Hastings Essential Reviews 

Worst insurance company I have ever dealt with! Took out a policy at a reasonable price and paid the yearly amount by credit card online. Money has left my account, and got a message saying I am now covered.
Next day when setting up their app, it tells me I owe another £120. When asking for an explanation for this they came up with all sorts of excuses such as saying I had only paid a deposit. (Has anyone ever paid a deposit on an insurance premium). Eventually they claimed I hadn’t paid and hadn’t taken out the policy, meaning I have been driving around uninsured!
Had to tell them just to cancel my policy and refund my money, son waiting to see when I get it refunded.
If this is how I am being treated after being with them for 12 hours, then I want nothing to do with this company!

They sell you a policy for an agreed amount then after the 14 days cool down period were you can cancel with minimal cost, they find the smallest discrepancy eg putting the wrong start date into the search company. So they can charge more money (£180 extra) for your policy. Don't use them. You will be disappointed.

What ever you do, don’t get hit by another car when you are insured by Hastings Direct.
I report an accident when someone drove into the back of my car, whilst stationery in a queue of traffic on the M25. Reported it yesterday at 07.20 am. During office hours unable to get anyone on the phone. Did however get an email from them late morning. Kept calling and got through to Enterprise Cars, which was a surprise. They did ask for a claims number, which I had received in their e-mail late that morning. Unfortunately they had not yet received that number, so we’re not interested. Called back again this morning Saturday, and they are closed. Never had service like this before.
Hello Nicole. Thank you for your reply. However the number you gave me to call is Enterprise cars again, this goes round in circles. I typed out a full page, regarding all the calls, emails and messages received yesterday. This gets more frustrating each day. I will save your blushes by not copying it here yet. I am not on x or intend to be. May I request you e-mail me and I will send you all that happend yesterday. A. Nield

I feel completely cheated by Hastings Direct. Their website highlights that both Hastings Direct and Hastings Premier comprehensive policies cover cracked windscreens. Naturally, I assumed I was covered under my own Hastings Direct comprehensive policy.

However, when my windscreen cracked, I was shocked to find out that I actually have a Hastings Essential fully comprehensive policy, which does not cover windscreen damage. I now have to pay the full cost to replace my windscreen, despite being misled by their website into thinking I had the necessary coverage.

This feels like a classic case of bait-and-switch, where important details are buried in the small print. I would strongly advise any prospective customers to double-check every detail and avoid Hastings Direct at all costs. What appears to be a straightforward comprehensive policy can come with nasty surprises when you actually need to make a claim.

The wrose insurance company I had to deal with. They asked for more evidence of my vehicle which I submitted, then within less than an hour they decided to cancel my insurance and charge me a £40 cancellation fee when it's them canceling my insurance and putting me into so much trouble having to go through finding another insurance company, compare prices, etc.

Their excuse was modification happened to my car which it hasn't. I had a 30-minute call explaining this to them and they didn't even weave the £40 cancellation fee off. Worse service ever. Do not go with them!

I took out a policy based on a quote through confused.com. Within a few weeks they said that I had not provided details of a speeding offence and made a charge for me not declaring it and the amendment to the policy. The premium then nearly doubled. When I called them, they said that although the speeding offence was declared on confused,com, it had not gone through on the policy. I don't think that is my fault. Also they had reduced my no claims bonus to 0 when it is over 9 years. They admitted that they had failed to request proof of that from me, which I have. Altogether a shambles of a Company. Happy to cancel straight away for a smallish fee rather than find out what they are like if I ever had an accident

To start with was happy with my insurance till a woman hit my car and Hastings used Enterprise to send my car for the repair on a no fault claim where do I begin car was sent to Bodywyse Kirkcaldy on 16th April 2024 and it's been totally a nightmare my Anxiety has went through the roof with this carry on 4 months of crap getting passed from piller to post getting the run around from everyone car finally repaired 16th August 2024 the stress this has caused me is not real and nobody should have to go through this I escalated it to complaints department but they got the run around to from Bodywyse I got car back at 4pm and sold it at 5pm phoned Hastings to cancel the insurance as I sold the car they had the cheek to take a £45 cancellation fee off me for cancellation of policy I had paid year in full I think that should of been waved after all the carry on and to be truthful they should be paying me compensation for the stress they have caused me with a car that had minor damage and any good garage would of had it fixed probably in 2 days.

I am deeply disappointed with Hastings Essential, After receiving my quote, I discovered they charge higher premiums simply because I am an immigrant. This is not only unethical but discriminatory.

No one should be penalized or pay extra based on their background or nationality. Such practices are unacceptable and should not be tolerated. This company should be reported to the relevant authorities for engaging in discriminatory pricing policies. I strongly advise anyone to avoid this insurer, as their approach is both unfair and unethical.
I hope action will be taken to ensure no one else has to experience this injustice.

Couldn't get a helpful answer out of them. All they seem to be interested in was taking my money. I wanted to get a transcript of the promises that they make over the phone. They take enough money from you every year, and if, like me, you never make a claim. The least they can do is give you a transcript of what they promised to cover you for. Insurance has always been a shambles and a con. Don't trust them.

