Anyone got or had PAY AS YOU DRIVE CAR INSURANCE

**woody123**

Hi,

I only do about 2500 miles a year and i am thinking of taking out Norwich union's 'pay as you drive insurance'..

I would like to know if anyone currently has it and is it really as good as it sounds? to read press reports it seems that there are no disadvantages to it and strongly recommends we take it out..

A bad point for me is that i cannot drive other cars... but i guess if you go away for say 2 weeks and your car isn't used then you don't pay much in that month...

I've just tried to be too honest in the online quotation i've got and got a price of £320 but i put down motorway miles and other miles but in total the miles came to about 4000.. My quotes for a standard policy are coming in at just under £300 a year..

If you could share your experiences with me it would be much appreciated

Thanks All.

Puttytat

I am with Norwich Union PAYD and it does seem to be as good as they say! I'm now into my second year with them and still haven't found a catch so to speak. The only thing to be aware of is your initial payment will include the cost of the tracker, fitting and a deposit of your monthly base premium.
I have been really pleased with my monthly bills though, it has knocked an average of about £30 a month off what I would have been paying with traditional insurance. The not being able to drive other cars isn't really an issue with me as I live in a one car household, but I did find it slightly irritating when my brother bought a Nissan 350Z as it means I can't have a go in it
The only other thing to mention is that this year when my renewal came through, I had forgotten that I'd paid part of my base premium in the deposit so my base premium is about £10 pm dearer compared to last year, but even so for my mileage, it is still the cheapest way of insuring my car. (37yo female, Smart Roadster Coupe - £24 pm plus miles. Last year, I don't think I had a bill over £35. Cheapest quotes elsewhere were round about £600 pa)
There is also the added advantage of your car having a tracker fitted, you have an emergency button in case of an accident/incident which can pinpoint you in an instant via the GPS and sat nav (although I have never used this).
Oh, and the customer service staff are excellent!
HTH
Putty

klint

If you inadvertently exceed the speed limit with such a device, does the insurance company get to know about it and charge you a much higher premium?

**woody123**

I've just had another quote for about £290 on the PAYD scheme..

I've just clicked on the tab where it shows how they arrived at that figure and it seems that there is a base premium of about £190, when i add legal protection onto this it isn't much cheaper than my usual quotes..

I haven't totally gone off the idea but i do think its strange how the GPS is supposed to be fitted for free but it is included in what you pay up front..

Puttytat

"I haven't totally gone off the idea but i do think its strange how the GPS is supposed to be fitted for free but it is included in what you pay up front.."

A-ha!!!
This is obviously something new since I had mine installed then. I didn't realise this was now the case, so sorry for misleading you on that one! I paid £50 for my tracker plus fitting and the deposit on my premiums.

Oh, the eqiupment is very well positioned in the car, my GPS thingy is hidden behind my rear view mirror, the emergency button is on the door well pillar and the microphone (a 1" black button style gizmo) is just set on the A pillar. If you didn't know I had it, you wouldn't even notice it was there which in a Smart car is pretty good going as they are not known for their roominess!

Putty

klint

Hold on, I thought these things were meant to be hidden so that you don't take them off and leave them at home when you go driving thousands of miles?

Puttytat

In response to the other questions,
I hadn't thought about removing the device prior to a long trip - I assume NU would be aware this had happened and besides which, for the costs involved, I can't see that it would make so much a difference that you would lose out versus regular insurance.

Regarding the speeding question, this has been raised before with Becca, a forum member who works for NU and she said that type of information isn't available via the GPS unit... I must admit that it wouldn't take a mathematical genius to work out what speed you must be travelling at to get from A-B in x minutes though and the thought does cross my mind from time to time. Hopefully, I won't find out the hard way!
HTH
Putty

[Deleted User]

Hi

The police or a court of law can request any data we may store. This is covered under Section 29 of the Data Protection Act 1998.

We do not monitor the speed of any vehicle insured on "Pay As You Drive"™ insurance. Nor will speed data be used to calculate premiums. "Pay As You Drive"™ insurance data is strictly private. The only way that anyone can access journey data is if the police request data as part of a criminal investigation. Under current law we must comply.

This is the information that I posted previously on PAYD. Hope it helps
Becca

giggles_alot

I have been on a pilot scheme similar to this with Direct Line called Smarter Insurance. Im not sure if this is open to everyone yet but it maybe worth you giving them a ring for details.

simplicity

Hi there,

I'd recommend them highly. I had been with NU traditonal insurance and switched over to PAYD since December. It's good, really cheap and suited me down to the ground. I commute to work using public transport so don't drive much at all, just the weekends and when on holiday.

No bill was over 15 quid and its great because you can keep tabs of your general budget/banking/expenditure whatever you want to call it

On the point of monitoring speed that was one worry I always had. Don't let it bother you. I've just had an accident and not that I was speeding but no data was requested, it has been (so far) a smooth claims process.

Highly recommended.

payless

had it fitted to 2 cars in Jan 08.. sems OK to date