Hastings Direct Car Insurance Review

This is the ultimate review to guide you through Hastings Direct car insurance.

You might already know that Hastings Direct offers several car insurance policy options.
Some are great, others not so much.

So if you want to get:

• Better value for money for your car insurance
• Indicative quotes
• Tips to lower your insurance premium, then you might love the following article.

Let’s dive right in.

Is Hastings Direct the best car insurance provider?

Getting the best car insurance deal is not all about the price. Indeed, focusing on just getting the cheapest deal might be a bad calculation when it comes to getting a good payout if you ever have an accident.

We’ve studied in detail Hastings Direct car policy terms and conditions and given our own ratings based on different criteria.

3,7 Safe overall rating for Hastings Direct

	Our rating	Our opinion
Customer service & satisfaction		Detailed FAQs page provides answer to user Customer support lines are not toll free Unfavourable reviews on customer friendliness on Trustpilot
Cover provided		Vans are covered by the insurance policy £500 medical expense Sunroof not covered
Value for money		£300 personal belongings cover Repairs guarantee for 5 years Personal accident cover of up to £5,000, which includes windscreen cover and medical expenses Low excess
Financial strength for pay out		Strong financial level for claim management
Technology		Customer friendly website with a simple and easy-to-use interface 100% available online Mobile app available Available on social media platforms No-live chat or chatbot is available

Expert and customer reviews on Hastings Direct

We compiled expert and customer reviews from independent institutions, to give you an overall idea of Hastings Direct's reputation.

Review organisation	Consumer satisfaction rates for Hastings Direct
Defaqto expert rating for Hastings Direct
TrustPilot	4/5 based on 41,679 opinions,

To check if Hastings Direct is the right car insurance for you, you can use our free comparison tool and finally compare coverage features, optional extras, excess, admin fees and customer rating without having to give any personal information.

Our review on Hastings Direct car insurance policy

The rates applied by Hastings Direct are well received by its customers. The Consumer Moneyfacts Awards ranked Hastings as the Car Insurance Provider of the Year 2018.
The customer satisfaction is high and seems to reflect positive user experience on the website as well as an attentive customer service.
The website also effectively passes across effective messages and information on the car insurance policies the company offers. It is recommended.
There are two others level of coverage at Hastings:

• Hastings Essential, the most basic level of coverage rated 3 stars by Defaqto
• Hastings Direct Premier, the most complete level of coverage rated 5 stars

What does Hastings Direct car insurance policy cover?

Are TPO, TPFT and Comprehensive covers available at Hastings Direct?

Car insurance policy	Available at Hastings Direct	Coverage in a nutshell
Third-Party Only		Passengers and third party covered Policyholder is not covered for any injuries or damages
Third-Party Fire and Theft		Replacement of your car if stolen Damages caused due to theft or fire
Comprehensive		Cover third-party fire and theft Covers injuries to you and damages to your car

Main guarantees at Hastings Direct explained in details

Let's find out what does Hastings Direct covers in its car insurance policy.

Breakdown cover at Hastings Direct

• 24 hours emergency assistance with no excess payable on claims
• £75 per day (for up to three days) for car hire in case you are stranded
• You get a temporary courtesy car while your own is being repaired.

Keycare cover at Hastings Direct

• £1,500 worth of cover to replace lost or stolen keys
• £75 per day (for up to three days) for car hire if your car’s stranded
• Access to 24-hour emergency assistance
• No excess payable if you claim.

Windscreen cover at Hastings Direct

• Claim on windscreen, window doesn’t affect NCB. Sunroof does.
• There’s no cover for windscreen repairs or replacement if you have third party or third party, fire & theft insurance or Hastings Essential policy.

Motor legal protection at Hastings Direct

For accidents that are not your faults, Hastings Direct offer a cover of up to £100,000 for legal costs.

Coverage abroad at Hastings Direct

Hastings Direct provides cover for abroad travel too but it is limited to countries like France, Germany, Spain, Italy. Emergency breakdown assistance is provided in the case of a breakdown.

Courtesy car at Hastings Direct

Hastings Direct provides a courtesy car (small car) while your car’s being repaired by one of their approved repairers. However, you won’t get one if your car’s been stolen and not recovered or damaged beyond repair. However you can add Substitute Vehicle cover to your policy for an extra cost. The enhanced substitute vehicle cover provides you with a hire car of an equivalent engine size to yours (up to a maximum engine size of 2000cc) if:

• Your car’s stolen and not recovered
• It’s damaged beyond repair after a fire, an attempted theft or, subject to when your cover started, an act of vandalism
• It’s damaged beyond repair after an accident that was your fault
.

No-Claim Bonus (NCB) at Hastings Direct

With Hastings Direct, if you have four or more years’ NCD, protection can be gotten against two claims in a three-year period.

If your car’s vandalised or if you’re hit by an uninsured driver, you won’t lose your no claims discount or have to pay excess.

At Hastings Direct, you can apply for the NCB protection. The NCB protection allows you to make a certain number of claims within a period without losing your No-Claim bonus.

