Black Box Car Insurance Can Reduce Young Driver Premiums
Road Safety Charity, Brake reveals that young drivers aged 17 – 24 are at a much higher risk of crashing than older drivers. Although drivers aged 17-19 make up only 1.5% of licence holders in the UK, they are involved in 9% of fatal and serious crashes. By opting for a black box car insurance policy which uses vehicle telematics data to monitor driving activity, young drivers who drive safely can benefit from lower annual car insurance premiums.
Telematics and Black Box Car Insurance
Telematics is used to measure your driving style. Often referred to as black box car insurance, GPS car insurance or smartbox insurance, telematics enables car insurance companies to assess how risky you are as a driver.
Black box car insurance can be set up in one of three ways:
- Mobile phone app - an app you download onto your smartphone
- Telematics black box - a small black box fitted inside your car
- Plug in box - fitted to your On-Board Diagnostic port (OBD)
All three monitor your driving habits. By installing telematics technology, your insurer can analyse the following types of information:
- Number of miles driven
- Time of day that the car is used
- Areas that you drive through
- Driving technique, including maximum speed
- How quickly you brake
- How you take corners
The information can be used to give you an insurance quote, with a price that reflects your driving style. Upon renewal, insurers can adjust your premium accordingly, or offer you incentives for what is perceived as safe driving.
This can be an ideal solution for young or inexperienced drivers to enable them to get cheaper car insurance, but telematics can be used by drivers of any age. In fact, more experienced drivers may find themselves altering their driving style to become safer drivers because they have a black box fitted to their vehicle.
Liverpool Victoria’s Heartlands Telematic Black Box
ABL can offer Liverpool Victoria’s Heartlands Telematic Black Box as a competitive insurance solution for young or inexperienced drivers. This telematics insurance policy requires the black box to be fitted to the vehicle. The premium quoted includes the cost of the box, fitting and the annual airtime contract, which is £119.50.
New black box car insurance policy holders are contacted by the box fitting company, RS Fleet within 48 hours and must have the box fitted within 14 days from the inception of their insurance policy. A new black box will also need to be fitted if you change your vehicle which results in an additional charge.
Policy holders can view their driving history via an online portal and receive a driving score based on their driving performance. Drivers receive a login and password via email when the policy is issued to access this data. Users can also download the LV Telematics App for Android and Apple devices.
What Happens If Driving Performance is Sub-Standard?
Black box car insurance is not something to be taken lightly as failure to adhere to the terms and conditions of the policy could have the opposite effect to what you intended i.e. increases in your insurance costs. Insurers will contact drivers if their driving habits fall below the required standards and penalties will be issued. If drivers show no signs of improvement, insurers may collect an additional premium or in serious cases issue notice of cancellation of the black box insurance policy.
As drivers receive a discount based on the fact that their vehicle is fitted with a black box telematics device, drivers need to be aware of the ‘Red Alerts’ system that is in place to identify black box car insurance policy holders who drive in a dangerous or unacceptable manner. Unacceptable driving may include factors such as consistent speeding, harsh braking or acceleration. Black box car insurance policy holders are notified of a Red Alert event by e-mail and alerts on the customer dashboard.
If an EXTREME driving event is registered, for example, the car is driven at more than 100mph the black box insurance policy will be cancelled subject to a 7-day Road Traffic Act Cancellation Notice. You will also be required to disclose this information to any future insurance providers, which may affect any future premiums or your ability to get insurance for your vehicle.
Policy holders should also be aware that the device transmits data regardless of who is driving. It is the policy holder’s responsibility to inform any other driver of their car that data relating to their driving will be recorded, transmitted and analysed while the device is active. Data from other drivers’ journeys in your car will form part of the data analysed in relation to your insurance policy.
Is Black Box Car Insurance for You?
Whilst black box car insurance can be very beneficial for young drivers to enable them to avail of lower car insurance premiums and improve their driving performance, there can be consequences if the driver does not adhere to the rules of the policy. If you think you are a safe driver and would like to explore the possibility of using telematics and a black box insurance policy to avail of fairer insurance premiums, please get in touch with our personal lines team in your local ABL Group office:
ABL Group Armagh, Belfast & Coleraine: 028 9099 3600
Digney Grant Banbridge: 028 4066 2084
Digney Grant Newry: 028 3026 7017
McGrady Insurance Downpatrick: 028 4461 5933
*Digney Grant and McGrady Insurance are members of the ABL Group of companies in Northern Ireland.