Being a new customer of Hastings direct I was astonished to see that my many years of no claims discount (as submitted) had been reduced to 9 years by hastings when i was attempting to check the new policy details. It seems that whatever your actual NCD, if it is more than 9 years, Hastings directs' system only allows a maximum of 9 years to be entered and that this reduction is done automatically without notice (other than showing the substituted amount buried in the policy details). Both my prior insurance suppliers' systems had no issues with recording and reporting NCD in double figures. I noticed this and complained, to be told that if I sent evidence of my NCD, they would note it and report it if I left them..... Which leads me to assume that if someone does not notice this and raise a complaint, then anyone with more than 9 years NCD will lose it or potentially at least be put in an awkward position at next renewal time. This has clearly been occurring for some years and disturbingly the following related thread seems to indicate that Hastings will do nothing when this is found at a later stage. Referred Thread 217431 Problem with proof of NCD http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?217431-Problem-with-Proof-of-NCD-(no-claims-discount)

I am very upset after reading the email from Hastings Direct Smartmiles, threatening to take £152 from my credit card and if I don't pay up, they will ruin my perfect credit history. I made the mistake of putting 8 years No Claim Bonus instead of 9 and the woman operative told me that according to the live rate this moment, I will have to pay £159.53 (£25 admin fee) on top of the £800 plus I paid last month (my son is 19). I was very shaken. I kept telling the woman that I did not inflate the figure with a view to lowering the premium. I made a genuine mistake of giving 8 years instead of 9 which is what I have. To any rational people, the common sense rule is that the more NCB years you have, the less you pay. The woman operative, a Ms Gill, kept saying that because of LIVE RATE, I actually had to pay more. Then she probably pretended to help me by running through my quote again and of course, according to her, I still have to pay. I googled the internet and found a similar amount being quoted by another person with a complaint on this site. It seems to be it is their practice to whack people with £152! My policy number : 22039TET0039072 The tone of the email is plain nasty. Please read Additional Premium £134.93 Your change caused your premium to increase Administration Fee £25.00 As stated in our Terms and Conditions Amount due £159.93 Please contact our Customer Service team. If we do not hear from you in the next 7 days we will collect this amount using your securely held card details. If we are unsuccessful your policy may be cancelled and the amount shown will be passed to a debt collection agency and your credit rating may be affected. ***** If I cancelled the policy, I would only get back £600! What a nasty company. They have no right to hit people with a genuine mistake like this - not to say I have ONE MORE YEAR OF NO CLAIM BONUS. The woman operative stuck to her gun saying that it is because of the LIVE RATE, she could not get me a lower quote! I hope anybody reading this take this as a lesson - I wish I had stayed with my previous insurer. Beware of this company. It is NO JOKE! It seems to be this company have a penchant of whacking people with £152! Would you like to deal with a nasty company like that??? Next time when you see the name, stay away or you will live to regret it!

:mad2:Ok where to start before taking this out for my daughter we phioned hasting to see how much her insurance would go up once she passed her test as the quote was for £158 whilst she was learning We were told around £100 - 250 for the year depending on her driving feed back - Fair eneough i thought so understand that she did not use her car much for 6 months as she was learning in the drivers instructers car and did not do a lot of other driving infact the car stayed in the garage for nearly 3 months Whjen she passed her test in Dec the insurance jumped to £376 A MONTH when i finally got up off the floor and called the insurance company they said that was correct and e-mails since sent have had no reply asking them to justify this cost My daughter at most will drive 60 miles a week in a radius of 9 miles this has got to be a rip off, its a fiat panda 1.2 no mods basic car low mileage

Hello all I am very new to this website, and the reason I'm posting here is because this comes in the top with regards to the reviews. So the situation is, I'm planning to buy a car next week, and I was checking for Insurances on Google, for obvious reasons Hasting Direct is coming up as the Cheapest. The quotes I'm getting so far are as follows: (I'm only 20 and I passed my Test last month, so the Insurance is costing me a FORTUNE, and that's the reason why I WOULD LIKE TO VERY CAREFUL AS I AM PAYING A FORTUNE SO I NEED TO MAKE SURE I'M PAYING IT FOR GOOD AND NOT GETTING IN WRONG HANDS) 1. Hasting Direct: £ 1,679. Doesny include Legal & Windscreen! 2. INSURE: 1,679. Doesny include Legal & Breakdown! 3. People's Chocie: £1,679. NO Legal & Breakdown 4. Hasting Premier: £ 1,739. Includes Legal, Courtesy Car, Breakdown & Windscreen. 5. Likewise: £1,862. Includes Everything! ALSO THESE QUOTES ARE ONLY WITH TOTAL OF £145 EXCESS! Other than these mentioned are all over £2,200 which I am really canny offered it! So, as I said, I would like to make sure that I'm investing my hard earned money in good! YOUR HELP WOULD BE REALLY APPRECIATED, THANKS ALL!