour? I will advertise this service to a wide an audience as posible as sadly all the other poor reviews have indeed rang true. STAY WELL CLEAR.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi there, I'm sorry to see you have had such a negative experience and that there was such confusion surrounding cancelling your policy. Hopefully this matter has now been rectified but in the unlikely event that it hasn't, please email the team at socialmedia@hastingdirect.com so we can investigate further for you. ~ Jamie

Posted 5 years ago

“Avoid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Worst company I ever see before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Terrible customer service, scammers and scoundrels, money sackers. I just can not believe such company can work on the market!!!!!!! Thy do legislative bodies allow to create such lawlessness!!!!!!!!!!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I'm sorry to hear that you've had a poor experience with us and I hope that your experience has improved since this review. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any help at all. Our customer services team can be reached on 01733 308 380. ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Very similar experience to the many other parents of young drivers here. My daughter was threatened with cancellation this week, so I have been forced to cancel at a significant cost after 6 months. The telematics system is quite clearly flawed and the behaviour of this insurer towards their customers is truly appalling. What happened to ‘Treating Customers Fairly’?! Like others here I will be reporting our experience to the insurance ombudsman. I’m not expecting that to change things but it feels like it’s the correct and only thing to do to highlight the issues. To all parents of new drivers I really would urge you to avoid this insurer at all costs to avoid that horrible feeling of having been ‘scammed’!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hi Graeme, We aim to treat all our customers fairly and I am sorry if you've had a negative experience with us. In the lead up to advising your daughter that we may need to cancel her policy we would have contacted your daughter with an initial pre warning when her score dropped below 40. After this we would have given her the opportunity to lift her score above 40 and the first warning would only have been issued if she didn't increase her score after either 50 miles of driving or 5 journeys. Failing to do so, we would then have issued your daughter with a second warning only after 200 miles worth of driving. If your daughter didn't increase her score in the 7 days after her second warning was issued, only then would we look to cancel her policy. If you would like to discuss this further with us then you are welcome to e-mail us at socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com ~ Amber

Posted 5 years ago

“My son has just been informed by Hastings smart miles that he is going to have his insurance cancelled because his score has dropped to 40 he’s been told you cancel yr policy or we will and charge you £200 quid when he told them that his ap wasn’t working and that he had called them numerous times to inform them of this she said oh well and hung up on him.he would have qualified for his full year of insurance in 2 months they just scam the young drivers and there’s nothing the kids can do it’s shocking .i want to see proof of his scores going down and I’ll be getting in contact with the FOS as this is scamming the kids when they have paid all this money then just cancel it because they can 😡”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Tracy, I do apologise if your son feels he has been treated unfairly. If your score does drop to 40 or below, our first response team will contact you with some suggestions on how to improve your score and will provide you with 200 miles to increase your score before the policy is cancelled. If you’d like to call our first response team directly, you can call them on 0800 048 2955. Alternatively, you can contact us at: socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com. We’ll do all we can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! The black box is not fit for purpose. The equipment & data capture is inaccurate and it's as if they are on a mission to cancel your policy (at a fee!) so lots of profit with no risk. There is no curfew with this box, they suggest you do not go out between 10pm-5am but go out once or twice over the bank holiday weekend & bam they drop your score by 20 points! You then get an email to say the score is below 40 & you have 200 miles to rectify your driving and even if you drive as if you are on your driving test all week and do not go out in the evenings, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to get your score back up. They are very quick at putting the score down but they will not put it back up. You then get a 7 day warning that your policy is being cancelled as your score has not improved despite driving like Miss Daisy! It's a complete rip off, young drivers have no option other than to cancel their policy, losing money, before this useless company cancel it for them. The acceleration & braking scores are inaccurate, bumpy roads near you? That'll show up that your acceleration is erratic & your score will go down as the jerking of the car over the bumps makes their black box state you're driving like a lunatic as it works on g force! Traffic on the way to work? The black box doesn't like you braking too much, so that'll go against you too! It's totally unrealistic to expect anyone to drive without braking or going over bumps in the road. I've had black box policies for my sons with Direct Line, Admiral, Tesco & Insure the box & there were no problems. The software on the black box for Hastings Direct DOES NOT WORK. Go elsewhere, it's not worth the stress.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I do apologise if you feel you’ve been treated unfairly. We are transparent with our terms and conditions before you set a policy up with us, whether that is done online or over the phone. If your score reduces to 40 or below, our first response team will contact you with suggestions on how to increase your score. Alternatively, if you would like to discuss your policy details you can contact us at: socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com. We’ll do everything we can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I do apologise if you feel this way. We are very transparent with our terms and conditions on our website about driving between 10pm and 5am, the reason we have this timeframe is as an insurer, we know that most accidents will happen between these hours and we have a level of responsibility to ensure our younger, more inexperienced drivers are safe on the road. If you do have any questions around improving your score and you'd like to discuss this, our first response team will be happy to help and you can contact them on 0800 048 2955. They will do all they can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“My son has just been informed by Hastings smart miles that he is going to have his insurance cancelled because his score has dropped to 40 he’s been told you cancel yr policy or we will and charge you £200 quid when he told them that his ap wasn’t working and that he had called them numerous times to inform them of this she said oh well and hung up on him.he would have qualified for his full year of insurance in 2 months they just scam the young drivers and there’s nothing the kids can do it’s shocking .i want to see proof of his scores going down and I’ll be getting in contact with the FOS as this is scamming the kids when they have paid all this money then just cancel it because they can 😡”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Tracy, I do apologise if your son feels he has been treated unfairly. If your score does drop to 40 or below, our first response team will contact you with some suggestions on how to improve your score and will provide you with 200 miles to increase your score before the policy is cancelled. If you’d like to call our first response team directly, you can call them on 0800 048 2955. Alternatively, you can contact us at: socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com. We’ll do all we can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“This insurance company is not even worth the 1 star given. People over the phones are useless, the service they provide is shocking, have a time limit, which will seriously effect your score but, they won’t tell you this!!! Then, without telling you, give you 7 days before cancelling your policy.... complete scam !!!! Don’t waste your money or time!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Beth, I’m sorry to hear you feel this way and that you’re unhappy with the service provided. We are transparent with our terms and conditions on our website and we do make sure you are aware of those whether you set the policy up online or over the phone. If your score does drop below 40 at any point, we will try and contact you to suggest different ways you can increase your score. If you do have any questions or queries around this process or would like to discuss your policy details, you can contact us at: socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com. We’ll do everything we can do help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“As all the other review state this company will claim your score is low and will cancel your insurance pocketing £200 in the process. It is a scam and their boxes are not fit for purpose and imo deliberately set like this to maximise profit by cancellation of policies so they have no risk but plenty of profit. The staff turnover seems extremely high so when you call back to talk to the same person you spoke to last week you get told they have left, if they can treat their customers so badly I can’t imagine how they would treat their staff. Please lodge a complaint with this company and once they have concluded it make one with the financial Ombusman stating that the box is not fit for purpose. This outfit are not the only ones out there doing this but they seem the most prolific.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I do apologise you feel this way. We are very transparent with our terms and conditions and we do make sure you are aware of those before setting the insurance up, whether that is over the phone or online. We do require our policyholders to have a score of 40 or above at all times. If you do ever drop below 40 one of our first response team will contact you to suggest different ways of increasing your score. You would then have an extra 7 days to increase your score or the policy would be cancelled. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