NCB protection claims (number per year): 2 claims in 3 years
.

How much does Hastings Direct car insurance cost?

You'll find below indicative car insurance quotes at Hastings Direct:

Drivers'age	Monthly premium
18 years old	£107,39
40 years old	£44,29
60 years old	£32,66

Costs of Hastings Direct insurance car policies vary widely based on different factors such as:

• The driver’s age
• The date on which they received their driving licence
• The type of car
• Expected repair costs if the car is damaged
• The performance, safety and security of the car
• The driver’s address and how busy the streets in the neighbourhood are
• Who drives the car (any additional driver on the policy)
• The driver's record of accidents and claims (number of injuries, No Claim Bonus etc.)
• Insurance taxes.

Is there any promo codes or discounts available at Hastings Direct?

Only a few discounts are available at Hastings Direct:
- A 10% multi-car discount is available (for each car) for households with more than 1 car, even if the drivers are not related.
- Student drivers under this plan can get up to 10% discount with black box policy.

Discount types	Comment
Discounts	- A 10% multi-car discount is available (for each car) for households with more than 1 car, even if the drivers are not related. - Student drivers under this plan can get up to 10% discount with black box policy.

Save more on your car insurance checking out our 13 tops tips to cut your insurance premiums!

Hastings Direct car insurance policy summarized

Guarantees

	At Hastings Direct
NCB benefit	Yes
Uninsured driver NCB benefit	Yes
Loss or theft of keys	£500 as standard - £1,500 per year (optional)
Personal belongings	£300
Audio equipment	No
Medical expenses	£500
Liability limit for property damage	£20,000,000
Legal expense	£100,000
Courtesy car benefit	As standard
Courtesy car cover	Duration of repair
Coverage abroad	365 days

Excess

	At Hastings Direct
Fire excess	£95
Theft excess	£95
Accidental damage excess	£95
Windscreen replacement excess	£85
Young driver excess	£295

Admin fees

	At Hastings Direct
Interest charged by payment installments	From 14,90%
Renewal fees	£0
Cancellation fees	Cancellation fees during cooling off period: £0 Cancellation fees outside cooling off period: £45
Modification fees	£25

Other car insurance policies available at Hastings Direct

Hastings Direct black-box insurance

Hasting Direct Smartmiles offer telematics car insurance service as a way to help safety-conscious young and new drivers to save money on car insurance. Under this plan, a small, black box is installed onto the car by professional engineers and it measures data such as car speed, acceleration and breaking, frequency of trips and so on. Student drivers under this plan can get up to 10% discount on their premium and earn more discounts on renewal based on their general driving behavior as measured by the telemetry system.

Hastings Direct business car insurance

There are up to three different cover options for the business cover and they include:

• Class 1: this provides cover for you, the main driver, when travelling to your place of work as well as to different sites for your job. Most policies include cover for a spouse to use your car, but it won’t include cover for any other named driver to use it for business purposes
• Class 2: you’re covered as the main driver along with any other named driver on your policy for business purposes
• Class 3: if you do a lot of travels for your job, then you’ll most likely need this level of car insurance. It provides cover for light goods transportation. The comprehensive car policy is recommended for the business insurance cover.

How to contact Hastings Direct auto insurance?

Hastings Direct phone numbers

You will find all important phone numbers to contact Hastings Direct car insurance:

	Contact number	Opening hours
Proof of no claims discount	0333 321 9801	Monday-Friday 8am-9pm Saturday 9am-5:30pm Sunday 10am-5pm.
Breakdowns	0333 321 9644	24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Register Claims	0333 321 9800	24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Change of policy	0333 321 9801	Monday-Friday 8am-9pm Saturday 9am-5:30pm Sunday 10am-5pm
Cancelling existing policy	0333 321 9801	Monday-Friday 8am-9pm Saturday 9am-5:30pm Sunday 10am-5pm

Hastings Direct other contact details

You'll find below Hastings Direct main contact details:

	Contact details of Hastings Direct
Email address	[email protected]
Customer account with Hastings Direct login	My Account
Social media	Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
Chatbot	No

You can also contact them by mail by writing to Hastings Direct car insurance:

Hastings Direct
4 Collington Ave,
Bexhill-on-Sea
TN39 3LW, United Kingdom

How to claim at Hastings Direct?

You can make a claim by contacting Hastings Direct's claims department via phone call.

How to cancel your car insurance at Hastings Direct?

You can always cancel your car insurance policy at any time. However, some fees may apply especially if you cancel it after the 14 cooling-off period after your contract's anniversary date.

Since car insurance is a legal requirement, Hastings Direct as well as other insurers will renew your policy automatically at the end of the policy period without any notification from your side. However, Hastings Direct has the obligation to send you a renewal notice within 7 to 21 days before your contract comes to an end. You will therefore have 14 days - the cooling off period - to cancel your policy at reduced cancellation fees.

You would need to have various documents ready such as:

• your policy number (right hand corner of your documents);
• your bank details; and
• your payment method in case there are cancellation fees.