DirectLine Telematics App / Cashback

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Hi all,

I recently renewed my car insurance and Direct Line were the cheapest so I went with them. When I took out the policy it gave me the option of using their telematics app on my phone to earn up to £30 cashback over the year. I know telematics has been around for a while but this is the first time I have personally seen one done so well through a phone app.

Initially I was like "no way do I want someone tracking my driving" but the beauty of this was that the policy was £210 whatever happened, the telematics is optional and the worst that could happen is I get nothing back = nothing lost. Best case is it improves my driving (makes me drive safer) and earns me £30 (made up of £7.50 per quarter as a cheque) if I achieve 82 or higher on their app.

The app seems decent and just sits on my phone doing nothing until it detects me driving (or can be switched on and off manually) and then when it detects me driving it scores me with some useful data on the reasons for the scores.

Things to watch out for:
1. If it is on "auto detect" driving then presumably if you were being driven by someone else, it couldn't differentiate and may rate you on someone else's driving.
2. Direct Line say in the small print that they reserve the right to use the app data in the event of a claim.
3. I discovered a quirk (which negatively affected my drive scores) on the M1 around J28 - J31 where it was saying I was driving faster than other drivers on the same road. I drive at 65 to 70 on the motorway, only overtaking lorries and the slowest of drivers so I was surprised about that. I queried it and they have admitted there is a problem that they are trying to fix. I think it might be comparing me driving at 65-70 against lots of data saying people drive on that road at 50mph from when the roadworks were there for about a year or more.

Overall though, I would highly recommend it. They also say they will send you a telematics box if required (i.e. you don't have a smartphone).

Anyone else out there tried it?

rudekid48

The problem with these types of apps where it uses an "autostart" function is two-fold;

1/ it will drain your battery quicker than normal as it is constantly measuring movement to detect when to start recording, so be careful on long journeys - make sure you have a charger in the car!

2/ It can't tell the difference between you driving your own car, being a passenger in another, being in a taxi or a bus, cycling or even running.

This is quite old technology now, there are newer app telematics products that tether to your own car so that they only track when it is relevant.

Still, if you get £30 back who cares eh?