My lad will soon be 17 and we have started to look at car insurance.
Several have a black box as part of the insurance, does anyone have any experience with these black boxes?
I've seen some that add charges based on driving and they appear fairly hefty. Others have time restrictions on driving which wouldn't work for him as his college has occasionally early starts and late finishes.
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I'd avoid them like the plague. The max discount they send you black after the assessment period is about £50, but the potential bad info they can gather will stay on that insurance groups record and affect future quotes.
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My daughter has a Tesco Box Insurance black box in her car.
The thing I like about the Tesco Insurance one, is the fact that the only restriction on her driving is the total mileage. You pay the insurance premium based on a specific mileage, 6000, 8000 or 10000. If you are going to exceed the 6000 or 8000 mile limits, you get an email suggesting that you top up the premium. 10000 miles is the absolute max. You also "earn" bonus miles for safe driving, up to 100 miles per month.
Other than that, there is a portal where you can see your driving profile - distance covered, % motorway and average speed. That's it! No restrictions on when you can drive, no yellow cards for speeding or any of that other stuff that is on some other policies.
The black box also has the benefit of accident alert and it acts as a tracker in the event of theft.
My eldest daughter had one on her car for the first 2 yrs of her being freshly insured, through Direct Line.
IIRC, it was a condition of the policy as she was a new driver.
I think the next nearest premium was around 400 quid more expensive than Direct Line and that has no box. It was a no brainer really.
At the end of the day, she wasn't tear arsing round anyway, just "learning" to drive once she was one the road by herself. I see no problems with them at all.
There’s more to them than a £50 discount. W/o a box insurance is usually more expensive if obtainable at all.Originally Posted by Bluehase284
Both of my sons started with Tesco black boxes and don’t remember any assessment period. Drive sensibly and they’ll be okay.
I guess there are many variations of how these policies work - it doesn't surprise me that many have a black box or nothing approach to young people's insurance.
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Avoid them.As a new driver He will screw up at some point.The last thing He needs is a device that will “grass “ on Him.
Have you had any experience with them or are you just cynically blowing off ? We all screw up at some point, it's called learning and we don't get executed as a result of that.
Option B, if the OP wants to secure a small mortgage to insure his son or even if anyone will insure him then yeah, avoid the "grasses" (they're KGB controlled)
If the premium was close I'd not consider a black box, but when the difference is well over £1000 it's become a serious option, but having no experience I wanted to know more.
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Il refer You to Bluhasser384s post and Yes 2 teenage learner driver kids of My own plus numerous friends of theirs.
I’d also add as a new driver no matter what You will pay through the nose for first year and it will reduce afterwards.
Last edited by lew07; 6th October 2019 at 13:10.
You don't have to refer me, I've read it and replied.
Judging by your response and disdain for black boxes, you've not bothered to entertain them for your teenagers then ?I
I have no problem with the concept of them, at all. If it allows a new driver to see, via an app, what they're doing right or wrong, then that'll do for me.
And, obviously, the initial year of insurance will be steep but without any claims, it will naturally reduce in cost thereon.
We looked into it but found no big advantage with a black box and as stated by the OP it limited the times they are able to drive which made it pointless as both My kids worked irregular hours at the time.
This is close to my heart as my son has his test this week, we bought him a car and have been looking at quotes. It’s crazy if we insure him for his car while driving on a provisional they won’t guarantee what it will go up to when he passes, or they say you have to cancel the policy and take out a new one, one company couldn’t tell me how much it would cost to cancel.
For my son the quotes have doubled if he doesn’t have a black box £3k+
And he’s in his second year as a plumbers apprentice so will have to insure for business use as he drives to different places of work each week, no tools in is car just needs to drive to work.
And unfortunately that’s probably another hike for the business use.
Would getting a small van (eg Corsa) be any cheaper to insure than the equivalent car?
Might be, but he doesn’t need a van yet and at 17 wants a car, kids ah?
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