Who we are

Founded in 1996 in Bexhill-on-Sea on the Sussex coast, the Hastings Group is one of the leading general insurance providers to the UK market, with over 3.1 million live customer policies and employing over 3,300 colleagues at sites in Bexhill, Leicester, Gibraltar and London.

Our ambitious growth plans will be delivered through digital leadership, embracing new technology, and investing in our colleagues, customers, company and community - that's why we stand out and what drives our decision making and continues to guide us as we grow.

We have a simple and straightforward approach; to provide our UK car, van, bike and home insurance customers with great service and straightforward products at competitive prices, however they choose to interact with us.

Around 90% of policies are directly underwritten by the Group’s Gibraltar based insurer, Advantage Insurance Company Limited.

Hastings Group (Consolidated) Ltd is part of the Nordic insurance group Sampo.

How the Group operates

The Group operates as an insurance provider with two separate businesses. The Group’s Retail business, Hastings Insurance Services Limited, is responsible for the end customer pricing, fraud management, product design, distribution and management of the underlying customer relationships. The Group’s Underwriting business, Advantage Insurance Company Limited, engages in risk selection, underlying technical pricing, reserving and claims handling.

Retail is supported by, and benefits from, Underwriting’s prudent approach to risk and reserving and also benefits from the Group’s panel of insurance partners who provide additional underwriting capacity. The Group’s business model deliberately separates underlying product manufacturing from its distribution.

Our business model

Our business model in action

A disciplined and data driven approach to underwriting and agile pricing maximises value through a focused brand and product portfolio, and multichannel distribution model.

The strength of the Hastings business model

  • A focused set of products
  • Sophisticated approach to data and analysis in pricing
  • Separation between technical and retail pricing
  • Agility in a price comparison way of working
  • A capital efficient underwriting model
  • Market-leading innovative risk selection and counter-fraud management
  • A simple and straightforward systems landscape
  • Low cost operating model
  • An effective control framework and culture

Focus

The Group has chosen to specialise in the very large UK private car insurance market, which accounts for around 85% of live customer policies (‘LCP’). Within this market our primary focus is on digital distribution through price comparison websites (‘PCW’) and direct distribution through our retail brands’ websites. The Group also provides home, bike and van insurance.

Our business

The Group operates across the insurance value chain through the Group’s Retail and Underwriting businesses. Clear separation is made between these businesses to ensure the Underwriting entity receives the technical net rate that it quotes and the Retail entity maximises customer capture and income, without negatively impacting Underwriting profitability.

Our strategy

"To become the best and biggest digital insurance provider"

We have big ambitions to become the ‘best and biggest digital insurance provider’ in the UK, delivering significant profitable growth through digital leadership, embracing new technology, underpinned by our 4Cs cultural framework, aligning the interests of colleagues, customers, company, and community, which drives and supports decision making.

A simple and straightforward business model, digitally focused distribution and continued investment in next generation technology positions us well to drive significant profitable growth in live customer policies.

Focus on prudent underwriting, combining a dynamic approach to risk selection, extensive use of data, advanced pricing processes, and rigorous fraud detection systems to support the delivery of a stable loss ratio.

Low cost provider, supported by digital processes, with one of the highest rated mobile apps in the UK general insurance market, enabling customers to self-serve their policy, increasing engagement and keeping costs low.

Significant opportunities to increase volume of live customer policies and overall profitability by continuing to invest in our core car insurance proposition, with around an 8 per cent share of a very large market (over 32 million cars in the UK).

Continued expansion in home insurance, with a business model well placed to benefit from increasing price comparison website penetration within the large market of over 20 million homes in the UK.

Approach to corporate responsibility, framed by the 4Cs cultural framework which focusses on creating the right culture for colleagues, and giving them the right tools to do their job, so they will do more for customers, enabling the company to grow profitably and sustainably, and allowing investment in the communities served.

Ethical conduct and strong governance are integral to meeting the needs of colleagues and customers and running a successful business, and a broader focus on the environmental and social impacts of our activities underpins that philosophy. We continue to develop and enhance our corporate responsibility strategy, to include specific metrics and targets across those areas that most impact its sustainability for the long term, with full consideration of the impacts of climate change on and from its operations.

Our brands and products

Hastings Direct


Our largest and best-known brand, delivering great value car, bike, home and van insurance in a refreshingly straightforward way.

Hastings Premier


Our premium cover, delivering all the benefits of Hastings Direct plus roadside breakdown cover and motor legal expenses included as standard.

Hastings Essential


Our no-frills car and home insurance, providing just the essentials.

Hastings Direct YouDrive


Our Hastings Direct YouDrive insurance allows you to share your driving data with us through our app to get a great price on day one and, as long as you drive well, great prices year after year.

InsurePink


InsurePink provides competitive car insurance, donating £10 from every policy sold to the Pink Ribbon Foundation.

People's Choice


People's Choice car insurance provides great benefits at a competitive price.