Black Box Car Insurance

Many car drivers are facing further increases in their car insurance premiums during 2013 following the European Union gender directive that no longer allows car insurers to distinguish between male and female drivers as far as their gender goes. It is also expected that premiums will increase due to the way that a larger number of courts are making pay out awards for people very seriously injured in car accidents in the event of them suffering, for instance, brain damage or paralysis.

a lot of car drivers are likely to see car insurance premiums increase in 2013

Car accident

On top of that we are still going through a period of uncertainty with the UK economy with many families having to tighten their belts when it comes to spending their hard earned wages and salaries. So, any way to reduce personal expenditure is likely to be warmly welcomed by the vast majority of people.

Car insurance premiums have crept up in recent years but there may be a way of reducing your premiums, especially if you are a younger driver. There are an increasing number of car insurers starting to offer telematics car insurance (commonly known as “black box” car insurance). With some companies it is only available to the younger driver under the age of 25.

Black box car insurance provides a small black box that fits under your dashboard out of sight so it is not obtrusive. It is connected to your car’s central control system and identifies a number of factors to do with your driving. For instance, it knows when you are driving the car as, with many black box car insurance policies you are not covered for driving between the hours of 11 pm to 6 am as, statistically, that is the time of day when you are most at risk of being in an accident. It also monitors how you drive the car such as when you go around corners, your braking, acceleration and where in the country you are driving the vehicle.

This information which is visible to the driver is then used by the car insurance company to assess the motorist’s driving ability and the premium is calculated based on this as well as some other factors. In this way your car insurance premium is tailored to you. It is reviewed again in around 3 month’s time.  It may be worth getting some quotes to see how it compares with your standard car insurance cover.