
Hastings Direct car insurance review
See what's included in car insurance from Hastings Direct and compare it to other car insurance companies in the UK.
Hastings Direct has three comprehensive car insurance policies on offer: Essential, Standard and Premier. We looked at what each policy includes, the pros and cons of cover and how to make a claim with Hastings Direct.
Who is Hastings Direct?
Hastings Direct was founded back in 1997 and has since grown to offer the UK everything from bike and van insurance to home insurance.
Who underwrites Hastings Direct car insurance?
Hastings Direct insurance is underwritten by a range of insurers. Information on who underwrites your specific policy will be given in your policy documents, as well as on your certificate of motor insurance.
The main underwriter for most of Hastings Direct’s car insurance policies is Inter Partner Assistance S.A.
What are Hasting Direct’s cover options?
Alongside three comprehensive car insurance policys, Hasting Direct also offers a telematics policy as well as multi-car insurance.
YouDrive is Hasting Direct telematics car insurance policy. After set up, you’ll be able to track how you’re driving via their app. YouDrive looks at your actual driving style and gives you a price depending on how safe and well you drive.
What are the cover benefits of YouDrive?
- Manage your policy in the Hastings Direct app
- See how you’re driving in the app
- 24/7 accident support
- Courtesy car included with comprehensive cover
- Uninsured driver promise when you choose comprehensive cover
What is covered under multi-car insurance?
With a Hastings Direct Multi Car policy you can have one policy for all the cars registered at your home address and you’ll get a discount for every car you add.
- You’ll get a discount for every car you insure
- Same renewal date for all cars
- Premier and Direct Policies are 5 Star rated by Defaqto
- Comprehensive policies include windscreen and £5,000 personal accident cover as standard*
- Uninsured driver and vandalism promise (comprehensive only)**
- EU cover up to 90 days per trip.
*Hastings Essential policies don’t include windscreen cover and come with £1,000 personal accident cover as standard.
**Not included on Hastings Essential policies.
Compare Hasting Direct’s comprehensive car insurance policies
What’s covered under my comprehensive policy?
Hastings Direct offers three comprehensive car insurance policies which differ in price, benefits and the cover they provide.
There is not much information about the Essential policy on the Hastings Direct website, though the company describes this policy as ‘no-frills policy with basic and affordable coverage’.
Here is what the other two comprehensive options cover:
Product Name | Hastings Direct Standard | Hastings Premier |
---|---|---|
Damage to your car | ✓ | ✓ |
Damaged windscreen and window glass | ✓ | ✓ |
Fire and theft | ✓ | ✓ |
Personal accident cover | ✓ | ✓ |
Liabilities to third parties | ✓ | ✓ |
No claims discount | ✓ | ✓ |
No claims discount protection | Optional | |
Permanently fitted audio equipment | ✓ | ✓ |
Optional extras
Hastings Direct offers a range of optional extras you can add to your policy to give you even more peace of mind.
These include:
- Breakdown cover
- Motor legal expenses cover
- Enhanced personal accident cover
- Key cover
If you need to make a claim on any Hastings Direct insurance policy, call the claims team on 0333 321 9800.
The Hastings Direct claims team is available 24/7.
Contacting Hastings Direct
You can contact Hastings Direct customer services by email through customerrelations@hastingsdirect.com or by calling 0333 321 9801.
What is my excess
An excess is the amount of money you contribute to the cost of your claim. The amount of your excess will depend on the level of cover you have and the nature of your claim. Details of your excess amounts will be displayed in your policy schedule.
In some instances, more than one excess will apply, in which case Hastings Direct will add them together.
There are two types of excess and these are:
- Compulsory excess which is set by the insurer underwriting your policy.
- Voluntary excess which is in addition to any compulsory excess. You can set this as low as you want to reduce the amount you have to pay if you make a claim, or you can increase it which is likely to reduce your premium.
Hastings Direct car insurance customer reviews
In our 2020 customer satisfaction awards, Hastings Direct insurance policy got 4 out of 5 stars, with 77% of customers saying they would recommend the service.
On customer review platform Trustpilot, Hastings Direct as a company has 4.4 out of 5 stars and a rating of “Excellent”, based on more than 75,900 reviews.
On similar platform, Reviews.io, the company has 4.25 out of 5 stars, based on more than 39,000 reviews. 83% of customers say they would recommend the service.
Customers praised the quick and efficient service, but some complained about admin fees and slow claim handling (updated December 2020).
Hastings Direct insurance pros and cons
Pros
- Windscreen and windows glass cover included as standard in the Direct and Premier comprehensive policies.
- Hastings Direct has Multi-car and Telematix cover options and cover is available to new and young drivers.
- The claims team is available 24/7.
Cons
- There isn’t a lot of information about the third party, third party fire and theft or the Essential comprehensive policies available prior to quote stage.
- The Hastings Direct website is not easy to navigate.
Verdict
Hastings Direct does offer strong options for comprehensive car cover, as well as other types of car insurance, such as multi-car and Black Box cover. However, its website could be a lot more user friendly to make it easier for customers to understand what is and isn’t included in their policy.
Get started by visiting Hastings Direct’s website and sign up for a policy. If you have read this review and decided that Hastings Direct car insurance is not for you, you can also compare other car insurance policies on the market.
Frequently asked questions
Car insurance ratings
Our customer satisfaction scores ("Customers say") are based on a survey of 1,654 customers carried out in December 2022.
Learn the details of our methodology and scoring.
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