Insurance with Hastings Direct? Never Again

Trevor112

I have had my car insuredwith Hastings Direct for the last three years; I always go for the top endinsurance, fully comprehensive, protected no claims etc.

I was a little unhappy lastyear when they renewed my policy without telling me, they took the money out ofmy account without warning, I only realised what they had done when they sentme the new policy.

However, the new policy wasvery competitive, so I carried on, but made a note in my diary to warn me thisyear.

I have only had to contactHastings once since I first took out a policy. My friend died suddenly and wehad to get his car moved. My policy with Hastings did not cover me for thirdparty insurance on another vehicle (I thought it did). When I enquired, theytold me that it would cost me £45 to insure the car for 3 days (third partyonly). I thought this was very expensive, I was only moving the car for acouple of miles, and only needed insurance for less than an hour. There was nocompassion or assistance, it was £45 or nothing, because of the circumstances,I had no choice but to pay.

My policy is up for renewalon 19th June this year, I received a quote from Hastings of £282 forthe same policy that I had in place for the previous 3 years, I thought thiswas ok, and was willing to carry on with them.

In the last 12 months, Ihave changed my bank, so I phoned them to inform them where they would have totake the money from, and also, that my wife may be changing heremployment details from 18th June, nothing spectacular, just achange of job title.

The guy on the phone told methat they would waive the £35 fee for changing my policy (I hadn’t), and thatthe new details would be included on the new policy when it was issued.

What happened next was alittle strange; it did set alarm bells ringing.

I was asked if I wanted torenew from today’s date (26th May 2012). When I asked why, I wastold that he could do it there and then and I would not incur any penalties.

I asked what would happen tothe remaining 23 days, I was informed that I could ‘right them off’ and startagain from today.

I told him that I was nothappy with that arrangement and told him that I was not happy with thisapproach.

Within an hour, a insuranceadvisor phoned me from Hastings, he informed me that, because I had refused tore-insure there and then, and because I had changed banks, and that my wife’sjob title may change, my new premium would now be £413, an increase of £131.

I asked how they couldjustify this increase, I was told, if you renew now, the increase won’t takeeffect.

Needless to say, I have toldHastings where to shove there insurance, and that I would never deal with themagain.

But in all honesty, I ampleased, because I shopped around and found a better policy (less compulsory excess)and it will only cost me £257, a saving of £25 on Hastings original quote.

It does pay to shop around, Inow have several choices including Esure and Lloyds TSB, but have the same levelof cover, both are the same price.

But I will never use Hastingsagain, they may come up with the cheapest insurance ever, but I have my principles,and I always stick to them.

Hastings_Direct_company_representative

Hi Trevor112, I am sorry to hear that you have been having problems with our service. I appreciate you taking the time to post about your experience as it helps us to improve our service moving forward. If you would like me to look into this in more detail please feel free to send me an email at [EMAIL="socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com"]socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com[/EMAIL] Many Thanks, Jamie