Hastings Direct car insurance review

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What does Hastings Direct car insurance cover? Does Hastings Direct offer the best car insurance? Hastings Direct's car insurance policy: is it good or bad?

How did customers rate Hastings Direct's car insurance? What is Hasting Direct's car insurance claims number? Get top money-saving tips from Which?

Hastings Direct launched in 1997, originally as a broker for car insurance. Its product range has since expanded to include home, bike and van insurance.

Part of Hastings Insurance Services Limited, which also includes insurance brands InsurePink, People’s Choice and Hastings SmartMiles and its policy is underwritten by Advantage Insurance Company Limited ,Covéa Insurance PLC and Sabre Insurance.

Read our reviews of all the insurers who took part in our car insurance analysis

What does Hastings Direct car insurance cover?

Elements marked with a ✓ are covered as standard, those marked with a ✘ are not covered as standard. Elements marked with a £ can be added to a policy as optional extras for an additional cost.

✓ Courtesy car

Provides the policyholder with a car to use while repairs are carried out on their vehicle as part of a claim

✓ Personal accident

Covers the policyholder and passengers if they are injured in an accident

✓ Stolen keys cover

Covers the cost of replacing keys and locks in the event that your car keys are stolen

£ Lost keys cover

Covers the cost of replacing keys and locks in the event that your car keys are lost

£ NCD protection

Allows the policyholder to make a specified number of claims over a period without affecting their no claims discount

£ Motor legal protection

Covers legal expenses for legal action you may take as the result of an accident

Does Hastings Direct offer the best car insurance?

Here's how Hastings Direct scored in our latest car insurance survey:

Car Insurance

Hastings Direct review

Overall Which? score

Our total score score combines both the Which? Customer Score, ratings from real customers of the provider, and our expert analysis of the provider's policies. The total score is made up of 50% of the Customer Score and 50% of the car insurance policy score.

Which? customer score

Which?'s rating for customer satisfaction, based on feedback from real customers. The score is made up of a customer's overall satisfaction with the brand, and how likely they are to recommend that brand.

Policy score

Which?'s rating of the quality of this company's car insurance policy. We analysed 73 features of its cover to calculate the policy score.

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To help you find the best car insurance policy, Which? goes the extra mile to sort the best from the worst.

How we analyse car insurance

We analyse and rate 73 key elements of standard car insurance policies to come up with the overall policy score. We assess how important each individual element is to drivers when choosing and using a car insurance policy, and weight it accordingly when calculating our total policy score.

Initially, we score all of the product elements out of five, reflecting how competitive each provider is in this area compared with other insurers. Weightings are then applied to the higher and lower element scores to enhance / reduce their impact in the overall product score.

Hastings Direct's car insurance policy: is it good or bad?

We've rated hundreds of policy details and picked out the best and worst elements of this cover.

Members can log in to read our full policy analysis. If you're not already a member, join Which? and get full access to these results and all our reviews.

In detail: every part of the Hastings Direct car insurance rated

Weighting	Policy element	Details	Rating
Most important	Courtesy car - included?
Most important	Courtesy car - guaranteed availability?
Secondary	Courtesy car period
Other	Courtesy car provided if car is stolen?
Most important	Windscreen damage - limit per claim (Approved Repairer / Non-approved repairer)
Most important	Window damage - limit per claim (Approved Repairer / Non-approved repairer)
Most important	Sunroof damage - limit per claim (Approved Repairer / Non-approved repairer)
Secondary	Personal belongings - limit per claim
Other	Personal belongings - items excluded
Secondary	Medical expenses - limit per claim
Other	Physio treatment included under medical expenses?
Other	Audio equipment - Limit per claim (Manufacturer fitted / Non-manufacturer fitted)
Other	Sat Nav - Limit per claim (Manufacturer fitted / Non-manufacturer fitted)
Other	Child car seat - Limit per claim
Secondary	Misfuelling cover - included?
Secondary	Misfuelling cover - limit per claim

