Howden Insurance: most-reported complaints
Automated analysis of 3,106 public Trustpilot reviews published 2023-08-19 to 2026-09-23. TrustScore 4.8 from 75,270 total reviews — see the Trustpilot page. Quick answer: is Howden Insurance legit? Issues below reflect what reviewers reported, not findings of wrongdoing.
Reviewers most often report that support is unhelpful, with 144 complaints (25% of identified issues) showing a rising trend. Other frequently cited problems include access difficulties, accounting for 116 reports (20%), and unreachable support, with 94 reports (16%). Additionally, 84 complaints (15%) relate to overcharging, a trend that is currently falling.
How to reach Howden Insurance
These are the contact details Howden Insurance publishes on its Trustpilot profile, as of our last check on 2026-09-23 — it publishes no phone number there, email [email protected], address 2 Des Roches square Witney Oxfordshire OX28 4LE, Witney, OX28 4LE, GB.
The company claimed its Trustpilot profile on 2023-09-28, uses Trustpilot’s paid features, uses Trustpilot’s AI-assisted replies, and last replied to a negative review on 2026-09-21. Trustpilot ranks it 78 of 178 in Insurance Broker. We last checked this profile on 2026-09-23 and found 200 new reviews. These are facts Trustpilot publishes about the profile, as of our last harvest.
Forum footprint: 4 MoneySavingExpert forum discussions mention this company (browse). Roughly 0 of the top, relevance-sorted search results were posted in the last 90 days — an approximate figure by construction, not a true recency count. Recent thread titles: “A: 15/12? Howden Insurance (IN) closes at 4pm”, “E: 22/09 Win £1k Worth of Kit with A-Plan Insurance!”, “House Insurance renewal. Previous subsidence.”.
Elsewhere: 3.9★ App Store (18) · 4.7★ on Feefo (3,866)
TrustScore over time
4.8 → 4.8 across 13 census measurements since 2026-08-12. Our own record, independent of Trustpilot’s display.
Reply behaviour over time
Solid: % of negative reviews replied to. Dashed: typical days to reply. Both as reported on this company’s Trustpilot profile, recorded whenever our census re-checked it and a figure had changed — the gaps between points are not equal: 2026-08-15 (94%, 3.7d) · 2026-08-20 (94%, 3.6d) · 2026-08-24 (94%, 3.6d) · 2026-08-27 (95%, 3.5d) · 2026-09-01 (93%, 3.7d) · 2026-09-04 (94%, 3.6d) · 2026-09-07 (93%, 3.6d) · 2026-09-10 (96%, 3.5d) · 2026-09-13 (93%, 3.5d) · 2026-09-16 (95%, 3.4d) · 2026-09-20 (96%, 3.5d) · 2026-09-23 (94%, 3.5d).
Severity: 14% of this company’s 570 graded complaints were classified as severe (money lost, an essential service cut off, or a problem unresolved for months). See the harm index.
1★ share of negative reviews over time
Share of 1–3★ Trustpilot reviews that were 1★
In December 2024, 39% of 18 one-to-three-star reviews were 1★; in September 2026, 26% of 43.
Counted from December 2024 onward — the period for which our capture of 1★, 2★ and 3★ reviews is complete for all three. Months with fewer than 10 such reviews are omitted.
Reviewers here waited a median of 2.0 days between the experience and publishing their negative review (672 reviews record both dates).
What their policy promises
delivery promise: right by your side
“We’re right by your side in the event of a claim”
delivery promise: here to help
“we’re here to help”
delivery promise: happy to assist
“Our dedicated rural team would be happy to assist you with any insurance related queries you have.”
Quoted verbatim from the company’s own published policy (source page); complaint counts are census classifications. As of 2026-09-12.
Policy-page monitoring
We monitor this company’s published policy page for changes. No changes have been detected since we started watching on 2026-09-01.
Automated change detection on the company’s own published policy page — a record of when the page changed, not a judgement on what changed.
Measured reply time: across 486 negative reviews that received a public reply, the median wait was 2.4 days — the company profile reports an average of 3 days. The two are measured differently: ours counts only replies we captured to negative reviews.
Reply quality: of 486 company replies to negative reviews analysed, 30% engaged with the specific problem and 67% were generic templates.
What employees say
Employees rate Howden Insurance 3.5★ overall from 281 reviews on Glassdoor — the inside view, kept separate from customer complaint statistics. Read the reviews there.
Review provenance: 2403 company-invited reviews in the recent window average 4.81★, while 115 organic (uninvited) reviews average 4.78★.
12% of its 2172 recent 5★ reviews came from accounts that had written only that one review when we captured it (the median across companies is about 39%). A high share is a reason to look closer, not evidence of fake reviews.
