Black box scores confusion
Black box scores confusion
Author
Discussion

giantpanda

Original Poster:

19 posts

160 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
quotequote all
I've just installed a black box into my Fiat Panda, and driven to the shops and back to test it out,
The brand of blackbox is DriveXpert, and on their website you can track individual journeys, which is pretty helpful.

These are the two stats boxes from my drives, which I did in exactly the same driving style and attitude, on two different routes, the first one using lots of crossroads, and the second one a slightly longer route, missing out the crossroads, and scoring a much lower risk?
The only reason I can think of is the number of stop-starts and crossroads, but surely that can't affect 'Smooth Driving'? Does anyone have any idea why?

snorky782

1,115 posts

129 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
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You're not as good at starting from a standstill as you like to think you are. Ditto slowing to a stop smile

Sheepshanks

41,196 posts

149 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
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Maybe drop them an email and ask.

Although I do wonder if you can get any meaningful data from very short journeys?

surveyor_101

5,069 posts

209 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
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Have you tried I the tesco insurance drive app,

Similar storey can drive like an adi on diamond assessment score top marks on everything but it's says cornering yellow to red. Running the Aviva drive app at same time different phone, scores me good on all over all 9.1 with corner master award

Dogwatch

6,383 posts

252 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
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How can a Length of Journey be "Very Good"? What is a bad length?

Sheepshanks

41,196 posts

149 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
quotequote all
Dogwatch said:
How can a Length of Journey be "Very Good"? What is a bad length?
I'd have said zero and one mile journeys should have been classified as very bad.

Apart from anything else, you can't have an accident if you're not using the car.

spookly

4,393 posts

125 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
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I suspect if I installed one of these it would not appreciate my driving :-)

roofer

5,136 posts

241 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
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spookly said:
I suspect if I installed one of these it would not appreciate my driving :-)
Ditto !

akirk

5,778 posts

144 months

Wednesday 3rd August 2016
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When one of these apps / systems can actually define, understand and measure good driving it will be worth noting how they score you. Until then they are scoring your ability to drive to the app's parameters which will be based on speed and deviation from the flat and level (yaw / pitch / etc). I would imagine it would find it difficult to differentiate between stopping and then crossing a cross roads, and doing an emergency stop to avoid a cyclist and then continuing on your journey... Both will see you come to a stop and then start off in a straight line, one is normal driving the other might indicate bad observation... How would it tell the difference...

It is rather like IQ tests which basically measure your ability to take IQ tests!

Toltec

7,179 posts

253 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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I wonder how they react to a road lined with speed bumps, 35, 10, 28, 12, 37, 11, 31, 8, 34, 10...


CrutyRammers

13,735 posts

228 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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I'd suggest a longer drive. Going "no miles" and one mile isn't going to give enough data to be useful, so I'd expect odd results from such a comparison. Something like a range gauge will also be all to cock if you just drive a very short distance, anything like this needs a decent period to get a good picture.

youngsyr

14,742 posts

222 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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Do these apps have an input for vehicle type? I'm thinking an identical drive in a Caterham would score much worse than one in a Rolls Royce simply due to stiffer suspension in the Caterham.

ging84

9,548 posts

176 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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how are 1 mile journey lengths very good?

who would you rather insure, the guy that does his 10-15k miles a year mostly on 1 50 mile round trip a day, or someone doing 50 1 mile trips a day?
One is driving to work every day, like a normal person, the other is constantly jumping in and out the car doing god know what

mmm-five

12,387 posts

314 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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I had something similar in my car as part of a cheap insurance offer.

Thought my driving was just average from the weekly feedback I was being given.

Decided it was a load of bull when I was given identical feedback for the 2 weeks that the car hadn't moved an inch as I'd taken another car to the 'Ring.

snorky782

1,115 posts

129 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
akirk said:
When one of these apps / systems can actually define, understand and measure good driving it will be worth noting how they score you. Until then they are scoring your ability to drive to the app's parameters which will be based on speed and deviation from the flat and level (yaw / pitch / etc). I would imagine it would find it difficult to differentiate between stopping and then crossing a cross roads, and doing an emergency stop to avoid a cyclist and then continuing on your journey... Both will see you come to a stop and then start off in a straight line, one is normal driving the other might indicate bad observation... How would it tell the difference...

It is rather like IQ tests which basically measure your ability to take IQ tests!
You do emergency stops at Give Way / Stop signs? Maybe the app isn't so bad at spotting a poor driver after all.

S11Steve

6,389 posts

214 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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Toltec said:
I wonder how they react to a road lined with speed bumps, 35, 10, 28, 12, 37, 11, 31, 8, 34, 10...
I tried the Aviva App on my phone a few months ago - driving through Sheffield (twinned with Syria based on quality of road surfacing) I was getting lots of spurious readings on acceleration and smoothness. Running the kids around some of the residential areas at weekends, I was also getting similar readings from the many speed humped roads.

On longer journeys though it did level out and resulted in a much higher score.

As this product is mainly aimed at younger/newer drivers, I can imagine it is a licence to print money - the majority of newer drivers will be on shorter local journeys, and will still be quite reactionary in their driving style, and not as smooth as someone who has had years of practice of clutch control, smooth braking and anticipating the road ahead.

dxg

10,783 posts

290 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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ging84 said:
how are 1 mile journey lengths very good?
It's brilliant from the insurer's perspective: they're selling you something you don't need!

snorky782

1,115 posts

129 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
quotequote all
S11Steve said:
I tried the Aviva App on my phone a few months ago - driving through Sheffield (twinned with Syria based on quality of road surfacing) I was getting lots of spurious readings on acceleration and smoothness. Running the kids around some of the residential areas at weekends, I was also getting similar readings from the many speed humped roads.

On longer journeys though it did level out and resulted in a much higher score.

As this product is mainly aimed at younger/newer drivers, I can imagine it is a licence to print money - the majority of newer drivers will be on shorter local journeys, and will still be quite reactionary in their driving style, and not as smooth as someone who has had years of practice of clutch control, smooth braking and anticipating the road ahead.
How can it be a licence to print money when the premium for these insurance policies are much, much lower than ones without it?

TwigtheWonderkid

49,158 posts

180 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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snorky782 said:
How can it be a licence to print money when the premium for these insurance policies are much, much lower than ones without it?
Oh do stop talking such absolute sense!

This is a thread about black boxes. Spouting utter tripe is the order of the day.

S11Steve

6,389 posts

214 months

Thursday 4th August 2016
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snorky782 said:
How can it be a licence to print money when the premium for these insurance policies are much, much lower than ones without it?
In theory, yes they probably are cheaper if certain driving conditions are met. But I'm not sure that many newly qualified drivers could meet the standards within the first year. I may well be wrong, but I thought it was now the rule rather than exception that young drivers could only get insured with the devices.

Sometimes getting older has advantages!