Do not use this company!!!! I set up my black box in my car and connected it to my phone in plenty of time before the required date with confirmation of it being connected, then with no contact or notification they cancelled my insurance policy on my 21st birthday whilst on holiday and after wasting 3 hours on the phone to them from Disneyland they refused to reinstate even though the agent and I agreed it was clearly no fault of mine it was supposedly the higher ups who said it could not be reinstated. I wrote a formal complaint and when the complaints team got in contact with me the lady was very rude and seemed eager to get off the phone, seemed it was home time even though she was the one to ring me. When I said I would take it to the ombudsman she just replied 'good luck with that because they wont do anything' which I found extremely unprofessional coming from someone paid to deal with complaints. Will never ever be using this insurance provider again.

I went with this company as the price seemed decent. They barely cover anything. When I phoned to put business insurance on, I got a woman who kept sighing as if she couldn't be bothered to be there( she should get another job if she is that bored) then hung up on me.
Then I was charged £40 fee to leave.
I lost my bank card and phoned them as I was due a refund from them and that was the only time I a tually got a decent person to talk to.
Back with Bell Insurance (through admiral) and they are brilliant!

HASTINGS IS HOPELESS 😔

The company is not listening and not prepared to even lower my insurance at all. They have the interest of new customers and electric owners at the detriment of existing customers. I have a fairly old car and no real value if written off, but I am expected to pay out for the repairs of newer vehicles, This is all wrong. I get the impression that if one insurance company jumped of Beachy Head, the rest would follow. That is the mentality of these company CEO;s.

First of all let me warn you all that going between one car to the next and continuing with the same policy on a different car is a nightmare, my husband was quoted a higher price which was understandable being a higher spec car, after agreeing the updated insurance price on the phone sometime later checking the hastings site that the price had risen to over £30 more per month,anyone who is not online and can’t check what their monthly payments are could be a risk of overpaying for insurance.
At the start of the policy on the original car the insurance didn’t even show up on the hastings app so I didn’t really know whether I had insurance or not, do us all a favour even if it’s the cheapest insurance on comparison sites go for the next insurance company on the list it might be a few £££ more expensive but it’s well worth it..

First time using Hastings and never again . Not only did they renew without my permission they expect me to pay £40 to cancel even tho I’ve insurance somewhere else .

Never again

Worst insurance company I’ve ever used appauling customer service. Rude, unhelpful, repeat things speak over you, have no understanding or compassion. I’ve never dealt with anything like it. I’ve never got so frustrated with a contact centre before and I work in one!!!
Avoid at all costs. Horrible claiming process when it wasn’t even my fault, didn’t update me, email correspondence was rude and unhelpful.

Telephone line is awful you repeatedly put a number numerous times and takes as 10 times or more to recognises. This system is rubbish. Should go straight to a operator. If I could put zero stars.i would

Hastings are the worst car insurance company I have ever used. My renewal was outrageously high and was offered much cheaper as a new customer on Comparethemarket.com. I was offered an ever cheaper price as a new customer for taking out the Hastings 'YouDrive' policy. I cancelled my existing policy and started this new one. I didn't realise at the time, that they require you to add a tracker to your car so that they can monitor your driving. I've driven for 18 years without an accident, claim or even a speeding ticket so I wasn't too bothered about them tracking me. I got an email to say that my insurance was being cancelled because my score was too low. Looking at the app, you can see where they have penalised your driving. I was penalised several times for accelerating too fast on an uphill motorway slip road where it's vital to get up to speed before joining. The marking down for accelerating and breaking too hard is extremely harsh. On this new policy, I was insured for 8 days. They cancelled my policy, charged me a full months payment and a further £7.09 for admin costs. Avoid Hastings and any other associated insurance companies under them.

Horrible customer service, horrible company.

They asking me to provide some documents to confirm my address and and even though I send documents, they still cancelled my policy and of couse they put cancellation fee (£45) on top.
I used several insurance companies before and I never experienced anything like this!
My guess, for Hastings Essential it's the usual way of running business.
I will never use this company again and of course I won't recommend this company to anybody.

Do not apply to this company unless you wanna loose your money and time.

Goodness after reading these reviews I have been saved from insuring with this company, thankfully I did not

Word of warning: do not EVER insure with Hastings. EVER.

9 months after getting burgled and my house trashed with lots of valuables taken, Hastings are doing EVERYTHING they can to avoid paying out - even going so far as to slyly imply myself and my elderly parents (who discovered the burglary) are somehow complicit 🤬 9 months of them dragging their heels, asking for more and more information (photos, valuations etc) all whilst trying to twist my words… and still nothing.

Absolutely disgusting, a truly awful company to deal with, and I cannot state strongly enough how much I detest them. Disgraceful on every level. I’ll be posting *repeatedly* on every single social platform I can, to try and save others the GRIEF they’ve put me and my family through.

Am referring them to Ombudsman and seeking legal advice also. I shall update this review a time goes on.

Update The Ombudsman earlier ruled against Hastings, but Hastings had the brass balls to appeal that decision. Feb 2025 the final decision was to not only uphold my complaint, but impose a fine upon Hastings for undue distress and delay. I’ll update further as things proceed…