Hello there, I am sorry that you feel this way however I can assure you that this is not the case. If you would like any help from us with your SmartMiles policy or with progressing a complaint then you are more than welcome to e-mail us at socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com ~ Amber

Posted 5 years ago

“Do not use this insurance company. Given 14 days from payment not insurance start date to fit the black box. Only leaving 7 days for us to arrange an appointment on receipt of the car. First appointment they cancelled meaning more time to take off work to wait in. App seems to work randomly and when I called them their support staff said they would ring my son and tell him where he was going wrong....no call!!! Awful expensive experience. Suggest use Woop insurance.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Dean, I'm sorry if the process concerning the fitting of your telematics box was not a straightforward one and I hope that this was resolved for you in the end. I hope your experience has since improved, regardless of the insurer you're with. However if you're still with Hastings Smart miles and need any assistance with your policy please contact the customer service team and an adviser would be happy to help you. They can be reached on 01733 308 380 ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Worst Car Insurance EVER! 1, very highly price at around 2 grand a year for a 16 plate SEAT Ibiza,1.0 Litre. 2, terrible customer service. 3, managers are the worst, i spoke to them about my complaint and he didn't take me seriously. 4, They wanted to cancel my insurance because according to there records I was speeding when I had my mother and brother in the car who can verify that I wasn't speeding. 5. I had a car accident that wasn't even my fault and they wanted to cancel so I cancelled the insurance, making it the best decision I have ever done! I have already made a complain, now I'm pending a response.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello Simon, I'm very sorry to read that you didn't have a positive experience with Hastings Smart miles and I hope that the complaint you raised has since been resolved to your satisfaction. If you do need to chase this, please contact the smart miles customer service team on 01733 308 380 so they can check the progress of this for you ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Worst car insurance Please please take notice of the bad reviews, I stupidly didn’t and believed that because they were a big name insurance they would be a good company to go for, how wrong could I be. My daughters insurance is going to be cancelled in 7 days time as like many others because she hasn’t been able to get her scores up from the beginning. The app only updates after every 70 miles, so unlike other black boxes you can’t review your driving score after every journey. My daughter also had a car accident in January and although they have paid out for the car, something that took me countless phone calls to sort( surely that’s their job!) because they are dragging their heels, still not sorted after 4 months( not even got in touch with the witnesses yet!) and they claim is still open, they now want us to pay over £400 for cancelling the insurance!!!!! Please take notice of the bad reviews, do not let your sons or daughters go with this company!!!!!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I'm sorry to read that your daughter was involved in an accident and didn't have a positive experience with Hastings Smart miles. The telematic box may not update after every journey as they do strive to give drivers a chance to improve their scores over a longer period of time, especially when there is a risk of cancellation should the scores drop to a certain threshold. I really hope that positive progress has been made since the point of this review and that the claim has been now been settled. If you believe that this was poorly handled and the policyholder wishes to raise a formal complaint, please contact the Smart miles complaints team on contact@hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com. If you choose to do this, I hope that a satisfactory resolution can be reached regarding your complaint ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Easy to understand when getting my car insurance quote for the first time.”

