Thinking of getting a black box? A black box may not sound like your cup of tea when you first hear about it, but once you’ve finished reading this, your mind will be blown at how it can help you and your insurance.
What is a black box?
Black box insurance, also known as telematics, is a type of car insurance that involves a small box being fitted into your car. You normally won’t be able to see it, it’s quite discreet. It records your journeys and gathers different bits and pieces of data to help put together your driving score. This data can then be used to help calculate a personalised quote for you.
How does it work?
If you get a black box installed as part of your car insurance, the way it works is simple. It’s a clever little box that gathers data on speed, smoothness, and usage, which can help to build a picture of your driving style and create a score for you.
The black box contains a small sim card, almost like the one in your phone if you like, and that sends data to your insurer, which helps them to analyse your driving. It’s basically there to see how safely you drive. The safer you drive, the better your data and that could have an impact on the cost of your insurance too.
This telematics technology is there to help you drive safer and smarter. Driving safer could do wonders for you in terms of incentives your insurer might have to offer, as well as helping to calculate a great premium for you. What could you want more than a cheaper renewal?
What data does the box record?
Your black box records so many different data points that let your insurer see a range of things like:
- The time of day or night you drive
- The speed you drive at on different types of roads
- If you brake or accelerate sharply
- If you take breaks on long journeys
- Your mileage on the motorway
- Your total mileage
- The total number of journeys you make
The best thing that you can do to help with your driver score, and the thing that you have the most control over has got to be the way that you drive, If you can do everything you can to drive as safely as possible, you’re sorted.
Why you should get a black box fitted?
There are so many different reasons why you should get a black box, we’d be here all day if we were to name them all. Here are just a few reasons why it can pay to have a black box:
Save those pennies: having a black box can help you out and do wonders for you when it comes to the renewal of your insurance policy. All the data your black box has gathered will be analysed to see how safely you’ve been driving and give you the chance of getting a discount.
Safety first: your black box has some strong alerts on it, some that can even notify your insurer if you were to be involved in an accident. How clever is that? This would mean that your insurer could even call the emergency services in some cases if necessary.
Eye spy if it’s stolen: if your car was to ever be stolen, let’s hope not, but if it were, then some black boxes have a theft tracking device on them. This means that your insurer would be able to locate your stolen car for you.
Manage your claim: you’ll be surprised at how much your black box can come in handy if you were to have a claim on your policy. The data can help your insurer when processing a claim. For example, they might be able to find out where the impact was felt on the car.
If you’re a young driver, then a telematics black box might sound very appealing to you. This is because these black boxes are aiming at encouraging safe driving, which could help young drivers get their insurance that little bit cheaper and more affordable, and who doesn’t want that?
A black box might also be a good idea if you consider yourself to be a high risk, for example, if you are elderly or if you have any convictions, then a black box might be great and help you out.
