Young drivers insurance with blackbox tracking

[Gambit]

Anybody else had experience of these?

My 17yr old niece has just recently passed her test and bought herself a car, insured it etc which cost her a hell of a lot which shes been working/saving since shes been 14yr so fair play to her

Anyhow part of her £2000 insurance with Hastings is having a blackbox fitted, its placed on battery and runs all the time

So as i understood these are to prove you drive sensibly, within limits but i get a stressed out niece calling on friday saying she got an email from insurance will be cancelled within 7 days if score is not raised to 40 - so first annoyance is shes 17 ffs and they send an email like that

then I can see from app on her phone her score is low but doesnt show her breaking speed limits etc so i said ring them to get more info

They said to her

Drive between 6am-10pm (more traffic on roads more chance of accident?)
Accelerate in a higher gear (mechanical sympathy?)
Accelerate/Brake like youve a glass of water on dash (sometimes its necessary to get up to speed quickly like joining carriageways etc?)

All will lift your score, and therefore the reverse drops

But my point is, this defeats purpose imo as she is now driving around thinking about the blackbox score rather than trying to understand get more experience of road/traffic conditions.

And i also suspect that next year theyll use the data in an attempt to increase premium no matter what the score is

Anyone else had similar experiences?

 

[FM155]

Seen a few comments of this type about those black boxes. It's nuts to try and get a computer to 'regulate' driving standards under the threat of insurance cancellation. It's just a non starter, I know that I would never want one in my car as it would cause a meltdown at insurance HQ lol. I don't speed excessively and I adhere to 30/40 etc limits and I don't race other people on the roads but I love a good b-road blast with plenty of corners, gearchanges braking, nice crisp acceleration out of corners in the right gear etc but I am 100% sure it would have me in deep crap with these politically correct ****ehawks that are really only interested in profit.

 

[Gavlar]

It's a load or *****, the car is restricted too not the driver so even if you or another family member drive it you've to adhere to the rules. Hitting a pothole can make it think the car has crashed and result in an email/phone call too

 

[Gambit]

the car is restricted too not the driver so even if you or another family member drive it you've to adhere to the rules

Yep thats another issue

 

[Andy55]

The expectations of these black boxes seem to be very unrealistic.
If someone pulls out in front of you forcing you to swerve or brake suddenly, this instantly makes it seem like you're the dangerous or bad driver never mind the idiot in the other car.
What would happen if someone drives someone's car which has a black box fitted but under their own insurance via third part extension etc or as part of a test drive after getting work completed at a garage?

Out of interest what was the price difference between a non black box policy?

 

[Boabybooster]

I imagine they are quite a distraction as well as you'd constantly be looking at your speedo.

 

[Gambit]

The expectations of these black boxes seem to be very unrealistic.
If someone pulls out in front of you forcing you to swerve or brake suddenly, this instantly makes it seem like you're the dangerous or bad driver never mind the idiot in the other car.
What would happen if someone drives someone's car which has a black box fitted but under their own insurance via third part extension etc or as part of a test drive after getting work completed at a garage?

Out of interest what was the price difference between a non black box policy?

Apparently there are some devices which can be switched on/off via phone app but in this instance hers is on all the time as its wired direct to battery

Approx 700 difference by running the box

I imagine they are quite a distraction as well as you'd constantly be looking at your speedo.

Exactly....she has the dash computer set to digital speedo so she can see easier what speed she is doing. Its a mini so main speedo is centre of dash, digi one is centre steering wheel

 

[gizmo98]

nephew has the same issue (we pay his insurance)
its due again in two weeks time and were hoping it would be without the box this time but working out £360 more expensive
he was getting random emails telling him he needs to drive more at night to get his score up
his isn't constantly plugged in though and this year he only has to show it doing 2500 miles with the box
currently thinking of paying the extra this time to get rid of the box

 

[Chris Mac]

They offered it to me come renewal, it was about £90 saving but told me if I broke 100mph the insurance would automatically be cancelled.
I asked what the case would be if I was doing a track day at the time of the speeding and they couldn't give me a definitive answer as apparently the GPS data they had been seeing wasn't hugely accurate - i.e. Could guarantee if I was on the back straigh at kirkistown or driving down the Bog Road (long straight road that runs parralel to the straight and heads into portavogie)

 

[Gambit]

Check out the reviews on it - they get slaughtered

Hastings Direct Smart Miles Reviews - Read 173 Genuine Customer Reviews | hastingsdirect.com

 

[G N K]

More legal insurance scans and scandal. Biggest gangsters in the world they are.

