From mobile apps to black boxes, if you're a safe driver you could save money on your car insurance by recording your driving.
Car insurance has shot up in price in recent years. One way of reducing your premiums, particularly if you're a young driver, is to allow technology to monitor your driving.
By recording your driving using GPS technology, linked to either a smartphone app or a so-called 'black box' placed in your car, you could be rewarded for safe driving by a cut in your car insurance costs.
Smartphone apps and black boxes
You may have seen the TV ads for Aviva's Drive smartphone app, which records your driving and offers a discount on insurance policies of up to 20% (providing your car insurance policy costs over £200 a year) for drivers who achieve a good score. This could be well worth doing if Aviva is the best insurer for you.
Or you can go further and have a black box fitted into your car. The box tracks things like how a driver is cornering, breaking and sticking to the speed limits and the data is sent via GPS to your insurance company. It can then see detailed information about you and your driving habits, such as the time of day you’re driving, the type of road you travel on, the distance the car has travelled and how safely, or how poorly, you’re driving.
Many of these policies are aimed at younger drivers.
Young drivers, especially male drivers, are most likely to have an accident and two out of every five take place during 11pm and 6am, according to the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA). As a result, some black box insurers will charge a premium if you drive at night. By encouraging young drivers to be off the road during these hours, the theory goes that the risk of an accident is lowered and this is passed on in lower insurance costs.
On average drivers with black boxes can reduce their premiums by a quarter, according to BIBA. Here are some of the companies offering black box insurance and how their policies work, starting with companies who offer the technology to everyone.
AA Drivesafe
The AA Drivesafe offering is open to everyone, but is best suited to people with high insurance premiums, such as younger or newly qualified drivers. As with most policies, the price of installation of the box is included in your annual premium, and within 60 days this can be reduced depending on your driving habits.
The box works in the same way as others by tracking your driving through a GPS signal. Drivers have access to a dashboard where they can find out exactly how they’re being marked and email alerts can also be set up for important dates, such as your MoT.
Insure the Box
Launched in 2010, Insure the Box says drivers save an average of £600 per policy. It's a 'Pay as You Drive' scheme - drivers buy a bulk of insurance miles, starting with 6,000, and a small clear box is installed for free behind the dashboard.
Policy holders can earn up to 100 bonus miles per month if they are driving according to the safety rules. If you go over the 6,000 miles, your bonus miles kick in and if you’ve used them all up you need to buy top up blocks – at a cheaper price than the original premium.
Although it’s primarily for young drivers, drivers of all ages can apply.
Coverbox
Coverbox offers the technology to monitor your driving, but you buy your insurance separately from an insurance firm. You need to provide the insurer with details such as where your car is kept, how many miles you normally do and at what time most of your driving takes place. This is then reviewed, by looking at data from the black box, and your premium price changes depending on how strictly you’ve stuck to the original details.
Black box insurers for younger drivers
If you're a young driver, using black box technology could save you some decent money. Here are some companies that offer this technology specifically for younger drivers.
The Co-operative young driver insurance
The Co-op product is specifically designed for people aged between 17 and 25. It was the first major insurer to get into the black box technology market and drivers with it have had 20% fewer car crashes than those without.
The average premium for 17 to 22-year-olds with the policy is £1,345, compared to £1,651 to those without, according to figures from the AA.
Every 90 days data is reviewed from the black box and safe drivers are paid cashback. Those driving consistently badly can see their premiums rise by as much as 15% of the initial price. There are also e-mail alerts sent out every 45 days to let the driver know how they’re performing and an online dashboard where you can view your motoring safety stats, along with advice on how to lower your premium.
The Co-op says it has paid an average of £188 per driver in cashback since it launched the technology two years ago.
Autosaint
Specially designed for provisional, newly-qualified and young drivers, Autosaint works by charging drivers a low premium, which is around 35% cheaper than your average policy, from the start. This is monitored each quarter and if a driver scores below 60, the premium will go up. However, if they score 60 or above the rate will stay the same and larger discounts will be offered.
A risk profile is created by monitoring how the car is being driven, and alerts are sent out to warn you if your driving is going to push up your premium.
iKube
Marketed as the longest continuous provider of black box insurance for young drivers in the UK, with the first policy sold back in 2006, iKube is another one specifically for drivers aged between 17 and 25. It is another 'Pay As You Drive' scheme where how much you drive and at what time will affect your premiums. If you drive between 11pm and 5am, you'll need to pay a £100 nightly charge, so it won't be for you if you work at night or like to go out late.
This is a good policy if you’ve not yet passed your driving test as premiums won’t change when you do.
Ingenie
Ingenie is another one specifically for young drivers. Data is captured through the black box and sent to the insurer, and is available online or through a mobile app. There are no time curfews or mileage limitations and it simply monitors your driving over a period of time, rather than looking at isolated incideents. The price is reviewed every three months at which point a discount is applied if you’ve maintained a safe driving style.
Marmalade
Marmalade (formerly Young Marmalade) promises to give you the lowest premium possible at the start and then see how you get on. There are no curfews or night time restrictions and your driving is monitored on an ongoing basis. It also won't charge learner drivers extra when they pass their test.
Things to watch out for
As ever when it comes to insurance, there are a few things to watch out for when you're looking at black box policies. The obvious one is your premiums can go up if you're judged to not be driving sensibly or you're driving at night and there's an extra charge for that in your policy.
Another is there may be an up-front cost for having the black box installed and there may be a charge to have it removed, which could be costly if you want to sell the car.
Make sure you shop around for policies and make sure the policy has exactly what you need in terms of both cover, and where and when you can drive.
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