Robbed by Hasting Direct....disgusting.......

JohnoFisher

Hey Guys and Girls

I have had the worst experience of my life with an Insurance company that could not have been dragged out any longer. Then blindly robbed by them. HASTINGS DIRECT....Do not EVER go with this company. Here is why

February 6th. Driving my car in Wales when a young girl drove into the side of my car, pulled out and collided with the side of my car. Unfortunately is was a write off, she admitted full liability through the whole process, I could have been hit by a lovelier person to be honest.

Anywho, contact the insurance company. Sympathy sympathy sympathy, we will help you, blah blah, we will "We do not want you do end up financially worse off". The car was a Honda civic. 5 Door. Insured for £1500. It was a facelift model, meaning it had a factory body kit on it, this is a rare civic and they are very hard to come by. I was in love with it .

Who ever I spoke to at Hastings managed to take my number down wrong, thus leading to the longest contact issues known to man. Obviously assessors, courtesy car, salvagers, solicitors......really !!!! solicitors.

Anyway. After a month of calls all screwed up. Companies telling me they tried contacting me. One on a 10 digit mobile number, missing a number that I told the guy from hastings and all the other companies had my old number originally given to Hastings. So obviously this guy had attempted to given it to one company, and failed to give it to the others. Anyway. Thats a separate issue

Back and fourth of me saying no I am not accepting the £875, which had the £325 excess removed from it (compulsory excess included). They tell my courtesy car company that it has been dealt with. Of course I was angry saying, I have agreed no offer whatsoever. I tell the courtesy car company this, I need the car for a longer period of time or I am screwed!! They tell me, they cannot prolong it any further unless the insurance company confirm they are still in the process...which of course they wont. I HAVE NOT ACCEPTED. In all honest the courtesy car company Albany were great and can see where they are coming from as a company.

After not accepting the offer. I get a cheque through for about £620.......what.......£200 more!!!!?!?!?!? Why. Obviously raging with anger I got straight on to the phone and asked why on earth it had been deducted "The remaining insurance has been taken out of it (I was paying a monthly plan) Of course paying monthly means I can pay outright £200 for the remainder....please note, this is sarcasm.


Current status. 6 weeks further down the line. My courtesy car goes in 3 days. I have a new job which I now have no hope of getting to as i cannot even afford the taxi money and yet to receive my first payment, and I have just over £600 to by a new car with £600. The solicitors said they would get my excess back. However, I have to ring the and pester them, every time tey see they will contact me. This is the summary of how this whole event is currently


Driven into by another party. That party admitted liability
My car was a rare Honda civic worth £1500. It should not have depreciated in value

I currently now have just over £600 to buy a car, in the next 3 days.............


Worst, insurance company ever. If anyone can shed some advice I would be very appreciative!

Thanks for listening to me moan. just for the record....I am not accepting ANY of these offers, no matter how many times hastings say I have!!!



:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

dacouch

Read the contents of this link a few times as it may well help.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

Albany have a really really really bad reputation, google them or search MSE or any consumer forum to see what they're like. They paid Hastings circa £300 commission for Hasting referring you to them for the over priced "courtesy car" which was actually a credit hire car.

Albany will take forever and a day to recover your excess, it will be quicker for you to just send a copy of the receipt for it to the other Insurers and ask them to reimberse you by return.

How long have you owned your car?

tberry6686

Have you checked online to see what similar vehicles are going for. How old was the car etc.

The only way you can argue about it's value is if you can show that an equivalent replacement would cost more than the insurer has valued your car at (also remember that cars rarely go for the advertised price).

The £200 for the rest of the year is normal as you have claimed on the policy.

In short The insurance company has valued your car at £1200. This is probably a realistic valuation unless your car was a very limited edition and highly sought after.

JohnoFisher

The problem being I am unable to find it online anywhere, the exact version I had. All I can find is the equivalent without any of the trimmings which is approx £1200. Sure they should provide me with the money for an exact replacement. They are impossible to find anywhere, I really have tried.

Thanks for the link. I will look into it. Every company involved with hastings has pretty much lost my respect one way or another. Utter scam

tberry6686

Try getting a value from glass's guide etc. That should give you a starting point.

But I suspect that Hastings valuation is not too far off. You valued it at £1500, Hastings say £1200.

How long did you have the car and how much did you pay for it. If you only had it a short time (1-2 months) then I would expect to get what I paid for it.

nearlyrich

Sadly when you drive an older car no matter what you think it's worth it will usually be worth more to you that any insurance company believe. You have learned the first rule of negotiating a settlement, ask if there are any further deductions etc. Courtesy cars are usually limited time what does it say on your policy? Once you accept an offer you are back on your own devices.

Hastings_Direct_company_representative

Hi JohnoFisher,

Thank you for taking the time to post about your experience. We are very sorry to hear that you are so unhappy with the service that you have received during your claim. If you could please contact us directly and provide your policy details we will do what we can to help you get this resolved. help@hastingsdirect.com

Many Thanks,
Jamie

rudekid48

I'm struggling to see where the "scam" is or how the OP was "robbed".


Insurer have valued vehicle at £1200 and then deducted the excess (which is recoverable) and remaining premium. The OP has also stated that he can't produce any evidence that the valuation is wrong.


Am I missing something?

[Deleted User]

Well, since the other party admitted liability they should not be taking his excess for a start. When someone hit my and I went through my own insurance (Aviva) they didn't charge me the excess. It's not a requirement but it is what insurance companies that don't suck do.

To the OP, if they won't increase their offer contact the FSO quickly. Non-standard cars are always hard to value but if you can find out what other vehicles with factory fitted body kits go for over and above those without it would be a good start. £300 seems about right for a rare high end model.

In the mean time you do unfortunately need to minimize your costs, which probably means buying some heap for £600. It's a rubbish system but unfortunately it is the rules. In future it's best to avoid low grade insurers like Hastings who don't look after their customers and leave them in bad situations like this.

higginson81

I have had a similar issue with Hastings Direct. They said they will be writing my car off, an Astra 1.9 CDTI SRI. Offered £2,050. Poor effort. Currently negotiating with then but poor service. Would welcome any advice?

dallas1

Unlucky mate it hurts when you get offered less than what you think your car is worth.

However, I have to say your title made me laugh. I actually pictured the hastings direct guy holding someone up