Battle Of The Black Box

As you can probably tell from the name of my tribe, I don't like the use of telematic boxes in car insurance policies.


For those who are unaware, a telematic box is an optional add-on to most policies in the UK wherein the insurer fits a little black box to your car that sends information about your driving to them, allowing them to evaluate how safe you are on the road. The safer you are, the lower your premiums. The more dangerous you are, the greater your chances of having your policy terminated. 


Now, let me get something straight. While I may still be a learner, my dislike toward the black box policy is not out of a spiteful guilt. It's not a case of feeling frustrated because someone is trying to stop me from "having fun". I don't plan on being a boy-racer, speeding down a residential estate with an exhaust tip the size of a cement mixer. No, I'm a young car enthusiast, not a yobo. My dislike of the black box policy stems from the application of it that some (not all) insurers have adopted and the potential implications for future black box policies.


My first issue is with the current philosophy of the black box. While monitoring the level of safety a person has on the road and, therefore, evaluate their chances of having a crash may seem like a good way to reduce insurance costs, but it's also a fast track to extreme road anxiety.


Imagine being a brand new driver, fresh out of driving school, alone in the car for the first time and positively broke from paying an extortionate amount on insurance and fuel. Now, not only are you worried about every car pulling out of a junction or a dozy Peugeot driver using your car as an unconventional brake, you also have to fret over every sharp corner and every brisk take off, praying that you're not deemed unsafe by your insurance provider and charged even more for your cover. 


That's a lot of pressure for a young driver that could be avoided. Pressure breeds anxiety and anxious drivers make mistakes. Mistakes can really disrupt focus and a lapse in focus causes crashes. In the wrong place with an already nervous driver, the all-seeing black box could create quite dangerous situations by simply piling on the feelings of anxiety in young drivers particularly. The last thing the roads of the UK need is a wave of nervous and uptight new drivers every year.


I know I'm making a bigger deal about this than is strictly necessary, but, as learner driver, I know how much pressure there can be when mistakes are made in front of impatient (and sometimes remarkably insesntive) drivers. I know how simple mistakes can bounce off each other and cause other mistakes. I know how easy it is as an inexperienced driver, even with an instructor next to me, to brake too late or come of the clutch too early or corner too sharply. I know this from experience. I can't imagine how a black box looming over me would magnify and exacerbate those situations. 


I also know that the rocketing cost of policies, particularly for young drivers, is down to the huge amounts of car accidents first-year drivers are having these days and the little black box is supposed to keep inexperienced drivers on the straight and narrow to reduce reckless driving, but surely there's a better way. Perhaps taking a look at the outdated driving test we have in the UK to better prepare new drivers for the real world of driving, but that's an article for another time.


Right, into the nitty gritty. DriveTime, and policies of a similar nature, concentrate on the time of day at which you are driving. One massive, rage-inducing feature on their policy is an 11pm curfew. That's right, with DriveTime you are heavily discouraged from driving after 11pm and doing so will result in a £25 fine per time [1]. Some stricter policies, like iKube, fine up to £100 per time [2]. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that is simply ridiculous. 


Of course, the hours between 11pm and 6am are, statistically speaking, the most dangerous times for driving, so targeting those times specifically could prove vital I  bringing down accident rates. However, l refuse to believe that imposing a curfew on somebody, literally controlling when they are allowed to drive their own car, is the way to do it. My own mother doesn't even tell me how long I'm allowed out anymore, so there's no chance I'll let a stuffy, conceited insurance company do so. 


Also, on a personal level, I genuinely finish work at around 22:30 and it could easily take me over a half hour to drive home. What would DriveTime have me do in that situation? Drive quickly, and potentially dangerously, to make sure I'm home before the curfew? Or leave my car at work and walk the distance?


I know I'm not forced to take insurance with DriveTime (and trust me, I won't), but the point still stands. This kind of policy just doesn't work in the real world. From my own observation, plenty of people, particularly young people, work unsociable hours and have to commute after 11pm. A car is about convenience for most people, but this insurance policy is exactly the opposite of that. It's a pain in the backside. But it could get worse. 


The future of black box policies looks like a bleak one for young drivers, with companies apparently developing more intrusive ways of making people safer of the road. For example, Julie Daniels of comparethemarket.com, the price comparison service, said: “The technology can track literally anything that is in the car – it just depends on what data the insurer wants to analyse." [3] 


Things like texts being sent and radio volume - as well as your speed, steering and braking - can all be monitored with the technology. Seemingly, it's just a matter of time. Andrew Miller, a research director at Thatcham, the motor insurers’ research centre, said future black boxes could be equipped with devices that would disconnect in-car phone calls and switch off sound systems above certain speeds [4]. That's just to name a few future features. 


It seems, with the constantly rising insurances prices and the ever-increasing amount of black box policies on the market, that younger drivers are being almost bottlenecked into having a little spy in their car at all times. Unnecessary and avoidable pressure on their shoulders to be safe drivers, fines for driving fast, fines for being late, the prospect of having everything in their car monitored and even having their radio or in-car phone calls cut off.


Not only that, but a new policyholder can find themselves playing out huge sums in extra costs if they're not careful. For example, if you miss your appointment to have your box fitted, you could be hit with a fine between £30-£100. If you don't have the right documents, you could be fined up to £30 and, if you buy a new car, you'll have to pay for the box to be reinstalled, which could cost up to £120. [5]


So, after you've agreed to burden more pressure, abide by a curfew and possibly have everything in your car monitored in the name of saving money, you could still be forced out of a small fortune just in extra costs. As if drivers aren't paying enough. This, I'm sure you can agree, is not how driving is meant to be. 








Reference 

[1] www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/2951695/An-11pm-car-curfew-means-the-party-season-can-still-swing.html

[2] www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2562216/Speeding-fines-insurer-black-box-car-cover.html

[3] www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/motorinsurance/11108743/Black-box-car-insurance-will-turn-down-your-radio-and-monitor-your-texts.html

[4] www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/motorinsurance/11108743/Black-box-car-insurance-will-turn-down-your-radio-and-monitor-your-texts.html

[5] www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-2562216/Speeding-fines-insurer-black-box-car-cover.html

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