Compare Hastings Essential car insurance quotes

Why choose Hastings Essential car insurance?

Manage your policy through an app
Monthly instalments available to suit your budget
Up to 90 days cover for driving in the European Union

Hastings Essential car insurance is the lowest level of cover available from Hastings Direct. Hastings offers three different tiers of cover under its brand: Hastings Premier, Hastings Direct and Hastings Essential. Hastings Essential provides a no-frills option for car insurance where you don’t pay for extras you might not want or need.

The policy was created to give drivers the option of buying basic and affordable car insurance. It’s completely stripped back and there aren’t any extra features or benefits included with this one.

Hastings Essential, along with all the Hastings Direct policies, can be managed from the MyAccount app. In the app, which you can download to a smart device or access online, you can manage your accounts, get a new quote, renew your policy, make changes to your car insurance and access all your insurance documents at any time of the day or night.

Hastings Direct is an insurance broker. That means, when you buy Hastings Essentials, the actual insurance policy won’t be from Hastings Direct but from a panel of insurers it has a relationship with.

If you want more cover than Hastings Essential provides, you might be interested in the Hastings Direct or Hastings Premier policies.

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Who is Hastings Direct?

Hastings Direct is based in Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex. This is the location where the broker first started out in 1997. It also has offices in Leicester, South Africa, Gibraltar and London.

There are 3,300 members of staff working for Hastings Direct and it has around 3.1 million customers across its range of insurance products.

Hastings Direct is an intermediary and its policies are underwritten by a small group of insurers. These include: Advantage Insurance Company Limited, Lloyds, and Axa.

It is part of the Hastings Group which owns a number of different companies selling a range of insurance products.

Along with car insurance, you can also buy bike, van, and home insurance through the broker.

Hastings Direct is not short of awards, and in 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2018 it won the Car Insurance of the Year award from Moneyfacts, which also gave it five stars this year for car insurance.

Hastings Essential car insurance policy details

The following will be included in a comprehensive Hastings Essential policy:

Damage or loss of your car, including if it’s damaged by fire or stolen
Legal cover for damage to a third party’s property
Personal accident cover
Up to 90 days cover for driving in the European Union.

However, you won’t be covered for any of the following items:

Damage to your car’s windscreen or glass windows
Driving other vehicles
Your personal belongings
Medical expenses if you are injured
Damage to or loss of any audio-visual equipment in your car
Damage to or loss of any accessories if you have any fitted on your car.

There’s also no cover in this policy if you hit an uninsured driver. Some car insurance policies, including others offered by Hastings Direct, offer uninsured driver cover. This means if you have an accident involving someone who doesn’t have insurance, you won’t lose your no-claims bonus or have to pay an excess on the claim.

While Hastings Essential is the cheapest policy offered by Hastings Direct, the actual price you pay will depend on lots of different factors.

These include your age, occupation, and address along with the type of car you have and your driving experience. This is why it’s always important to compare car insurance policies to make sure you’re buying one that is right for you, at the right price.

Hastings Direct offers a selection of car insurance policies and types. Not all policies and types are available through our site, so the exact levels of cover and benefits may vary. Before buying car insurance, we recommend you check the cover and benefits included.

Contact Hastings Direct about the Hastings Essential policy

There are several ways to contact Hastings Direct if you have a question about a new or existing Hastings Essential car insurance policy.

You can use the Hastings Essential contact number on 0333 321 9801. Or, if you already have a car insurance policy, you can contact the broker through the MyAccount app. If you don’t have a smartphone, you can log in to your MyAccount area on the Hastings website.

If you need to make a claim but don’t want to use the MyAccount service, you can call them on 0333 321 9800. Their call centres are open 7 days a week. If your car’s been stolen, you can call them on 0333 999 2956.

You can write to them at Conquest House, Collington Avenue, Bexhill on Sea, TN39 3LW.