Co-Operative Insurance Smartbox GPS-based car insurance

Co-Operative Smartbox GPS-based car insurance scheme

There is a new way for young drivers to reduce their car insurance costs - by driving responsibly !

No longer will all young drivers be tarred with the same brush and those that drive responsibly will be able to reduce their individual insurance premium. If they take out a policy with Co-operative Insurance and have a Smartbox fitted to their car, they will be able to show how well they can drive.

The Smartbox is a GPS device that allow the Co-Op to monitor what they call the driver's 'Safe Driving Parameters'. These are:-

average speeds on different types of road
how fast and hard the car accelerates or brakes
what times of the day the car is driven
how fast corners are taken.

They then assess how the car is driven every 90 days. The safer the car is driven, the more they can discount the premium but if the car isn't driven within these Safe Driving Parameters then the premium may increase. Drivers can log into a unique online ‘Driving Dashboard’ to see how their driving has been rated against the four driving behaviours. It also gives advice on what they can do to improve. Each behaviour is illustrated by a speed dial and drivers will be rated on a green (good driving), amber (generally good but showing some bad behaviours) and red (bad driving).

They will provide regular safe driving alerts to let the driver know how they are getting on. So for example if all the parameters are regularly rated 'Good' or 'Excellent' they will advise whether the premium is likely to be discounted at the next quarterly review. This will be a discount of up to 11% of the annual premium. Conversely, if the driving style is rated 'Poor' or 'Very Poor' they can alert the driver in advance to give them a chance to improve their driving style. However if the driver is rated ‘Poor’ or ‘Very Poor’ consistently over the period they will increase the premium, by up to 15% of the initial policy price, to reflect that riskier driving style. In the event of extremely poor driving they may decide this policy is not suitable and advise in advance that they are going to cancel the policy. This could be for driving so far above the speed limit that a driving ban be imposed by the Courts, for example. This will be very interesting for the driver in this situation when they try to get an alternative policy as they will be asked "Have you ever been refused car insurance ?" Because their answer will now be "yes".....

Find out more about the Co-operative Insurance Smartbox here