 

[Pumesta]

When I was 17 the black box would have tried to escape with my driving lol

 

[andy9eleven]

Admiral guy asked me if I wanted one to save me £70 a year. I was insuring the 911 at the time. I asked him if he was serious. He seemed to be. I'm not with Admiral this year.

 

[stevieturbo]

Anybody else had experience of these?

My 17yr old niece has just recently passed her test and bought herself a car, insured it etc which cost her a hell of a lot which shes been working/saving since shes been 14yr so fair play to her

Anyhow part of her £2000 insurance with Hastings is having a blackbox fitted, its placed on battery and runs all the time

So as i understood these are to prove you drive sensibly, within limits but i get a stressed out niece calling on friday saying she got an email from insurance will be cancelled within 7 days if score is not raised to 40 - so first annoyance is shes 17 ffs and they send an email like that

then I can see from app on her phone her score is low but doesnt show her breaking speed limits etc so i said ring them to get more info

They said to her

Drive between 6am-10pm (more traffic on roads more chance of accident?)
Accelerate in a higher gear (mechanical sympathy?)
Accelerate/Brake like youve a glass of water on dash (sometimes its necessary to get up to speed quickly like joining carriageways etc?)

All will lift your score, and therefore the reverse drops

But my point is, this defeats purpose imo as she is now driving around thinking about the blackbox score rather than trying to understand get more experience of road/traffic conditions.

And i also suspect that next year theyll use the data in an attempt to increase premium no matter what the score is

Anyone else had similar experiences?

Was any of this stated to her before hand as some sort of conditions for the policy ?

These sort of thing have to be the dumbest thing on the planet for determining driving standards. I'd love to test one driving through red lights, on the wrong side of the road, pulling out of junctions dangerously. All the usual dangerous stuff people do. But these devices wouldnt recognise any of them. Such total retards whoever thought these would do anything positive other than line more corrupt ****ers pockets

 

[vtec1]

Go out in the car with herbs show her where she's going wrong. Or drive the car yourself for a while

 

[Gambit]

@stevieturbo didn't read any documentation as it was all done and sorted by herself. You would just assume it was fair tracking but in this instance it aint

Go out in the car with herbs show her where she's going wrong. Or drive the car yourself for a while

Her driving is not the issue here. It's the rules on the box just seem ridiculous. Reading the reviews give's you a good idea on how bad it is

 

[genman]

With it just wired to the battery id hot wire to a battery and tie it to a push bike...those boxes never allow for clowns on the roads...its a glorified con.
In England R drivers can do 70 etc and to join a motorway safely you have to use revs which the box says is bad driving.
NO doubt here it would do you for bad driving doing 45 on the motorway
I bet they wouldn't pay for a new battery if you go on holiday and the box drains it dead.... likely email you claiming you'd removed the box

 

[Gambit]

ive dropped an email to both Hastings & BBC watchdog about it....so we'll see where it goes.

The one to hastings was asking them for clarification on how scores are calculated etc. the one to watchdog was more about the added pressures being placed on drivers - along with links to the reviews where they are continually getting slaughtered on it being a con.

 

[Coog]

Sounds like a nightmare. I'd have had my insurance canceled in about 5 minutes as a first driver with one of those black boxes!

 

[Paddy_R]

A guy I work with is having serious issues with Hastings re their black box insurance in his daughters car. He's lodged official complaints and accused them of fraud. What's he's currently doing is saving the score daily that it produces and every few days emailing them into Hastings. He's shown me several days where every category has scored the same but the final calculation and rating score varies wildly.

He also stated that he was told that 3 mph below the speed limit is counted as speeding by them!

 

[G N K]

If a black box was fitted to my first car my insurance would have been void within the first 30 minutes lol.

 

[Ben P]

How are poor 'R' drivers supposed to master J turns, handbrake turns and wheel spinning with one of these boxes?
Daft.

 

[Gambit]

A guy I work with is having serious issues with Hastings re their black box insurance in his daughters car. He's lodged official complaints and accused them of fraud. What's he's currently doing is saving the score daily that it produces and every few days emailing them into Hastings. He's shown me several days where every category has scored the same but the final calculation and rating score varies wildly.

He also stated that he was told that 3 mph below the speed limit is counted as speeding by them!

Thats interesting...will get the niece to record hers to see if i can see the same anomalies

does he have it in black & white that 3mph under is considered speeding or was this just one of their customer services agents saying on the phone?

 

[Paddy_R]

@Gambit I believe it was one of their customer service guys that told him.

 

[Gambit]

so naff all back from them...but in meantime happy to send out an email to niece saying your insurance will be cancelled on 27/07

customer service lines are down, new business lines are down...complete joke..started getting somewhere now with hastings direct (seperate division from smartmiles) via facebook so will see how that progresses