Smartdriverclub Reviews 

Worst company for car insurance I’ve ever been with and I was with Hastings before but these are a disgrace the night driving is ridiculous and now it’s ended I just want my ncb they said they sent it in my renewal they didn’t so I’ve phoned up 4x been on hold 2 hours trying to get through I’m fuming now my new insurance are going to cancel if I don’t get my ncb today I’m raging

Renewal went up not down even though no claims. £30 charge if you miss a direct debit.
Threatening to cancel my insurance if I dont drive better.

I haven't had no problems been with them a year I only payed £88 month my renewal is due so that's when we see a problem cause if they make it higher I'm gone cause I got the 40% discount

if i could ģive 0 star i would never took the direct debit for the insurance out when i called they said it was pending then get a final notice so go to pay only to find id been cancelled so almost an hour on the phone still never got through to them absolutly a joke

Just finished a one year contract. I was online for 30% discount and then same day they said they are not renewing! During cover period I made inquiries about making a claim because I had backed in to a wall. Extremely difficult to claim because you cannot speak to anyone - everything is automated. I didn’t bother progressing claim in the end. Avoid they are not trustworthy or accessible

Sent me crap through the post to an address I've not lived at for years. They must have a very old database. Very unprofessional.

Without being sentimental, this is the worst insurance company you'd ever engage with. Once you decide to leave they would attack you with threatening letters to pay exaggerated bills that are not explainable. Just keep away from these losers.

So, they promise 40% discount for their best drivers? Yeah, right!

My current dashboard shows:

Speeding - Excellent
Braking - Excellent
Night - Very Good
Overall - Excellent

I even got the monthly e-mail update recently saying that I was on course for the mythical 40% discount on renewal.

Today, I get the renewal invitation. Expected to see a reduction in my £430 premium. Instead, this year it will be £495! That means that without the "40%" discount, the gross premium would be £825!!!

Whizzed over to a comparison site and, with the same details, got a new insurer for £375 without having that damned smart box telling me I can't drive at night. Incidentally, the Smart Driver Club quote on the comparison site was £415 - £80 less than my "40%" excellent driver discount.

AVOID!

Terrible!

Got the black box a few weeks before my policy started and was continually penalised for driving home from work late! Despite putting this as my occupation when I took out the policy

I cancelled the policy before it began, and got lumped with a load of charges meaning it cost me over £100 for a policy that never even started!

Avoid at all costs!

This has to be without a doubt the worst insurer I have ever used. I start work at 5am so I leave my house at 4am, because of this I received an email stating that because I was driving at night my policy would be void and my insurance invalid.
When I spoke to them they said because I drove at night I am more of a risk. In my opinion I'd rather have no insurance then this lot.

I tried to be balanced when writing reviews but this will be difficult.
So the positive: The app is great very informative. That's it.
The negative: I got this insurance as I wanted to keep a better track of my driving behaviour. However the device seems very at odds with reality. The biggest example of this is the night driving part. I do work night shifts so this will be affected. That said i do 6 shifts in a month (30 days), taking into account the odd night out this may rise to 10 days. By my rough calculations that's about 60% good driving in good conditions however the app shows me in red and very high risk. How is this possible. Similar to another person writing a review, I intentionally drove under the speed limit for a journey and the app did not move at all.
I have stopped looking at the app now.
I was told by the dealership to expect around 50mpg avg for mixed driving conditions and i am achieving that so i am more than happy with my driving standard.
Can't wait to get rid of the box which is either faulty or the software is not fit for purpose

I was put onto SmartDrive via my Seat dealership who sold me the dongle as a way to manage my driving and get cheaper insurance. I subsequently bought a policy last August.

Sure enough, the insurance is cheap at around £100 less that the cheapest rival (£285 v £387) and the dongle does Force you to control your driving. This included key cover and legal.

However renewing the policy has been a nightmare. I called two days before renewal as per the renewal letter to get an SP30 added and see the impact on the premium. For whatever reason the renewal failed and I was told I would be called back. I received no call back so phoned again on my renewal date concerned that I would now be uninsured. I was then told that I had paid for the policy - which I had not - and that they could still not add the SP30. Again I was told I would be phoned back and that I was definitely insured - despite having not paid anything.

I heard nothing for 2 weeks. I then checked the National Insurance Database and I came back as uninsured. I immediately phoned and was told I was insured (and that the website was in error) but that the premium was outstanding and the SP30 was still not added. This time I got someone called Matt who was actually helpful. He took my details and promised a call back. He did call back within 30 minutes with everything sorted and no premium increase.

I considered cancelling the policy but just couldn't face the hassle of switching so have ensured there is no auto renew set and will review again next year. Bottom line they are cheap - provided you are happy with a dongle - which seems to make little difference to premiums.

Note that their policies do not insure you drive another car 3rd-party as most mainstream policies do.

I have never had to claim but am obviously nervous as to how it will go if I do....

If I could give a 0 I would!! To start I paid my first months instalment to then be told 3 days later I would either have to pay in full for the rest of the year or they would cancel my policy and that they would charge me £30 cancellation fee and then it would go against my name as I had a cancelled policy! I then paid the year in full and installed the telematics box drove for 3 days to be told I'm speeding excessively when in fact I was sticking to the speed limits and that I was braking to hard when I was braking well before needed and smoothly I would avoid these at all cost!

took insurance out with them paid in full for a year , they took the money 11 days before the policy started . then cancelled my insurance 2 days after the policy started sending an email to canx my insurance, luckly i was on the ball with my emails .when i phoned to request my refund they stated my insurance was canx because they didnt take my money . hassle now trying to get my refund organised

Avoid this company, the black box is incredibly over the top strict. After driving normally (30 in a 30, 20 in a 20.. etc) I was accused of regularly speeding. So now I drive 5 - 10mph under the speed limits which is still not improving my score much at all, I have been doing this for at least a month. Pay the extra to go with a better reviewed company, this one is bad news. Seen a lot of people complain about extra charges as well!

Very disappointed with service. Had multiple problems even before starting with them and again more problems after starting. Trust me, just avoid. It's slightly cheaper to begin with but will end up costing more than other companies. Won't use them next year.