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Posted 5 years ago

“Absolutely terrible customer service. Their equipment and data capture is incorrect, you spend hours trying to speak to someone. No one calls back when they say. They speak to you like you are stupid until you explain them through the inaccuracies, calculations and how basic maths principles work. You call a number they give you which tells you they are closed and their hours are 8am-8pm - it's 6pm???”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I'm very sorry if you have had a poor experience with Hastings Smart miles and I hope that your experience and time with us has improved since this review. If you feel as is if you have been spoken to in a poor manner and you wish to raise a formal complaint you can do so by visiting: contact@hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com. A complaint handler would be able to investigate this matter for you. The call centre can be reached on 01733 308 380 on weekdays from 8am-8pm. On weekends the closing hours do change to 5pm on a Saturday and 4pm on a Sunday. I do apologise for any confusion which may have been caused ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

Hello CH, I’m sorry to hear you feel this way and I do understand the frustration of not receiving a call back when one has been arranged. If you're not sure why your score isn't improving and you feel you've been driving sensibly throughout the year, our first response team will be happy to look into your score and provide some advice on how to improve your score, you can contact them on 0800 048 2955. If you do have any further questions around this process or would your policy information, you can contact us at: socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com. We’ll do all we can to help. ~Ethan.

Posted 5 years ago

“1. Their smart box is very sensitive and will heavily penalise you for slightest errors. It is as if they are on a mission to cancel your policy 2. If you cancel your policy, they will deduct a charge you £45 as a cancellation fee, £100 deposit for smart box PLUS a fee of £90 if you would like to get the smart box removed from your car. Basically £235! So, first they would charge £100 for smart box then an extra £90 just to remove it. And once they remove it, you won't get your £100 back! Never again!”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, Thank you for taking to time to leave some feedback with us. The box does measure the G-force of your driving actions and your braking for example does need to be smooth enough to prevent a glass of water on your dashboard from toppling over. I believe it is similar to how you would have been taught by a driving instructor. As a company Hastings Smart miles does strive to disclose all fees and costs before the policy is purchased so I do apologise if that information was missed on this occasion. I really hope that your experience has improved since the point of this review and if you have since left, thank you for having been insured with Hastings Smart miles ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“1. Their smart box is very sensitive and will heavily penalise you for slightest errors. It is as if they are on a mission to cancel your policy 2. If you cancel your policy, they will deduct a charge you £45 as a cancellation fee, £100 deposit for smart box PLUS a fee of £90 if you would like to get the smart box removed from your car. Basically £235! So, first they would charge £100 for smart box then an extra £90 just to remove it. And once they remove it, you won't get your £100 back! Never again!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hello, Thank you for taking to time to leave some feedback with us. The box does measure the G-force of your driving actions and your braking for example does need to be smooth enough to prevent a glass of water on your dashboard from toppling over. I believe it is similar to how you would have been taught by a driving instructor. As a company Hastings Smart miles does strive to disclose all fees and costs before the policy is purchased so I do apologise if that information was missed on this occasion. I really hope that your experience has improved since the point of this review and if you have since left, thank you for having been insured with Hastings Smart miles ~Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“wish I never took out insurance with Hastings, black box app does not work at all. when it did, scoring was terribly. breaking goes down if you break a lot (which is impossible in busy traffic on the way to work when you had to stop and start constantly). now have no idea what my score is like as the app won't work. definitely will be changing after the year ends. no matter how cheap, would not recommend to anyone.”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I appreciate the frustration not being able to track your scores would cause and I hope that this has been rectified since you posted you review. They do recommend that the braking should be smooth enough to the point that a glass of water on your dashboard would not tip over, as a result the severity of the braking is more likely to have an impact on the score than the frequency. You can always contact the smart miles team to discuss your scores or the app by contacting 01733 308 380. An adviser would be able to assist you -Theo

Posted 5 years ago

“Honestly the biggest scam on the Internet. As many other people on this site have mentioned, the braking section is fucked. You brake too harshly a couple of times and that's it, it Goes to 0 and you can never get it back up. Drive safely for 2 months without braking harshly and its still on 0. Because of the braking column your whole rating is low so you let time of day slip once and BAM you've been scammed out of 1400 pounds. Would rather die than continue on with my policy for much longer. Cheers hastings🥰”

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Posted 5 years ago

Hello, I appreciate the frustration this would have caused and I hope that some positive progress has been made with Hastings Smart miles since the time of your review. I appreciate that you may have moved on to a new insurer since this was posted, however if you do need to discuss your scores and they are proving to be problematic, please contact the First Response Team on 0800 048 2955. An adviser would be more than happy to help you ~Theo

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