Ready to pay heavy fines for texting or calling at the Wheel

UK drivers are often caught texting or making calls while driving on the roads leading to risky situations and accidents. However, this practice is going to fetch them much higher premiums as the insurers can now keep a check on them. With the telematics car insurance, insurers can keep a watch on the driver through their mobile phones.

The device tracks whether the person is using mobile phone or hands free device and informs the insurer. In return, the insurer raises the premiums of the driver or withdraws the policy in extreme cases. Telematics tracks the driver either through mobile phones or black boxes. It informs the insurer about the driving pattern like braking, acceleration and cornering. As the app runs in the background of the phone, the insurer gets a detailed report of every function used in the phone. It could be anything from making calls to using maps.

According to data from the AA, it was found that drivers could actually face a 28% hike in premiums if they are found using phones while driving. Some of the companies do not offer policies to the drivers with a history of using phones while driving. While this is an advantage for the insurer, it does intrude in the privacy of the policyholders. Wunelli, the provider of telematics technology confirms that a lot more can be monitored through the mobile phones.

Simon Morrissey, head of data and privacy at law firm Lewis Silkin, talked about the intrusion of privacy by saying that “That type of ‘cross-pollination of information’, where one app knows what you’re doing on other apps, creates a privacy issue. In my view, if they know that you’re using your phone while driving, that is intrusive.”

Telematics expert are pledging to develop technology that overcomes such issues and makes the monitoring more concise. Debarring these drawbacks, telematics is still a popular name in motor insurance and the popularity is growing by leaps and bounds. There has been a 23% increase in the number of people choosing telematics or black box insurance totaling the number to 561,500 drivers as of now. While a quarter of these drivers choose to be tracked through mobiles, the rest allow the black box method of estimating the driving behavior.

Therefore, if you are using telematics then better keep your hands off the phone at least while driving. To make matters worse, the government is planning to increase the penalty to two hundred pounds for all those caught using phones while driving. So, better beware and start practicing good driving habits.

Author Bio:

Arjun Vishram is a personal finance mentor working at UK’s leading price comparison website FreePriceCompare.com. He suggests all UK motorists to compare car insurance quotes before renewal the cover from existing provider. To cover the smaller damage, he recommends a cosmetic car insurance cover so one can protect no-claim discount on next premium.

Should the government make black box insurance mandatory for young drivers?

Black box insurance is slowly becoming a rage in the UK motor insurance market. As it is based on black boxes fitted inside the car and it tracks parameters like driving speed, distance travelled, time of driving, sudden braking and other forms of driving behaviour, the insurance proves quite beneficial for young drivers. The parameters are sent to the insurance provider through GPS and the insurance provider can gauge the driving pattern of the driver to assess the possibility of a claim. 

There are many benefits to this kind of insurance and the best part is that many insurance providers offer rewards to people with good driving habits. They also reduce their premiums and in some cases increase premiums on people with rash driving habits. This way, the drivers get a clear idea about the direct connection between their driving patterns and size of the premiums. In many cases, this has resulted in a big change in the driving habits of young drivers and they tend to smoothen up their road journeys. 

To some extent, Black box insurance can regulate the driving habits of young drivers and therefore experts suggest that it may be made mandatory for drivers under the age of 21. Black box provider Wunelli expresses views on this by saying that the government should promote the use of black boxes to keep an eye on young people’s driving habits. The company also claimed that drivers who have telematics insurance have 20% less chance of accidents. 

According to them, young drivers are paying around £2,000 a year in insurance on average and it would rise with the increase in insurance premium tax. The company suggested that in order to encourage young drivers to buy telematics insurance, the government should reduce tax on black box insurance. Wunelli also puts forth figures on the number of deaths occurred in the last year to prove that telematics insurance can lower down the death rate by young people in the country. 

Moreover, there were nearly 14% of young people killed under the age of 24 years out of 1,732 deaths which happened due to road accidents last year. In addition, the latest travel trends suggest that drivers between the age of 17 and 20, drive 12 times more compared to older and more experienced drivers. According to the company, the government can save millions by making black box insurance mandatory and save many lives. This saving would be equivalent to the income generated from the taxes imposed on the young motorists. 

Paul Stacy, director of Wunelli emphasised on the matter by saying that “As the UK currently has no graduated licensing in place, it is crazy to think that young drivers can pass their test one day and the next day be driving a car full of people, on the motorway late at night. Even if they have traditional motor insurance, there is no way to monitor their driving behaviour in those crucial first few years.”

Well, the decision to make black box insurance mandatory or not is solely left on the government but it certainly seems like a positive step for the young drivers. Apart from relying on the insurance they should also shop around to get the cheapest car insurance policy with the biggest discount deals.