Topic: AA to launch tracking-based insurance policy

[Dave]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16969509

The AA is set to launch a new insurance policy which uses sat-nav technology to track driver performance.

The firm said the system would allow its better drivers to receive cheaper premiums.

It follows similar efforts by smaller insurers. Larger rival Direct Line has told the BBC it is also piloting its own "black box" scheme.

Critics of the technology said that data should not be used as a reliable measure of a driver's ability.

The system involves the installation of a small black box into the driver's car which records how they drive.

The measures include monitoring speed, braking severity, cornering and the types of roads used during certain times of day.

This information is transmitted remotely to the insurers, and can also be accessed by users via a website which gives information on overall performance, warning them if they are likely to be moved to a higher premium.

"The reports are pretty detailed," AA spokesman Ian Crowder told the BBC ahead of Wednesday's formal announcement.

"The point is that these sorts of devices firmly put in the hands of the driver a responsibility for driving safely. It makes you think."

The information could be used to prove who was at fault in accidents, Mr Crowder added, but such detailed information would only be disclosed with a court order.

He added that the system could also detect sudden hard braking so assistance could be sent.

Extreme speeds would be greeted with "a stern email" to the driver.

He said the "pay-how-you-drive" system, which is aimed primarily at young drivers, could save customers up to £850 per year.

"All the anecdotal evidence suggests that people who have installed the system have about a 30% better claims experience - in other words, less crashes - than those who don't," he added.

The technology, known as "telematics" or "black box insurance" has for several months been utilised by smaller insurance firms such as Co-Op and Coverbox.

Welsh insurance firm Motaquote has just launched a partnership with leading sat-nav manufacturer TomTom to offer real-time feedback on driver performance.

Other major insurers are expected to launch policies soon. Direct Line told the BBC it had begun a pilot using its own technology - called Tracker - which it hoped to implement by the end of the year.

Elsewhere, car hire firm Avis said telematics is "one to watch", and said it might consider using the technology in its vehicles.

Malcolm Tarling, from the Association of British Insurers, said it is an approach which is likely to become commonplace.

"It's particularly important for young drivers who have high premiums," he said.

"You may say you don't want a 'spy in the car' as some call them, but others may say that if this is one way of making my premiums reflect my safety on the road, this will be of interest."

But Keith Peat, a spokesman for the Association for British Drivers, told the BBC he was worried that drivers who did not want to allow telematics in their vehicle would face higher costs.

"Providing the drivers give their consent it is OK," he said.

"But what we are totally against is people who don't give their consent being penalised."

f***ing stinks this, they'll blatantly start putting up premiums for people that don't want to be tracked. If nothing else, to make up for the loss of profit on people who choose it.

[AliGupter]

I wouldn't want it in my car, for sure.

Mind you, it says customers could save up to £850 per year, how much do people pay for insurance premiums?

I can imagine a huge amount of parents will want it.

[cp40]

would be up for it, except i think the starting point will be presnent levels of cost and upwards, for low mileage users like me- probs nowt to save.

[cp40]

rekon it wont be long befor under25s find it compulsory, and have their ridiculous driving monitored

[Dave]

I wouldn't want it in my car, for sure.

Mind you, it says customers could save up to £850 per year, how much do people pay for insurance premiums?

I can imagine a huge amount of parents will want it.

I've never paid more than about £900 for mine, from the day I started driving. In actual fact it's never dropped below about £650 because by the time it was due to drop significantly I upgraded my car. Currently pay about £800 for the A5, aged 28 (at the time of taking out the policy) with 7 years NCD.

[Minhosa]

f***ing hell - big brother is watching you.

How long until this is the way speeding limits are enforced?

[Dave]

f***ing hell - big brother is watching you.

How long until this the way speeding limits are enforced?

Extreme speeds would be greeted with "a stern email" to the driver.

Bcc: <local police force>

[Minhosa]

f***ing hell - big brother is watching you.

How long until this the way speeding limits are enforced?

Extreme speeds would be greeted with "a stern email" to the driver.

Bcc: <local police force>

Christ - talk about a regulated society.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no boy racer and would be the first to complain about some tool driving in 30mph areas at silly speeds but there has to be some onus on drivers to make an assessment of risk given the road conditions at the time.

I'll happily put my foot down on quiet motorways where I consider it safe to do so. I wouldn't appreciate a letter off some c*** (I was paying) telling me how to interpret risk/road conditions.

[neesy111]

Are people really surprised by this considering the Big Brother society we live in nowadays

[SEMTEX]

paranoid bastards. There is a company who offer tracked insurance here, and have done so for a while. Only one company has bothered adopted it. Nothing is mandatory, and their alternate rates are perfectly normal still. Unsurprisingly given they're the only ones who offer the tracker, they can hardly price fix.

[Ste]

Stifler has tracked insurance, he just looooves driving like a pussy.

[OCK]

f***ing hell - big brother is watching you.

How long until this the way speeding limits are enforced?

Extreme speeds would be greeted with "a stern email" to the driver.

Bcc: <local police force>

Christ - talk about a regulated society.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no boy racer and would be the first to complain about some tool driving in 30mph areas at silly speeds but there has to be some onus on drivers to make an assessment of risk given the road conditions at the time.

I'll happily put my foot down on quiet motorways where I consider it safe to do so. I wouldn't appreciate a letter off some c*** (I was paying) telling me how to interpret risk/road conditions.

