More and more people in the UK are trusting “black box” car insurance as the number of live telematics-based motor policies has increased by 40%, according to the Sky Insurance Services Group.
The insurance group cited the latest annual research by the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), which surveyed the 30 leading telematics brands in the UK. The results showed that the number of live policies has climbed from 323,000 in December 2014 to 455,000 last year.
The telematics-based car policies use hard-wired “black boxes” fitted in a vehicle that measures and reports driving performance factors such as braking, speed, location, time of journey, cornering, and familiarity of route. These are analysed to create a risk profile – with the safest drivers getting the biggest discount.
“Black Box Car Insurance has revolutionised the world of insurance, particularly over the past few years,” said Sophie Lamkin, digital marketing executive at Sky Insurance.
“Not only has it allowed for policyholders to monitor and review their own driving skills, it has allowed them to save more money in terms of their insurance premiums. Providing you’re a good driver, it’s a cost effective solution when it comes to your car insurance,” she added.
BIBA executive director Graeme Trudgill said young drivers have been preferring telematics as their motor insurance solution since they can take control of their own premiums by having their driving behaviour monitored.
Trudgill said there is a 40% drop in crash risk when a new driver has a policy involving telematics equipment, which also helps reduce theft claims as it doubles as a vehicle tracker device.
“This proves how more and more people in the UK trust the methodology when it comes to Telematics,” Lamkin said, echoing Trudgill’s statements.