Weighting	Policy element	Details	Rating
Most important	Fire excess (standard compulsory)
Most important	Theft excess (standard compulsory)
Most important	Accidental damage excess (standard compulsory)
Secondary	Non-approved repairer excess (standard compulsory)
Secondary	Windscreen replacement excess (standard compulsory)
Secondary	Windscreen repair excess (standard compulsory)
Secondary	Driver under 21 excess (standard compulsory)
Secondary	Driver 21-24 excess (standard compulsory)
Other	Excess protection included?
Other	Excess protection - limit per claim
Other	Excess protection - number of claims allowed per year

Weighting	Policy element	Details	Rating
Most important	Number of claim-free years required to attain maximum NCD
Secondary	Can other drivers earn NCD on this policy?
Most important	NCD protection included?
Most important	NCD protection claims (number per year)

Weighting	Policy element	Details	Rating
Most important	Motor legal protection - included?
Secondary	Motor legal protection - limit per claim?
Secondary	Motor legal protection - covered if driver uninsured?
Other	Motor legal protection - covered if vehicle cloned?
Other	Motor legal protection - recovery of clamping and towing fees covered?
Most important	Personal accident cover - included?
Secondary	Personal accident cover - limit per claim in the event of death
Secondary	Personal accident cover - limit per claim in the event of disability
Other	Personal accident cover - limit per claim if hospitalised
Other	Personal accident cover - maximum eligible age
Most important	Theft of keys - Included?
Secondary	Theft of keys - limit per claim
Most important	Loss of keys - Included?
Secondary	Loss of keys - limit per claim
Secondary	Total loss courtesy car - included?
Secondary	Total loss courtesy car period

Weighting	Policy element	Details	Rating
Most important	Repairs Guarantee Period
Secondary	Keys in car exclusion
Secondary	Liability limit for property damage (including legal expenses)
Other	Onward travel costs in the event of an accident - limit per claim
Other	Accommodation costs in the event of an accident - limit per claim
Secondary	Driving other cars extension - included?
Other	Driving other cars extension guaranteed?
Other	Driving other cars - emergency cover only?
Other	Driving other cars - only covers main policyholder?
Other	Driving other cars - covered in Europe?
Secondary	Comprehensive cover to drive overseas - included?
Secondary	Driving abroad - Days per trip limit
Other	New car replacement - damage
Other	New car replacement - period

Weighting	Policy element	Details	Rating
Most important	Interest charged on payment by instalments (APR)
Most important	Renewal Fee
Secondary	Adjustment Fee
Secondary	Duplicate Documents Fee
Secondary	Cancellation fee within cooling off period
Secondary	Cancellation fee after cooling off period
Secondary	Payment Default Fee
Other	Emergency helpline
Other	Claims helpline
Other	Windscreen helpline
Other	Legal advice helpline
Other	Notice if insurer cancels

Table last updated in March 2020. Next update in January 2021.

To see how Hastings Direct's car insurance compares to other policies check out our guide on the best and worst car insurance.

How did customers rate Hastings Direct's car insurance?

As well as looking at how Hastings Direct's car insurance policy stacks up against others, we've also analysed how customers who have recently made a claim feel about it too.

Members can log in to see our range of customer service star ratings and read about individual customers' experiences. If you're not already a member, join Which? and get full access to these results and all our reviews.

How Hastings Direct's car insurance scored for seven elements of customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction element	Which? customer rating
Application process
Clarity of policy
Dealing with queries
Ease of managing your policy online
Treatment of longstanding customers
Dealing with complaints
Value for money

Table last updated in March 2020. Next update in January 2021

"-' represents where we have insufficient sample size (less than 30) to generate a star rating

What is Hasting Direct's car insurance claims number?

If you need to make a claim with Hasting Direct car insurance call 0333 321 9800 or +44 1424 738 585 if in the EU.

Find out more: is it worth claiming on your car insurance?