Your word per minute count is far too high for this forum. Please reassess the forum conditions and the readership involved.

bcc: Dave

[Minhosa]

f***ing hell - big brother is watching you.

How long until this the way speeding limits are enforced?

Extreme speeds would be greeted with "a stern email" to the driver.

Bcc: <local police force>

Christ - talk about a regulated society.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no boy racer and would be the first to complain about some tool driving in 30mph areas at silly speeds but there has to be some onus on drivers to make an assessment of risk given the road conditions at the time.

I'll happily put my foot down on quiet motorways where I consider it safe to do so. I wouldn't appreciate a letter off some c*** (I was paying) telling me how to interpret risk/road conditions.

Your word per minute count is far too high for this forum. Please reassess the forum conditions and the readership involved.

bcc: Dave

 . Noted.

[Sifu]

Not sure about such a proposal. Though I guess it would stop the "boy racers".......

[JS]

I pay about £2300 a year for insurance right now, and that was the cheapest quote by a country mile. I've looked at the insurance premiums for insurethebox, coverbox, etc, and they were some of the highest. So f*** that, will I be getting letters about my driving style from some automated service. Nooo

[Dave]

I pay about £2300 a year for insurance right now, and that was the cheapest quote by a country mile. I've looked at the insurance premiums for insurethebox, coverbox, etc, and they were some of the highest. So f*** that, will I be getting letters about my driving style from some automated service. Nooo

f*** me, what do you drive?!

[S.S.R.]

I pay about £2300 a year for insurance right now, and that was the cheapest quote by a country mile.I've looked at the insurance premiums for insurethebox, coverbox, etc, and they were some of the highest. So f*** that, will I be getting letters about my driving style from some automated service. Nooo

Have you tried getting a quote for urban miles?

[Stifler]

Stifler has tracked insurance, he just looooves driving like a pussy.

Aye I f***ing hate it. It was the only way to save on insurance, it took my insurance price down from £2k to £1400.
It's s***, the fact that you literally don't want to go even 1mph over the limit is just taking the p*ss and you spend more time watching your speedo than the road which is unsafe really.

Apparently I can earn up to 100 more bonus miles per month (with insure the box your limited to 6k miles per year) and apparently the average for drivers per month is 70-odd. Since May last year I have earned 100 bonus miles in total. That is despite not speeding, not accelerating harshly, not harsh braking etc. The only things I can't help is the fact that I sometimes have to drive late at night and most months I don't do any motorway driving.

The fact that this tracker can claim to be saying I'm driving too fast for the type of roads and conditions I'm driving on (despite never actually breaking the speed limit) and not taking into consideration the traffic levels, the weather type, the conditions of the road surface etc. Bollocks, it's all a con so that next year they can turn around to you and say your an unsafe driver and because of that we have to put your insurance up.

Stay away from these f***ing con merchants.

[leffe186]

Stifler has tracked insurance, he just looooves driving like a pussy.

Aye I f***ing hate it. It was the only way to save on insurance, it took my insurance price down from £2k to £1400.
It's s***, the fact that you literally don't want to go even 1mph over the limit is just taking the p*ss and you spend more time watching your speedo than the road which is unsafe really.

Apparently I can earn up to 100 more bonus miles per month (with insure the box your limited to 6k miles per year) and apparently the average for drivers per month is 70-odd. Since May last year I have earned 100 bonus miles in total. That is despite not speeding, not accelerating harshly, not harsh braking etc. The only things I can't help is the fact that I sometimes have to drive late at night and most months I don't do any motorway driving.

The fact that this tracker can claim to be saying I'm driving too fast for the type of roads and conditions I'm driving on (despite never actually breaking the speed limit) and not taking into consideration the traffic levels, the weather type, the conditions of the road surface etc. Bollocks, it's all a con so that next year they can turn around to you and say your an unsafe driver and because of that we have to put your insurance up.

Stay away from these f***ing con merchants.

6000 miles a year? Jesus. That's less than most lease deals here.

Although I love the UK, there have been many times I have thanked my lucky stars I moved away. This is one.

[leffe186]

BTW, I still want to know what on earth JS drives that costs 2300 a year to insure.

[OCK]

Clearly he's driving a gold plated tank powered by the sweat of Jesus.

[Stifler]

6000 miles a year? Jesus. That's less than most lease deals here.

Although I love the UK, there have been many times I have thanked my lucky stars I moved away. This is one.

Thats less than half the annual milage over here. It works out at around 125 miles per week in a four week month. Since May I have done around about 4,200 miles.

[Wullie]

I can quite believe that he pays £2300 for nothing special tbh. He's 23, so that's still in the "charge you through the nose" period for a kick off.

I've just ran my 9 year old 1.4L Micra worth about £2k (renewed this week, £730, an increase of about £200 on last year) through the comparison website with my exact details but I changed my age to 18 (from 26) and said I'd just passed my test - cheapest quote was £7000.

It's a f***ing scandal quite frankly. As something which it is illegal to go without, it should be somewhat reasonable for everybody but it's a very long way from that.

[Dave]

How are people supposed to afford this?

[Dave]

Btw I'd be phoning every f***er ever to offer insurance if the comparison sites were throwing that out. Not saying they'd be able to beat it, but I'd be trying everyone.