Hastings Essential Avis 

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…

Absolutely shocking. Reported an escape of water incident on 3rd Feb. Came through a leaking pipe joint above flat roof . Damaged artex ceiling with possible asbestos. Took 3 weeks to send someone out. We had to have boxing off pipe as could not initially see where the leak was coming from.Alsi damaged laminate flooring to extent we had to take it up.
Result 4 weeks after initial claim not paying out flashing on roof not in good condition leak wouldn't have happened if it was. Never had a claim in over 30 years waste of time paying your insurance as not worth paper it's written on. Will be cancelling policy. Have also had car policies in the past. Would totally never use for anything again and warn anyone thinking of doing so. Cheap yes but you get what you pay for. In this case nothing. DREADFUL Don't waste your money. If l could give no stars l would.

Failed to ring me back when they hadn’t removed my non-claim after four months.I only found this out after trying to stop my renewal when they sent a snotty threatening email followed two days later by a letter when I’d paid.
Forget the Ombudsman go to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) they fine immediately.

Unfortunately my car was subjected to a break-in. I called Hastings to let them know I was looking to claim on my insurance…that’s what it’s for, right? I’m fully comp - but not covered for damage, or any property stolen.
Not sure what I’m paying for?
I was told that I would get a discount for the repair through a Hastings recommended repair company: they quoted me £1200 (with a 10% Hastings discount) for £600 worth of damage.

I’ve forked out the cash to repair my car and i won’t be renewing my insurance with Hastings, you need to make your policy clearer and charge a substantial amount less as the cover is minimal.

Another set of crooks to avoid here.
Insurance auto renewed with some well hidden tiny sentence buried deep in the jargon that comes with everything nowadays.
My wife called on the day of renewal to cancel but they had already taken the full amount.
They refunded the premium, but took a scandalous £20 for the privilege.
Never again will these crooks be entertained to provide any kind of service.