Insurance Company To Avoid

[c5banger]

People wanting advice on insurance topics. Here's some advice i will give freely.

DO NOT insure with Hastings Direct.

Had a minor bump on new years day, :( Hastings listened to my account, agreed i was not at fault. 3rd party lied saying i was at fault. Hastings & Albany Assist said "our hands are tied" Sent my car for repairs, written off & booked in to go to salvage. NO financial offer, NO prior warning. I Said I wanted car back as then very reliable. "OK have car back but not repaired, not written off". Claim in stalemate as no independant witnesses. My 3 passengers don't count then!!!!!

Hastings never kept me up to date, never returned calls, don't answer e-mails, nothing.

HASTINGS DIRECT ARE COMPLETE & UTTER USELESS SHITE HAWKS. (probably their other [5?] subsidiary companies are too)

I went far beyond what was necessary to prove innocence, but a lying piece of scum has caused me major grief. Hastings do not care.

BE WARNED PEOPLE OF THE ROAD...

Pete.

[sitchjon]

Someone else to avoid is SWINTON as they quoted me £4000 for the year with ageas insurance and i rang ageas and they quoted £600 for the year so obviously avoid SWINTON

[MikeLane]

I use LV or CIS and include European travel up to 90 days per trip and European Breakdown (as well as UK with Homestart). Both seem pretty straightforward but (luckily) haven't needed to claim except when my Xantia clutch failed in Calais. Three days hotel and tow to garage paid for whilst garage (Peugeot!) found the right part number to order (plastic clip joining pedal to cable), and no claims discount unaffected. Premiums are reasonable but I sometimes have to change from one to the other to get the"new customer" discount. Why????

[Johndouglas]

I sometimes have to change from one to the other to get the "new customer" discount. Why????

The days when insurance companies valued loyalty from their customers are long gone.   Now it seems they think if you can't be bothered to search out better deals,  you're ripe to be ripped off.     If my renewal notice is considerably higher than the current year I try to find a better quote for the same level of cover, then armed with that, ring the company and tell them that unless they can match it, you'll be moving on.

[MikeLane]

Went with CIS this year, they only added £34 for full European Breakdown (Greenflag is well over £100). The chap I was talking to asked if I really parked my car on a private drive. He then asked if anyone can walk down this drive and, when I said "Yes" he said "So it's just like a public road then." The upshot was that the premium was reduced by nearly £50!!

(Apparently insurance companies get many, many claims from drivers who scratch their cars when entering their garage or run into obstacles on their drives!)

Edited March 6, 2014 by MikeLane

[paul.h]

An interesting new definition of a drive - maybe if you satisfied the private drive your premium would have been even lower. I would think most drives are accessible by the public and many front gardens/drives are now open plan. I wonder if insurers will be using this in premiums/claims and now due to things like google maps and street view the relevant information is in the public domain without having to visit, so they should not be able to plead ignorance on their part or maybe even need to ask.

[maria72]

I had a bad experience with Hastings as well. I was reversing in a car park and another driver decided to try and get between my car and the kerb behind me (even though there wasn't enough space). I stopped my car but she carried on, drove into the side of me - then denied all responsibility once she'd spoken to her husband whose car it was (on disability). When I spoke to Hastings, they told me that she said I'd reversed into her and as they were no witnesses, I wouldn't win if I were to argue the case in court because anyone reversing is liable!?!??

 

In the end, and it took months, they paid out for her to get her car fixed (small dent to wheel arch) which in the end cost nearly £1200 with all the extras such as courtesy car, full valet and collection and delivery (she lived across the road from the dealer doing work).

 

Hastings authorised this without giving me a say, then told me what had happened.

 

Definitely stay clear of them!!! I've also had problems with Elephant in the past so tbh another one to avoid - keep claims dangling for months and won't stand by their customers at all.

 

I'm with Kwik Fit now and they seem ok. Although when I changed my insurance from a 2.0l Chrysler Neon to a 1.6l petrol Xsara Picasso, they wanted another £30+ per month. I waited a day after the quote, then rang the retentions depth and told them I wanted to leave. They got my premium down to an extra £2 per month and dropped the administration charge (£30) so if you're swapping cars, ring retentions as they'll try and keep you if they're a good company.

[qman3428]

I changed from priveledge to Aviva and got a 30% reduction. Dont know how good they are in a claim because I havent made any in the last 10 years