Hastings Insurance Services Ltd is a UK personal lines insurance broker servicing customers via smartphone mobile app, online, and by phone. The company provides car, bike, van and home insurance, as well as a range of ancillary products and services such as breakdown cover, personal accident, substitute vehicle and key and legal cover. The company also offers unsecured Personal Loans. It is part of the Hastings Group, a business which was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by a consortium of the South African business, Rand Merchant International, and the Finnish insurer, Sampo Group , in November 2020.
9-527: The company was established, based on business plan prepared by David Gundlach and Andrew Bowen, as "Hastings Direct" in 1997. It was acquired by Insurance Australia Group in 2006 and then by its management in 2009. In 2011 the company announced that 150 new posts would be created, with the first 60 to be recruited in January in the Bexhill, Hastings , Eastbourne , Brighton and Hove areas. Goldman Sachs acquired
18-607: A 50% interest in the company in 2013. The company was the subject of an initial public offering in October 2015. The company trades under the Hastings Direct, Hastings Premier, Hastings Essential, SmartMiles, People's Choice and InsurePink brands. In 2012, the company launched a usage-based insurance product under the Hastings Direct SmartMiles brand. The SmartMiles product requires a telematics device to be fitted to
27-528: A movie production company. In 2009, he produced the film Get Low starring Robert Duvall , Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray . Set in the 1930s, a Tennessee hermit throws his own funeral party while still alive. The film won Gundlach an Independent Spirit Award in the category of "Best First Feature" and it was nominated for several other awards. Gundlach died from a heart attack at age 56 on October 16, 2011. Gundlach's hometown of Elkhart, Indiana would soon learn that his estate had bequeathed $ 125 million to
36-669: A reference about the Battle of Hastings .) Based in Bexhill-on-Sea , the company is one of the largest employers on the South Coast. The company also has a second call centre in Leicester. Toby van der Meer became the CEO of Hastings Group on 1 March 2018. The previous CEO, Gary Hoffman, became non-executive chairman. In August 2020 it was announced that the company would be acquired by a consortium of
45-519: The Informational Technology department for IBM . After time at Lloyd's of London , Gundlach, along with Andrew Bowen, founded Hastings Direct , a direct insurance company based in England in 1996. Hastings performed business in countries all over the world and employed over 1,500 people. Gundlach sold Hastings Direct to Insurance Australia Group in 2006. He went to Los Angeles to launch
54-470: The Community Foundation of Elkhart County. While Gundlach hinted he would one day leave money to the Community Foundation, it was unknown just how much of a fortune Gundlach had amassed, not even to his mother, who was his lone survivor. The gift was expected to multiply the charitable giving of the Community Foundation by ten times. There was also no stipulations as to how the Community Foundation
63-631: The South African business, Rand Merchant International, and the Finnish insurer, Sampo Group , for £1.7 billion. The transaction was completed on 16 November 2020. The company sponsored the Eastbourne International tennis tournament between 2003 and 2007 in a deal worth £350,000 per year. David Gundlach Guy "David" Gundlach (July 21, 1955 – October 16, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, business leader and film producer. He founded
72-650: The insurance company Hastings Direct and produced the award-winning film Get Low . David Gundlach was born in Downey, California in 1955 to parents Melvin Gundlach and Marjorie (Riblet) Gundlach Swift. When Gundlach was 12, he and his widowed mother moved with her maternal grandmother, Josephine Riblet, who had suffered a stroke. He grew up in Elkhart, Indiana and graduated in 1973 from Elkhart Memorial High School. He graduated from Chapman College in 1979 and went on to work in
81-412: The insured vehicle. Insurance policies provided by the company are issued by a panel of insurers, including Advantage Insurance Company Limited, a Gibraltar based company. The company is known for its mascot, Harry Hastings, an animated figure dressed in armour from the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He is also known for singing a catchy tone of the number 0800 00 1066 (with the final 4-digit number being
#647352