75ZT Community

Just thought I'd give an acocunt of my recent insurance experience.

It's always handy to know how a company handles claims and how the customer service is.

For the record I'm insured with Hastings direct. I'd not be was it not for the renewal quote being the cheapest I could find. Last year my experience with the company was dreadful. Getting them to post me the correct policy document and acknowledge that I had the NCB that I was due was very hard.



Last night at around 18:00 this was done to my car.




A PDA, windscreen mount and charger was stolen. Not the end of the world.


I contacted my insurance company at 19:30 and they at first told me it would be saturday before they could send someone to fix the screen. Not liking the prospect of a week without a secure car I asked about trying my work address as I work 30 miles away.
The date for this would now be 13 December.

Neither was acceptable to me and I was told to contact the non claims line today to find an alternative.

Today at 09:30 I contacted my insurance company. I explained the situation and they agreed that it was not acceptable but that was all their company could offer.
I asked abotu using an alternative company and they said that Autoglass was the best and if they could not get me an appointment then they doubted anyone else could.

I contacted Autoglass direct @ 10:00 and they said they could come out today at 02:00 after getting a new screen from north london. As the insurer has an account with them I could deal with them directly and pay my excess to them for the work.

I paid the excess and sure enough the van pulled up at 14:30 to fit it.

At 16:00 the fitter finished and everythign is ok with the world once again.


I'm sure most people would accept what the insurer says but as I work for a large insurance company I know they have standard scripts to follow but there is always room to move if pushed.

If you are ever in the situation where an insurance company is not telling you what you want to hear then don't accept what they say. Challenge them and if necessary find way around them.


So a few phone calls. A £60 excess and a day working from home (£10 saved in fuel) and I got the screen fixed today.

Much better than the week the insurance company first expected me to wait.

Glad you got it all sorted in the end. The last thing you need when steam is coming out of your ears from the damage to your pride and joy is somebody putting more aggro your way when they should be sorting it out as quickly as possible

Regards, Steven.

I've lost count of the number of times I've said on various forums that cost should NOT be the major consideration when shopping for insurance but alas it seems that to many it is the ONLY consideration.

Tourerfogey wrote:I've lost count of the number of times I've said on various forums that cost should NOT be the major consideration when shopping for insurance but alas it seems that to many it is the ONLY consideration.

The problem is how are you meant to know what an insurance company is like until you make a claim?

My insurance covers me for everything and I pay extra for this but how the company actually acts when it comes to a claim is nothing to do with the price. You will not get a better service just because you paid more.

I work for part of the worlds largest insurance company. Some of the policies we sell are the cheapest on the market and others are higher. Do you get a better service when buying the higher policies? NO.. It can depend on so many factors.

The main issue is people don't read the policy documents. This goes for customers and the insurance company agents.

When I mentioned some scratches on the door of my car being caused by the glass breaking the customer services agent at Hastings stated this would have to be a vandalism claim for it to be covered. I pointed out that section 8 of the policy document clearly states that damage caused by broken glass was included under the gladd damage section and he went away and checked apologising as I was indeed correct.
Now a lot of people would have just agreed with him.

Steven - you are absolutely right, which is why I said 'cost should not be the major consideration when buying insurance' - by which I mean, the dearest isn't necessarily the best any more than the cheapest isn't always going to be the worst. However, it does seem that a great many people are influenced by cost alone.

As for claims history - speak to other policy holders and read comments on forums like this!

I'd like to make a response. Have never been insured with Hastings but 2 yrs ago had to claim against them - their client admitted full responsibility. Damage was too dented doors on a 5 Series which had to have the panels replaced. Hastings organised a replacement vehicle (5 series auto with 7k on the clock) and paid for the work done at the BMW main dealers. If I had a criticism of them it was that they were too willing to cough up - would have been quite happy with a 3 Series while the work was being done!