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Original poster

Black Box Insurance

8 replies

Telematics1234 · 03/02/2022 14:25

Recently purchased black box insurance from Admiral for 18 year old DD, so she can drive herself to school.

They have a scoring system red (poor), amber (average) and green (good). They rate each day's journey according to their scoring system and the data is uploaded to their portal about every 4 days.

Since the black box has been installed, DD has received quite a few red dots, even though she believes she is driving safely within the speed limit with no sharp acceleration or braking.

DD received a red score last weekend and we have no idea why. I was with her for the whole journey and I felt that her driving was excellent and she certainly didn't exceed the speed limit.

I was just wondering how other people have got on with the Admiral Black box. I feel that their telematics dashboard is poor, in the sense that no specific information is provided, so it is difficult to improve your driving if you are not aware of the faults leading to a lower score.

i will ring Admiral for further information, but we are thinking of changing insurers to a black box insurer that gives useful feedback to enable the young driver to improve their driving.

OP posts:
cherryonthecakes · 03/02/2022 14:40

My dd has black box insurance with another company and is marked down for short journeys which was a surprise to us. By short I mean 10-15 minute car drive not driving to the end of the road sort of distance.

inappropriateraspberry · 03/02/2022 14:51

I have one with Hastings. It quite often flags up cornering and braking! I live in a rural area with lots of country lanes, therefore you do have to brake suddenly if something comes towards you round a corner, no matter your speed!
I think they work in the assumption we are all driving in nice wide main roads!

guessmyusername · 03/02/2022 14:52

Dd had back box, not Admiral and it doesn't like short journeys, or supermarket car parks, or most car parks for that matter. There are other roads that it doesn't like presumably due to many accidents, so there are other factors as well as driving style that are taken into account.

Original poster
Telematics1234 · 03/02/2022 14:53

@cherryonthecakes

My dd has black box insurance with another company and is marked down for short journeys which was a surprise to us. By short I mean 10-15 minute car drive not driving to the end of the road sort of distance.
Seems strange to be marked down for short journeys. I wonder why?
OP posts:
Original poster
Telematics1234 · 03/02/2022 14:55

@guessmyusername

Dd had back box, not Admiral and it doesn't like short journeys, or supermarket car parks, or most car parks for that matter. There are other roads that it doesn't like presumably due to many accidents, so there are other factors as well as driving style that are taken into account.
That seems difficult to deal with as it's hard to avoid car parks.
OP posts:
Original poster
Telematics1234 · 03/02/2022 14:57

@inappropriateraspberry

I have one with Hastings. It quite often flags up cornering and braking! I live in a rural area with lots of country lanes, therefore you do have to brake suddenly if something comes towards you round a corner, no matter your speed! I think they work in the assumption we are all driving in nice wide main roads!
We also live in a rural area with one car width roads with plenty of blind bends. This has no doubt contributed to some of the red dots on account of sudden braking when someone appears at a blind bend.
OP posts:
DGRossetti · 03/02/2022 15:01

Seems strange to be marked down for short journeys. I wonder why?

Because chances of having an accident are more related to number of journeys than miles driven. (And there may also be an element of most accidents occur closer to home, which proves familiarity does breed contempt).

There are quite a few apps you can download and run on a smartphone that might give you some clues as to what is upsetting the box.

When telematics starting being a thing, the actuaries where I worked spent a lot of person-years getting the mappings suitable so they could make a profit. Bearing in mind the whole black box proposition is intended to drive premiums down. Which isn't really what your insurers want.

Original poster
Telematics1234 · 03/02/2022 15:11

@DGRossetti

Seems strange to be marked down for short journeys. I wonder why?

Because chances of having an accident are more related to number of journeys than miles driven. (And there may also be an element of most accidents occur closer to home, which proves familiarity does breed contempt).

There are quite a few apps you can download and run on a smartphone that might give you some clues as to what is upsetting the box.

When telematics starting being a thing, the actuaries where I worked spent a lot of person-years getting the mappings suitable so they could make a profit. Bearing in mind the whole black box proposition is intended to drive premiums down. Which isn't really what your insurers want.

We have downloaded Life 360 which doesn't show up any speeding, harsh braking or acceleration, leaving it more mysterious regarding being awarded multiple red dots 🤷‍♀️
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