Insurance price hikes - ulterior motive?
Discussion
Just flicking through the 'Honest John' section of today's Torygraph, looking for a few 'Aaaargh! Snow! I need a 4x4! Which one?' letters and came across a letter concerning the recent insurance price hikes, and how, specifically, to get them lowered to an acceptable rate.
HJ recommended a 'black box' policy that monitors things like speed and regularity of use.
Now it has been mentioned on BBC R4's Money Programme recently that despite claims that increased, err, claims have lead to the price rises, industry insiders say it doesn't really add up and looks an awful lot like unethical profiteering.
It got me wondering - now a few companies are offering significant reductions in premium if you consent to drive with an Orwellian nightmare observing your every move, are we going to end up in a situation where drivers are basically held to ransom unless they submit to it, with the baseless old adage of 'if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear' sufficing for the insurance companies and the government on the notion that if you refuse to have on of these boxes installed in your car, you're clearly a dangerous driver and will be prohibitively billed accordingly?
HJ recommended a 'black box' policy that monitors things like speed and regularity of use.
Now it has been mentioned on BBC R4's Money Programme recently that despite claims that increased, err, claims have lead to the price rises, industry insiders say it doesn't really add up and looks an awful lot like unethical profiteering.
It got me wondering - now a few companies are offering significant reductions in premium if you consent to drive with an Orwellian nightmare observing your every move, are we going to end up in a situation where drivers are basically held to ransom unless they submit to it, with the baseless old adage of 'if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear' sufficing for the insurance companies and the government on the notion that if you refuse to have on of these boxes installed in your car, you're clearly a dangerous driver and will be prohibitively billed accordingly?
I recently had a look at a couple of the websites offering these 'black box' solutions for insurance premiums. From what I gather they would be a brilliant piece of kit for younger drivers but putting the :tinfoil hat: aside I would never want one in my car even with the reduced premiums. As far as I can tell they can see exactly where your car is 24 hours a day, along with tracking speed, distances travelled, how hard your accelerate and decelerate during your travels and of course whether or not you have broken any speeding regulations. One company had a 6k miles restricted use on the policy. However you could 'top up' this policy like you would a mobile phone with 250m 500m or 1k miles tokens. It also went as far as offering bonus miles if you drove economically during off-peak times, used gentle braking and acceleration etc. Which I thought was quite interesting.
RichTT said:
I recently had a look at a couple of the websites offering these 'black box' solutions for insurance premiums. From what I gather they would be a brilliant piece of kit for younger drivers but putting the :tinfoil hat: aside I would never want one in my car even with the reduced premiums. As far as I can tell they can see exactly where your car is 24 hours a day, along with tracking speed, distances travelled, how hard your accelerate and decelerate during your travels and of course whether or not you have broken any speeding regulations. One company had a 6k miles restricted use on the policy. However you could 'top up' this policy like you would a mobile phone with 250m 500m or 1k miles tokens. It also went as far as offering bonus miles if you drove economically during off-peak times, used gentle braking and acceleration etc. Which I thought was quite interesting.
Interesting? That sounds absolutely terrifying, a total invasion of privacy and breach of trust for the sake of an acceptable premium. I sincerely hope that's not the way things are going, although I fear there are plenty of morons out there who think it's an excellent idea (the same ones who like ID cards and don't mind all and sundry seeing their facebook profile).For the insurers "invasion of privacy" and "breach of trust" is getting better information regarding the risk profile of an individual driver.
In reality it is only the above because of your expectations based in previous experience of how insurers work. Put yourself in the position of the insurers, which would you rather have, risk quantification based on demographics or risk quantification based on the the person you are providing the service too.
I hate the idea of them doing this but can completely see their POV.
In reality it is only the above because of your expectations based in previous experience of how insurers work. Put yourself in the position of the insurers, which would you rather have, risk quantification based on demographics or risk quantification based on the the person you are providing the service too.
I hate the idea of them doing this but can completely see their POV.
Insurance is a hugely competitive business - either you're a better driver than current statistics show, in which case you have nothing to hide from your insurance company knowing everything you do; or you're a higher liability, in which case you shouldn't be complaining about current premiums. 
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