Has anyone used the Co-oprative insurace Smartbox?

[WillE]

Trying to get insurance for my sister. She has been driving my old Vauxhall Corsa 1.7DTI. Having passed her driving test she had to change her insurance from a special provisional policy to normal a policy. This put her insurance from £550 up to £2500. I then found the smartbox and it reduced her insurance to £800 on her own policy. My question is has anyone used a smartbox and how did they get on? Did you save any money in the long run?

[Billy_rfc]

Can't help with the smart box question, but has she tried adding more experienced drivers onto her policy? Usually get big discounts adding on the old folks

[McSam]

I would agree with that - you should deal with the insurance quote itself first, because that's quite preposterous and more than I'd be paying if I passed now - and I have testicle tax to contend with.

[Baryonyx]

I wouldn't go for one of those boxes. Given that they can increase your premium for what they consider unsafe driving the charges could spiral with little or no comeback.

[Fahd]

Although I can understand why getting cheaper quotes will seem very attractive, I'd stay well away from anything that allows insurance companies to hold information about your driving. Forgive my skepticism but it just seems to me like an easy get out clause for insurers who don't want to pay out to me. The more people are willing to pay for the privilege of having a box fitted to their car, the more other insurers will look to use the same tactics.

Vote with your custom.

Edited by Fahd on Monday 19th December 19:18

[WillE]

Billy_rfc said:

Can't help with the smart box question, but has she tried adding more experienced drivers onto her policy? Usually get big discounts adding on the old folks

That is with both parents

[Angry Sheep]

The Smartbox would be a good idea if it actually reduced premiums. In my experience of getting quotes, other places are much cheaper in the first place without fitting the Smartbox. In the end I went with Bell who were pretty cheap and have been very good so far.

[WillE]

Thanks for all the advise, I might look into trying a multi-car policy. Thoughts

[goingonholiday]

Our runaround is insured with the co-op box, my wifes car, 17 year old daughter drives it sometimes. The price was just under £500 cheaper than anywhere else and overall it's been pretty good. They gave us £50 back after 3 months for consistently getting high scores (not too difficult). Worth noting that any driving after 11pm will lower the scores.

Sadly wonderful daughter didn't notice the mercedes that had stopped in front of her to let the car in front of him turn right so I can comment on the claims process...pretty good, no issues they collected the car and a courtesy car was on the trailer ready to go.

If you are a keen driver it's not for you but for a young driver who needs to build up some no claims I think it's worth a look.