Hastings direct smartmiles con

Rogerandwendy

What a con these smartmiles policies are, my daughter has just had one fitted to her car and apparently her acceleration is coming up as poor. How can she be accelerating too fast when it's a 1 litre aygo for crying out loud!
In future we will not be recommending these policies to anyone.

rudekid48

Perhaps your efforts would be better spent helping to educate your daughter to be a better driver. Engine size is irrelevant, if you are heavy on the accelerator from a standing start then what has the engine size got to do with anything? The whole point of the driver feedback is to help the driver to drive more "smoothly" and harsh acceleration and/or breaking are highlighted to help improve.

Rogerandwendy

There's nothing wrong with the way she's accelerating, I've been driving for over 25 years accident free, I would know if there was a problem with it. The whole idea of these policies I feel is to put up your premium the following year as they can judge you how they like.

Hastings_Direct_company_representative

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback on Smartmiles which is always appreciated. We strongly advocate the use of this new technology for young or inexperienced drivers as it both helps tailor the premium to you, keeping it down but also acts as a learning tool to improve habits.

Each insurer has their own formula for utilising the data the box provides and calculating risk from it. Quick acceleration is especially monitored as it contributes significantly to accidents and becomes permanent habit from a young age. If you would like me to have a closer look at the issue, feel free to email me the policy number, DOB and first line of address to help@hastingsdirect.com. If we have not yet been given Data Protection authority from the policyholder we would need to obtain that first before we divulge personal information, however.

Kind regards,

Joe

stugib

Hastings_Direct_company_representative wrote: »

Quick acceleration is especially monitored as it contributes significantly to accidents

How? I can't find anything that lists accelerating as a cause of accidents.

I failed my first driving test for not getting up to speed with the traffic quickly enough!

[Deleted User]

Hastings are always looking for a way to scam you, so I'm not surprised. The box is just a nice excuse they can use.

I actually did a little bit of testing with one of these boxes that I bought off eBay. They don't work very well. For example, if you live in a hilly area the accelerometers tend to get confused. Sometimes the data they read from the car is misinterpreted or wrong, which can cause them to think you are accelerating excessively.

dacouch

stugib wrote: »

How? I can't find anything that lists accelerating as a cause of accidents.

I failed my first driving test for not getting up to speed with the traffic quickly enough!

Rear ending the car in front of you that does not pull away as quickly or stops suddenly after starting to pull away

Rogerandwendy

DELETED USER wrote:

Hastings are always looking for a way to scam you, so I'm not surprised. The box is just a nice excuse they can use.

I actually did a little bit of testing with one of these boxes that I bought off eBay. They don't work very well. For example, if you live in a hilly area the accelerometers tend to get confused. Sometimes the data they read from the car is misinterpreted or wrong, which can cause them to think you are accelerating excessively.

I think you've probably got it right, there's no way her car can accelerate briskly or too fast, it's a 3 cylinder aygo with approx 60 hp.
As I mentioned earlier I wouldn't advise anyone to take up one of these policies, I'm sure it's scam.

forgotmyname

Of course it can accelerate briskly. Stand on the throttle and dump the clutch in 1st gear and even with 60hp it will spin those little wheels.

OK the 0-60 maybe slow compared to other vehicles with a 0-60 of 13 - 14 seconds. But that figure is usually obtained by driving it like you stole it.
Dont lift off between gear changes etc.. Kills the clutch though.

The BHP per ton figure is actually higher than a large family car with 120bhp.

It may only have 67 or 68 bhp but it only weighs 800kg or so.

Rogerandwendy

Maybe you've been driving seriously slow cars for too long!
Trust me, this car does not accelerate beyond control.

OnanTheBarbarian

Bottom line is with large throttle openings, the data the insurers are getting suggests the car is getting ragged, so they predict a greater possibility of an incident = increase in risk and thus premiums.