Norwich Union Car Insurance Revolution?

MortgageMamma

Did anyone see the article on breakfast TV this morning about Norwich Union exploring a different kind of car insurance "tailored to your needs"

Apparently this could save quite a lot of money for those drivers who do less mileage and drive in "safe" hours (Martin Lewis commented on this too)

NU would fit a black box into the boot of your car which monitors the time of day you drive, the time you spend driving and the mileage you do, and your insurance is worked out on the basis of how many miles you do and at what time.

For example it was stated that driving during daytime hours on a motorway/dual carriageway would be 10 x safer than driving on a single lane road.

I'm going to look into this further and perhaps give it a try, my insurance is £95 a month so I'd be thrilled if they would quote me happy!;)

ArchieB_2

This has been around a long time. You can view it two ways - a great way to pay an accurate premium for the risk or a slippery slope to being penalised for driving aggressively/quickly as they have the technology to record speed and so on.

MortgageMamma

Well I only found out about it this morning on the news. I suppose it would be beneficial for an excellent and careful female driver then ;-)

nej

Indeed it has been around for a while. I even wrote some software to calculate where and when you had been driving as the company I work for tendered to run the trials. We didn't get the gig though. This was a couple of years back.

Interesting to note that the specs at the time DID include a thing for the amount of time spent driving over 70mph.... I don't know if that has changed or not.

gyzmo

It will be interesting to see how this develops on the market. I have heard about the scheme for a long time past now, and several scare stories along with it (such as police checking the box to see if speeding was involved in any accident, and even the data being used to track suspected terrorists!).

Like Martin said this morning, it is a welcome step, but hopefully not the only thing available in teh future (which I doubt).

tomstickland

Personally it is a very unwelcome step since the level of monitoring of activity in this country is already too high for my liking.

gyzmo

I would agree where we do not have the option to be monitored. however, NUs system is voluntary. where I to choose it, I could not complain that I am being tracked in my car.

the application of the data, and who will use it is a concern for many. But I doubt that many would object so long as those in charge handled the indormation lawfully and only as necessary.

MortgageMamma

I don't see what the issue is if people drive carefully and stay within the speed limits. Perhaps if the boxes were commonplace there would be a significant decrease in RTA fatalaties? I'm not saying I'm whiter than white driving wise, I too go over speed limits occassionally on clear roads but Id never do anything to risk anyone else's safety. When I need to drive wrecklessly I go rallying with my brother or the local go cart tracks.

Astaroth

It will be interesting to see what the policy wording is on about them sharing the information with the authorities - ie if they know that you are breaking the law are they under any duty to inform the police (eg speeding)

gyzmo

It is a very good point indeed. Are they under such a duty now? If, say, I report an accident to my insurer and say that someone was injured or killed (via my negligence), (note, I have never injured or killed anyone, nor even been involved in an accident which was my fault!!!) but I have not reported it to the police, what is the difference in terms of the insurers duty?

I am reminded of the British Phonograph Institute's actions re. downloads and illegal music copying. It has always happened, whethe on a tape recorder from the local radioa station (for the children of the 80s amongst us) or whether through the like of Kazaa or Limewire. the difference is now it can be seen and tracked.

Will the same happen with speeding? I detect a nice little earner. insurers paid to shop their customers.....I wouldn't put it past this government, nor a corporation, the law be damned.

Astaroth

There is a difference between an accident involving a fatality and speeding though.... If you were the sort to do a hit and run I doubt you would be the one that phones up and confeses to the insurance company. I have to say that I can not remember a single fatality claim I had to deal with which didnt have a police reference. Of cause the insurer would also give the details to the CRU which I am sure the police have access to.

Speeding however is different on the basis that it is massively more likely that the police will be unaware of the offence and so it could be a nice little earner for the police.... sorry, mean it would make the roads much safer, if they did require the insurers to release details of people speeding to them