Young driver car insurance!

shopaholic2

Nonnatus...may I ask which company you used please?

rudekid48

EdGasket wrote: »

With those black box things though you can't relax as you get penalised for any slight infringement like going above the new 20mph urban speed limits on some roads, even if only briefly while slowing down for instance. Correct me if I am wrong?

How do you break a speed limit by briefly slowing down?? Surely you would already be breaking it?

Most of the black box providers only apply actual penalties if you exceed the limit above set thresholds although exceeding the speed limit will negatively impact the driver score, but that's kind of the whole point.

Feral_Moon

Look out for time curfews on the black boxes too. The first one my son had restricted driving between 11pm and 6am and as he worked shifts would often struggle to get home on time or was late into work. He picked up three separate speeding penalties (driver awareness course plus 6pts & fixed fines) as a result within in his first year of driving.

CLAREAA

My advice is not to use Insure the Box.
Great concept but should something go wrong, you're left paying for a service that you no longer require.
I used them to insure my 18yr old son, he was involved in a minor incident. Insure the box rang me 2 minutes after the incident, told me he'd been involved in a accident. Luckily for me, he rang me immediately so I knew it was minor.
Vehicle was repaired for a small fee by a local mechanic, no claim was made on the policy, even though they tried on 3 occasions to tempt me into making a claim.
2 months later, the vehicle has developed a fault which is not economical to repair because of the age and value of the car. I have been trying now for over a week to cancel the policy as it's an expense most of us can ill afford if it's not needed.
They are trying to tell me, that the policy has to remain 'open' for 6 months after the incident and that I am liable to pay for that privilege. They refer to it as an 'open claim'. I have advised that no claim has been made against the policy and that if the vehicle had no black box then they wouldn't even have been aware that the incident happened. After all there was minimal damage to the vehicle, no property or persons were damaged or injured. Not sure how they come about this random decision as there is NO mention of this in any of the policy documents. I have spoke to 5 members of their staff and so far got no where.
I e-mailed their complaints section too, but so far (even though they advise all queries/complaints are responded to within 48 hours). 3 days later and no response.


Just beware, this a great affordable option until something goes awry, and when it does - be warned, it may just cost you money for nothing!!!!!!!

Quentin

CLAREAA wrote: »

Just beware, this a great affordable option until something goes awry, and when it does - be warned, it may just cost you money for nothing!!!!!!!

Irrespective of the black box doing it for him (if it did, and it wasn't the third party at the roadside), your son was bound by his policy conditions to inform his insurer anyway! So he had no "option".


So the fact that they found out is irrelevant.


He needs to now disclose the incident if applying for insurance either himself or as a named driver on another policy.


The incident will now be on the shared database, so advise him not to "forget" about it.

CLAREAA

Thanks for your response,


My issue is not that the insurance knows about the 'incident', there was only a pavement and a bollard involved so I'm pretty sure that neither of those informed 'Insure the Box', it was information from the box that they received, I have absolutely no problem with that.
My issue is that I am unable to cancel the policy, even though the vehicle is now declared SORN.
They are saying that I have to continue to pay the premiums until December of this year although the policy documents have no reference to that fact., not even in the small print.......I've read it all!!
I have asked them to inform me where does it state that legally I am obliged to keep the insurance policy open for 6 months after an incident and where in my policy documents it states this. If they can provide me legitimately with an answer to either, no problem at all! None of the staff know the answer to either question.
To date I have received no reply!!

rudekid48

Have they actually told you that you cannot cancel the policy or have they just told you that you will have to pay for the full year even if you do cancel? There is a big difference!


The claim will have to remain open as a claim may well come in for the costs of any repair work to the bollard that was hit. If there is an open claim, then no premium refund would be due if the policy was cancelled.


They cannot force you to keep a policy in force but they are entitled to collect the full years premium if there is an open claim.

EdGasket

rudekid48 wrote: »

How do you break a speed limit by briefly slowing down?? Surely you would already be breaking it?

You are doing 30mph and then notice a 20mph restriction. Slow down briefly to bring the speed down to 20mph however by the time you are actually doing 20mph you are already inside the 20mph zone. The black box clocks this (that you are doing more than 20 in a 20 zone) and may penalise you. Would make me a nervous wreck and I'd spend all my time watching signs instead of the road.

rudekid48

EdGasket wrote: »

You are doing 30mph and then notice a 20mph restriction. Slow down briefly to bring the speed down to 20mph however by the time you are actually doing 20mph you are already inside the 20mph zone. The black box clocks this (that you are doing more than 20 in a 20 zone) and may penalise you. Would make me a nervous wreck and I'd spend all my time watching signs instead of the road.

Regardless of the black box, you should slow down anyway - that's the point of a change in speed limit. If you are doing above 20 in a 20 limit, then you are speeding.

CLAREAA

10 days later and backed up by a further 2 e-mails and still no response from Insure the Box.
I have advised that I am about to cancel any further direct debit payments, but still 5 days later NO answer.
Not a good way to do business at all! It's not like I've presented them with a real brain teaser, two simple questions that require an answer.
I'm not impressed that they insure our young people but won't deal with any issues when they arise. Wonder what would happen if I needed to claim? Very poor service indeed.