Hastings Direct - Requesting numerous documents months after policy start

Sazlar89

Hi all,

I'll try not to ramble, but apologies in advance if I do!

I've been with Hastings Essential for my car insurance since I moved to my new place in June 2023. On October 23rd I got a very casual sounding text stating that they were checking the details of my policy and needed some more info (I honestly thought it was a scam). 

Fast forward a few days and they requested the following via letter and email:

• Driving license details of my named driver.
• My driving license details.
• Details of my No Claims Discount.
• Copies of my V5C.
• Proof of Address.

I swiftly provided:

• Named driver license details.
• My license details.
• Proof of address.
• Proof of NCD.

My most up to date V5C is packed away in a "safe place" that is so safe I can't actually remember where I've put it, but in my ventures I found the original V5C that I'd thought I'd lost (typical). So I've sent that over, and explained that I live pay check to pay check so paying out for a new V5C just isn't feasible for me right now but I will continue to look for the more up to date V5C. 

My NDC proof is just an email that my previous insurer sent to me, and the person I spoke with at Hastings finally looked at the information I'd sent properly and found the policy number. They then said that they would look in to that.

Overall, I've called up twice to ask for further clarity, such as "why do you suddenly need all of this at one time?" and received two different responses "Oh, our underwriters sometimes ask for these details but we aren't told why." and "Oh it's a new policy, lots of people are confused by it.".

As of today I have 9 calls to and from Hastings. I've also received 6 chase emails and a couple of letters. 

I've created an email chain where I've sent the requested documents (that they don't seem to look at properly, judging by the phone calls I've had) and to also ask for them to stop sending bot chase emails and actually explain to me what is wrong with the documents I've already provided, so that I can understand what they need as I literally have nothing else for my NCD.

My main concern is that it has all felt incredibly predatory as they have said "If you don't give us all of this information ASAP we might have to cancel your policy" and "If we need to amend your policy because of the info, we might need to charge you a fee." from the start, as if I'm doing something wrong. It feels like I will likely end up paying out money that I didn't expect to spend, for reasons that have nothing to do with me failing to do something, probably for some unnecessary reason.

I've been driving for nearly 10 years and never had to send any of this information to an insurer, so for someone to suddenly ask for it all at once while threatening to cancel my policy is incredibly alarming for me. I know that they're within their right to ask for it, but to ask 4 months in to an active policy and in such a bot-like way just feels wrong somehow.

Any insight (or just telling me that I'm being silly lol) would be much appreciated. And apologies for the rambling... 

Bigwheels1111

Avoid Hastings Direct in the future.
I changed cars mid policy, exactly the same car but silver.
Years policy was £200, changing car cost £400.

DullGreyGuy

There are a couple of brokers, not Hastings, that are well known for quoting cheap then asking for all this information after you've bought the policy and then pointing out that you stated you'd had your license for 2 year when actually its 1 year and 10 months etc. Needless to say that generates an admin fee to correct it and an additional premium. 

People are lax when filling in these forms despite declaring that the information is as accurate as you can reasonably provide. 

As long as you have been accurate when quoting your docs will confirm this and it's nothing to worry about. As to why its happened now? Would be pure speculation and you'll have no way of validating one theory over another so wouldn't bother asking personally. 

Nobbie1967

DullGreyGuy said:

There are a couple of brokers, not Hastings, that are well known for quoting cheap then asking for all this information after you've bought the policy and then pointing out that you stated you'd had your license for 2 year when actually its 1 year and 10 months etc. Needless to say that generates an admin fee to correct it and an additional premium. 

People are lax when filling in these forms despite declaring that the information is as accurate as you can reasonably provide. 

As long as you have been accurate when quoting your docs will confirm this and it's nothing to worry about. As to why its happened now? Would be pure speculation and you'll have no way of validating one theory over another so wouldn't bother asking personally. 

There is a problem when using comparison sites if you assume that the data you enter will be accurately transferred to all the insurance companies who quote. I checked my policy recently and where I entered ‘license held > 25 years’, it has been transcribed onto the policy document as a passing date exactly 25 years from the day of the quote. Luckily it appears the company I have used are not using this as a way of generating new income, but I’ll be more careful next time I use the comparison site.

There was a thread on here where a company used this exact issue to extract an extra £50 out of a customer on threat of cancellation which was what prompted me to check.

DullGreyGuy

Nobbie1967 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

There are a couple of brokers, not Hastings, that are well known for quoting cheap then asking for all this information after you've bought the policy and then pointing out that you stated you'd had your license for 2 year when actually its 1 year and 10 months etc. Needless to say that generates an admin fee to correct it and an additional premium. 

People are lax when filling in these forms despite declaring that the information is as accurate as you can reasonably provide. 

As long as you have been accurate when quoting your docs will confirm this and it's nothing to worry about. As to why its happened now? Would be pure speculation and you'll have no way of validating one theory over another so wouldn't bother asking personally. 

There is a problem when using comparison sites if you assume that the data you enter will be accurately transferred to all the insurance companies who quote. I checked my policy recently and where I entered ‘license held > 25 years’, it has been transcribed onto the policy document as a passing date exactly 25 years from the day of the quote. Luckily it appears the company I have used are not using this as a way of generating new income, but I’ll be more careful next time I use the comparison site.

There was a thread on here where a company used this exact issue to extract an extra £50 out of a customer on threat of cancellation which was what prompted me to check.

It's not an issue of "accurate transfer" but the fact there is not a 1-1 mapping of every answer on the aggregator to the providers website and so remapping has to happen. So we used to ask where you keep your car and had the options; on the road, on the driveway, in a locked garage. Aggregators have options like "residents parking" or "Secure carpark". These have to be mapped to the three options available.

All aggregators instruct you to check the details on the providers website exactly to deal with the differences in questions and answer options.