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18 Sept 2025

Hastings Direct home insurance review

Hastings Direct's three policies did not impress our experts

Dean SobersSenior researcher & writer

In this article

Does Hastings Direct offer the best home insurance?
What does Hastings Direct home insurance cover?
‘Even the Premier policy wasn't above-average’
What did customers say about Hastings Direct home insurance?
How can you save money on Hastings Direct home insurance?
How does Hastings Direct compare with other providers?
Hastings Direct home insurance: How can I claim?
Should you buy Hastings Direct home insurance?

Hastings Direct offers financial products, including home insurance, car insurance and motorbike insurance.

We've reviewed three of its home insurance policies – Home, Essential and Premier. These can be bought direct from Hastings Direct or via price comparison websites.

We've also surveyed 36 customers who've recently made a home insurance claim with Hastings Direct.

Please note that this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice.

Does Hastings Direct offer the best home insurance?

Here's how Hastings Direct scored in our last survey.

65% buildings score on its standard policy 'Home', 31st out of the 35 policies compared
59% contents score, 27th out of the 35 standard providers reviewed
53% claims score, 21st out of 24 brands rated
We didn't get enough responses to our survey to rate Hastings Direct's customer service

See how this compares with the best home insurance, or read more about how we rate home insurance.

What does Hastings Direct home insurance cover?

We reviewed three Hastings Direct policies. Select a policy from our table to see what it offers and what we scored it.

Select a policy (highest to lowest scoring)

Hastings Direct Premier

Search this table


Buildings - Alternative accommodation	£200,000
Buildings - Burst pipes	As standard
Buildings - Escape of water excess	£500 - £750
Home emergency cover limit	£500
Home emergency - Central heating/boiler repair	£500
Buildings - Groundwater flooding	Not covered	0 out of 5
Subsidence excess	£1,000

Table last updated in September 2025. Next update in September 2026. We recommend checking policies before buying.

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‘Even the Premier policy wasn't above-average’

Dean Sobers, Which? home insurance expert, says:

Hastings Direct’s standard policy, named 'Home', scored 65% for buildings and 59% for contents – towards the bottom of our table in both cases.

It covers most of the basics – such as covering your home against floods, storms and subsidence, and your contents within your home, and in your garden and outbuildings.

However, the policy wasn't as generous as those of other insurers. For example, valuables (when not specified) are covered up to £1,500 per item. Three quarters of policies cover £2,000 or more. And its unoccupancy period (the length of time you can stay away from your home before your insurance begins to turn off), is 30 days - when it’s more typically two months or more with other policies.

Increased cover for holidays

During holidays, religious festivals and special events such as weddings, Hastings automatically increases your contents cover by £7,500 to allow for higher-cost items (such as gifts) that you may be temporarily keeping in your home.

Essentials and Premier

Hastings Direct's Essentials was among the lowest-scoring policies in our analysis, earning 64% for buildings and 49% for contents. Its Premier policy performed slightly better than its standard policy - 66% for buildings and 61% for contents - but was still below average.

What did customers say about Hastings Direct home insurance?

We didn't get enough responses to our survey to rate Hastings Direct's customer service, but it scored 53% when we asked people to rate its claims handling, 21st out of 24 brands compared. See the list of results here.

When we asked more about the rating people gave Hastings Direct, one customer told us they experienced 'poor communications and timescales'. Another said: 'They were slow but got there in the end'.


Overall customer service
How quickly claims are dealt with
How fair the settlement value is during claims
Giving you regular communication updates on claim progress
Clarity of communication on claim progress
Complaints process	-
How co-ordinated the service during claims is

Table last updated in September 2025. Next update in September 2026.

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

Hastings Direct sample size: Claims score, 36

How can you save money on Hastings Direct home insurance?

To check to see if you're getting a good deal, Hastings Direct home insurance can be bought from the following price comparison websites:

Compare The Market
Confused.com
GoCompare
MoneySuperMarket
Quotezone

You can also get a quote online or by calling Hastings Direct – but a £12.50 call centre arrangement fee will be added to the premium. For all three policies, there is a discount if you take out both buildings and contents cover.

Want to pay monthly? Hastings Direct charges interest at 26.9% APR, so you might be better off paying annually on an interest-free credit card.

Above information correct as of August 2025. For more ways to save money when buying insurance, see our guide.

Visit Hastings directly to find out more about its home insurance policy.

How does Hastings Direct compare with other providers?

Its building cover for its standard Home policy scored 65%, not far below standard policies from Virgin Money, Direct Line and Churchill – which all scored 67%.

For contents cover, the standard policy offered by Hastings Direct scored 59%. Axa sits just above with 60%.

Hastings Direct home insurance: How can I claim?

If you need to make a claim with Hastings Direct, who you contact depends on who your policy is underwritten by:

For Advantage, call 0333 003 2336
For Axa, call 0333 241 3549
For Lloyds, call 0345 074 4826
For Integra, call 0300 045 1300
For Royal Sun Alliance, call 0330 041 6186

Visit Hastings Direct's website to find out more about making a claim online.

Find out more: Is it worth claiming on your home insurance?

Should you buy Hastings Direct home insurance?

Probably not, given Hastings' policies underwhelmed in our analysis.

Not everyone necessarily will be after the highest levels of cover, but it is important that the insurer delivers on what its policies promise. Hastings' low claims score doesn't inspire confidence in this area.

Find out how Hastings Direct rates for other products

Hastings Direct car insurance review

How we rate home insurance

Policy analysis

We analyse and rate 134 aspects of cover across insurers' policies, including their key buildings and contents features, and elements applicable to both kinds of cover (such as admin fees). We use this data to award each provider policy scores for its buildings and contents cover.

Initially, we score all of the product elements out of five, reflecting how competitive each policy is in this area compared with other insurance products. We also assess how important different policy elements are to consumers when choosing and using their home insurance, and factor this in when calculating our policy scores. More important features (such as alternative accommodation cover) will have more of an effect on the score than some other features (such as cover for the contents of your freezer).

Customer survey

We also surveyed 2,804 adults - members of the Which? Connect Panel and members of the public who had made a claim in the past two years. The survey was conducted in June-July 2025.

Our customer score reflects the general satisfaction of customers with their current insurer and their likelihood of recommending it. The claims score reflects how satisfied they were with how their most recent claim was handled and their likelihood of recommending the insurer for claims.

We review a lot of policies – and being a Best Buy recognises the individual products that stood out as being the most comprehensive in our analysis. It doesn't reflect customer service. However, we won't give a provider a Best Buy where there's evidence – from our surveys or from Financial Conduct Authority data – of poor service or a poorer-than-average record of paying claims.

Buildings Best Buy policies must have a minimum buildings policy score of 73%
Contents Best Buy policies must have a contents score of at least 71%

Additionally, we look at how consistently good the cover is in policies. To make the cut, a policy needs to have scored at least three out of five points in two thirds of the areas we've rated (find out more: how we rate policies).

Lastly, all Best Buy policies must have – or make available – the following levels of cover as a minimum:

Buildings

Flood, storm, subsidence and accidental damage cover; Cover for burst or blocked pipes; Trace and access cover (£5,000); Alternative accommodation (£50,000) with no time limit; Property owner liability (£1m); Replacement of locks or keys for external doors (£500); Home Emergency Cover (£500 and includes the central heating system).

Contents

Accidental damage cover; Theft and damage of contents in the open; Theft and damage of contents from outbuildings; Business equipment; Alternative accommodation (£15,000); Money in the home (£500); Valuables (unspecified single item limit – £2,000); Personal possessions (unspecified single item limit - £1,000); Replacement of locks or keys for external doors (£500).