Sector benchmark: support unhelpful makes up 25% of this company’s complaints vs a 28% median across 148 ranked companies in its sector.
Review velocity: 11,364 of this company’s 75,270 Trustpilot reviews (15%) were written in the last 12 months.
What are the most common complaints about Howden Insurance?
Support unhelpful
144 reports · 25% of complaintsrising since 2025-10“Raised my complaint with Howden, manager never bothered to investigate Eight weeks passed, no final response from Howden.”
The company replied on 2025-06-18: “Please do accept our request for further information so that we can progress this complaint for you.”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Called for a car insurance quote had to repeat my self myslef several times”
The company replied on 2026-03-04: “Hi Nicola, We're disappointed to see that your expectations were not met. Please do accept our request for more information and allow us to put things right.”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They charge a £50 admin fee on both policies, including the personal liability insurance which is ‘only’ £130 a year. Admin fee of roughly 40% of premium?!”
The company replied on 2026-02-04: “Hi Ade, We appreciate your feedback and regret to hear about your renewal experience - we're sorry to hear that your expectations were not met. Please do accept our request for more information and…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Other
116 reports · 20% of complaintsrising since 2025-10“NO ACCESS KEY PROVIDED! How can you claim to fulfill an SAR when you actively prevent access to the data?”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I was completely unaware that you had taken over the Baslow Insurance policy I had had for many years”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I was shocked at the state of the building, it was falling apart and smelled like black mold.”
The company replied on 2026-02-23: “Hi Brian, We're disappointed to see that your expectations were not met. Please do accept our request for more information and allow us to put things right.”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Support unreachable
94 reports · 16% of complaintssteady“I asked for paper copies to be sent out. I haven't recieved them”
The company replied on 2026-03-04: “Thank you for letting us know - we're very sorry to hear this. We have let your branch know and they will in touch with you shortly.”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Now car insurance again not called back a day and a half later, disgusting service.”
The company replied on 2026-02-23: “Thank you for letting us know - we're very sorry to hear this. We pride ourselves on our service so we are disappointed to read this. Please do accept our request for more information and allow us to…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Staff told me there is no box on the site requesting no callback - incorrect.”
The company replied on 2026-01-28: “Hi Kay, Please could you accept our request for more information so we can get our branch to contact you. We're keen to get to the bottom of this for you.”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Overcharging
84 reports · 15% of complaintsfalling“in refunding me they deducted over £240 quoting their cancellation terms even thought it was them and not me that cancelled!”
The company replied on 2025-08-04: “Hi Caleb, We're sorry to hear this. Please could you accept our request for more information so we can get our branch to contact you. We're keen to get to the bottom of this for you.”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I cancelled my car insurance with Howden and was hit with a £50 admin fee at the start and another £50 cancellation fee.”
The company replied on 2026-02-23: “Hi Daniel, We're disappointed to see that your expectations were not met. Please do accept our request for more information and allow us to put things right.”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“They charge a £50 admin fee on both policies, including the personal liability insurance which is ‘only’ £130 a year. Admin fee of roughly 40% of premium?!”
The company replied on 2026-02-04: “Hi Ade, We appreciate your feedback and regret to hear about your renewal experience - we're sorry to hear that your expectations were not met. Please do accept our request for more information and…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Misleading pricing
58 reports · 10% of complaintssteady“Sucker you in by offering a cheap renewal and then use a no fault accident by an additional driver to demand a 45% hike.”
The company replied on 2025-09-24: “Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We're genuinely sorry to hear about your experience, as this is not the level of service we strive to provide. We’ve reached out to the branch…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“asks for this on my latest policy and was led to believe it was part of the quote so paid for the policy thinking all great”
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“PLEASE DON’T INSULT PEOPLES INTELLIGENCE”
The company replied on 2025-01-07: “We're sorry to hear this and we understand your frustration with the renewal process. We value your long-standing relationship with us and appreciate your feedback which we take seriously. Please…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Billing errors
31 reports · 5% of complaintsrising since 2025-10“they charge me every year at lest &1000 and they didn’t info me”
The company replied on 2026-03-04: “Thank you for letting us know - we're very sorry to hear this. We have let your branch know and they will in touch with you shortly.”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“I lost alot of my deposit because of their admin fees very unfair”
The company replied on 2025-06-23: “We're disappointed to see that your expectations were not met. Please do accept our request for more information and allow us to put things right.”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“The occupier paid high-risk rates that did not match the actual use of a closed unit”
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Method: reviews are classified into a fixed complaint taxonomy by an automated reader; every category shown is backed by at least two verbatim quotes from distinct reviews. Trends are computed from dated review counts only. Negative reviews are deliberately over-sampled for evidence depth; headline percentages use an unbiased recent sample only. Report updated 2026-09-23.