My Direct Line renewal came through with a premium increase of £170, despite no changes. So shopping around, it seems Hastings Direct keep coming out about the best. Has anyone had any experience of them??

i'm with hastings direct found them last year to be cheapest but this year came in with a stupid quote so told them i'd not be renewing and all of a sudden the price started dropping and after 2 more calls i renewed , not had to claim yet touch wood but when i recently moved they charged me about £25 for a change of address so that didn't make me too happy

I was with them two cars ago - did a confused quote before buying my petrol VRS and it worked out only a bit more than my old car so thought nothing of it, agreed a deal, etc.

The. Phoned Hastings for a price - and got told that they couldn't insure me any more!

Actually they did me a favour - if they have quoted a silly price id have been forced to cancel and forfeit two months worth of money. As it was AI got a full pro rata refund and a little extra as a token of their apology!

Cheap, but you get what you pay for. I've just left them after a year with them. 20 minutes to answer the phone every time, rude and uninterested staff, and unreasonably high admin fees if you need to make any policy changes mid-term. I can't comment from experience, but I didn't have much faith in how they'd perform if I'd ever had to claim.

We were with Hastings but have now swapped back to Admiral (who are great, if a little more expensive). Service from Hastings was poor, they changed terms without telling us and suddenly wouldn't allow my son to be insured as a temp driver. No such problems with Admiral and Elephant (though they're in the same group so are very similar).

Hastings came out a load cheaper for my 2.0TDCi Mondeo so I went with them 2 years ago, then at renewal were still the cheapest so went with them again.I think they charged me either £28 or £35 when I changed in March to the Octavia, which is expensive especially when they got the Registration number wrong on the policy , but I dont know how they compare to what other insurance co's charge for mid term changes, but I remember I was with Churchill a few years ago and they charged about the same.Regarding a claim, I was expecting not a great deal of joy with them, but they were fine, and the cliams line is fairly quick to answer, a few minutes on hold, and a couple of minutes making the claim. They want you to use their repairer, but if you dont ( I didnt - see 'Been Bumped' thread), they wont give you a courtesy car.The bodyshop put the claim through and their engineer called straight back and agreed the cost after a mod to the labour rate/hour (£1/hour difference). Bear in mind, I had already had 2 quotes from an independant garage and Just car clincs who both came in at £1200 and the VAG approved body shop came in a just over £2000.Regarding the staff, all have been good, no snotty or short replies, but the claims line girl was straight to the point, no messing, as they sounded very busy.On the other hand , I am waiting with dread to see what the cost will be this year, as I am footing the claim as it was a hit and run accident.

Edited 30 July, 201213 yr by ianbenny