Do black box motor insurance discriminate against shift workers ( nurses)

easy

A young friend of ours (22 y.o,  2nd year of driving) is a newly qualified nurse, starting her first job in a major hospital.
She's looking for decent price motor insurance renewal,  and says the best price she can get is £780 (8 year old Toyota Aygo) without a black box.

I suggested she might as well accept a black box,  but she believes this will end up more expensive because she will often be driving late at night or very early hours because of her shift patterns.  
Is she right?  Surely as she declares her occupation this would be taken into account ? 

dil1976

easy said:

A young friend of ours (22 y.o,  2nd year of driving) is a newly qualified nurse, starting her first job in a major hospital.
She's looking for decent price motor insurance renewal,  and says the best price she can get is £780 (8 year old Toyota Aygo) without a black box.

I suggested she might as well accept a black box,  but she believes this will end up more expensive because she will often be driving late at night or very early hours because of her shift patterns.  
Is she right?  Surely as she declares her occupation this would be taken into account ? 

Is that price Fully comp? If so thats not too bad at all. When I brought my car 4 years ago I had no no claims as I always had a company vehicle and couldn't get evidence of my driving history so was paying £800 for the first year but it almost halved second year.

Car_54

It may be taken into account, why not ask?

However, there are good reasons for regarding driving at these times to be especially risky, and these are mainly to do with other drivers rather than your friend.

user1977

Car_54 said:

However, there are good reasons for regarding driving at these times to be especially risky, and these are mainly to do with other drivers rather than your friend.

Indeed, which is why under "normal" policies, drivers with occupations which tend to involve night travel are treated as a higher risk anyway. Not sure whether nurses generally would come into that category, but I expect the likelihood of them commuting at antisocial hours is in the calculations.

Bigwheels1111

Has she tried Bymiles, they use a black box as such.( plugs into the OBD2 port) It just tracks the milage. Not time or driving style.
I’ve been with them for 3 years and just taken out year 4.
For me a great deal, via all the comparison web sites I’m quoted £1100 fully comp protected bonus etc and 3000 miles a year.
Don’t know why it’s so high, 10y no claims and 1 at fault claim.
Bymiles £240, plus 5.4p a mile. 3000 miles = £162, so £402 ish for the year.
If I do less miles I’m charged less.
You pay a premium for it to be insured at home up front ie £240, then you are charged per mile at the end of the month
like a mobile contract.

DanDare999

Bigwheels1111 said:

Has she tried Bymiles, they use a black box as such.( plugs into the OBD2 port) It just tracks the milage. Not time or driving style.
I’ve been with them for 3 years and just taken out year 4.
For me a great deal, via all the comparison web sites I’m quoted £1100 fully comp protected bonus etc and 3000 miles a year.
Don’t know why it’s so high, 10y no claims and 1 at fault claim.
Bymiles £240, plus 5.4p a mile. 3000 miles = £162, so £402 ish for the year.
If I do less miles I’m charged less.
You pay a premium for it to be insured at home up front ie £240, then you are charged per mile at the end of the month
like a mobile contract.

Are you young or have a terrible driving history? You do seem to struggle to obtain a decent insurance quote. 

Bigwheels1111

DanDare999 said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

Has she tried Bymiles, they use a black box as such.( plugs into the OBD2 port) It just tracks the milage. Not time or driving style.
I’ve been with them for 3 years and just taken out year 4.
For me a great deal, via all the comparison web sites I’m quoted £1100 fully comp protected bonus etc and 3000 miles a year.
Don’t know why it’s so high, 10y no claims and 1 at fault claim.
Bymiles £240, plus 5.4p a mile. 3000 miles = £162, so £402 ish for the year.
If I do less miles I’m charged less.
You pay a premium for it to be insured at home up front ie £240, then you are charged per mile at the end of the month
like a mobile contract.

Are you young or have a terrible driving history? You do seem to struggle to obtain a decent insurance quote. 

Over 50, no points and only 1 at fault claim in 10 years.
Area good, Peugeot 5008 1.6 bluehdi not a rocket ship.
Last 2 cars more powerful and larger engine hp.
Tried for quotes all round the uk and best was £750.

DanDare999

Bigwheels1111 said:

DanDare999 said:

Bigwheels1111 said:

Has she tried Bymiles, they use a black box as such.( plugs into the OBD2 port) It just tracks the milage. Not time or driving style.
I’ve been with them for 3 years and just taken out year 4.
For me a great deal, via all the comparison web sites I’m quoted £1100 fully comp protected bonus etc and 3000 miles a year.
Don’t know why it’s so high, 10y no claims and 1 at fault claim.
Bymiles £240, plus 5.4p a mile. 3000 miles = £162, so £402 ish for the year.
If I do less miles I’m charged less.
You pay a premium for it to be insured at home up front ie £240, then you are charged per mile at the end of the month
like a mobile contract.

Are you young or have a terrible driving history? You do seem to struggle to obtain a decent insurance quote. 

Over 50, no points and only 1 at fault claim in 10 years.
Area good, Peugeot 5008 1.6 bluehdi not a rocket ship.
Last 2 cars more powerful and larger engine hp.
Tried for quotes all round the uk and best was £750.

The area can't be that good since you're about £500 too high. 

Goudy

Yes, many black box policies do have stepped charges (extra charges) if they think the driver is increasing the risk, like driving at night.

Your friend needs to read the terms and conditions details carefully before committing to a telematics policy like this. 

On another related point, they might want to set their profession as "hospital worker or manager" for "Health Care - NHS" when filling in quotes.
Insurance underwriters tend to understand nurses shift patterns will cause them to drive at night and load the premiums accordingly.

GrumpyDil

Goudy said:

Yes, many black box policies do have stepped charges (extra charges) if they think the driver is increasing the risk, like driving at night.

Your friend needs to read the terms and conditions details carefully before committing to a telematics policy like this. 

On another related point, they might want to set their profession as "hospital worker or manager" for "Health Care - NHS" when filling in quotes.
Insurance underwriters tend to understand nurses shift patterns will cause them to drive at night and load the premiums accordingly.

Whilst this site suggests tweaking job descriptions for insurance where appropriate, as she is a nurse and assuming nurse is listed as an occupation I would be wary of stretching it that far. 

DanDare999

GrumpyDil said:

Goudy said:

Yes, many black box policies do have stepped charges (extra charges) if they think the driver is increasing the risk, like driving at night.

Your friend needs to read the terms and conditions details carefully before committing to a telematics policy like this. 

On another related point, they might want to set their profession as "hospital worker or manager" for "Health Care - NHS" when filling in quotes.
Insurance underwriters tend to understand nurses shift patterns will cause them to drive at night and load the premiums accordingly.

Whilst this site suggests tweaking job descriptions for insurance where appropriate, as she is a nurse and assuming nurse is listed as an occupation I would be wary of stretching it that far. 

Newly qualified nurse to manager is some stretch.