Ticker Insurance - any experience?
Ticker Insurance - any experience?
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Discussion

Fas1975

Original Poster:

1,808 posts

193 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
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Son passed his driving test in December and we're getting him a car this weekend. Just wanting to setup insurance for him and Ticker (telematics based) is coming up as the most competitive. Does anyone have any experience, positive or negative? or are their any other new-driver insurance companies worth looking at? I've trawled the usual comparison sites, but if anyone has any other advice, would be very welcome.

Thank you.

Ussrcossack

1,106 posts

71 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
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No experiance.

But have you put yourself as a named driver, this might bring the cost down

JeffreyD

6,155 posts

69 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
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They are a trading name of a large insurance services firm and the policy is underwritten by a major, well rated insurance company.

So they are legitimate and won't leave you in the lurch.

Aside from that - don't know about the offering but I can't imagine it will be any more awful than loads of the competition.

Fas1975

Original Poster:

1,808 posts

193 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
quotequote all
Ussrcossack said:
No experiance.

But have you put yourself as a named driver, this might bring the cost down
I've added the wife as a named driver and that brought the cost down. He's the policy holder, wife as named. 6000 miles per year, SDP only and it's coming out at £1100 which I thought was genuinely reasonable for a 1.2 Polo @ £10k value.

They are getting really strong reviews on TrustPilot. the only negative reviews seem to be coming from user error.

TwigtheWonderkid

49,040 posts

179 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
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Fas1975 said:
Just wanting to setup insurance for him and Ticker (telematics based) is coming up as the most competitive. Does anyone have any experience, positive or negative?
Over the years, I heard loads of people use the phrase "dodgy ticker". So that doesn't bode well.

Emily's dad

277 posts

165 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
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My daughter (17) passed her test in January.

Churchill was similar price to Ticker and no black box. She’s policy holder and me and the wife named drivers.

If you’ve not had a quote from them, may be worth checking.

outnumbered

4,872 posts

263 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
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My daughter (17) is with Ticker as they were the most reasonable quote. I think Churchill also had a non BB policy that was a similar price, but their customer reviews are shocking, whereas Ticker reviews were generally positive. It gets cheaper if you add parents as named drivers.

I'm actually happy for her to have a black box policy as it makes her more careful. The app is currently rating her as a "gold" driver.

The setup was all straightforward and it's worked fine for the last 3 months.

Fas1975

Original Poster:

1,808 posts

193 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
quotequote all
Thank you for the replies. I don’t think I’ve tried Churchill. Will check them out and may tell the boy there’s a black box even if there isn’t smile

Emily's dad

277 posts

165 months

Wednesday 9th March 2022
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Fas1975 said:
Thank you for the replies. I don’t think I’ve tried Churchill. Will check them out and may tell the boy there’s a black box even if there isn’t smile
My daughter knows there’s no black box, but I fitted a Garmin Mini dash cam. I’ve got the app on my phone so can check how she’s driving at any time. I am the “Black Box”

She has a part time job in a leisure centre, early shift she has to be at work for a 06:45 start.
Late shift for her doesn’t end until 22:30.
Both of these times are “high risk” driving times for some black boxes, so no black box for a similar policy cost and cover works for us.


Fas1975

Original Poster:

1,808 posts

193 months

Thursday 10th March 2022
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Just tried Churchill. Nearly double of Ticker's quote and their telematics policy was only £150 less.

Just redid the ticker quote to add myself as well as the wife as named drivers on the policy and it dropped it a further £50. Will go ahead with it. Appreciate the responses.

GMac1

204 posts

70 months

Thursday 10th March 2022
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Yes, my daughter has Ticker as well. New driver at 17 & Ticker is the best offer by far. Very good set up and linked to her mobile phone. She finds it very simply to use. She is currently rated as Gold standard. I would highly recommend.

Fas1975

Original Poster:

1,808 posts

193 months

Sunday 13th March 2022
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GMac1 said:
Yes, my daughter has Ticker as well. New driver at 17 & Ticker is the best offer by far. Very good set up and linked to her mobile phone. She finds it very simply to use. She is currently rated as Gold standard. I would highly recommend.
Have taken out the insurance policy and we picked up the car on Saturday. Have downloaded the app onto the phones and just waiting for the device to arrive.

I checked YouTube and there’s a video that shows the device is installed by sticking a hockey puck type device on the windscreen but when I completed the policy they said they would send out an OBD installed device.

Have been reading up on black box insurance and have read that it tracks smoothness of driving including accelerating / braking / g force etc. but I can’t get my head around how that’s tracked via the OBD port.

In your experience can you tell what the app is tracking and how it generates a “good driver” score?

My son is a tiny bit nervous that as a new driver if he stalls the car (because he’s still getting used to it) it will impact his score etc

Emily's dad

277 posts

165 months

Sunday 13th March 2022
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Doesn’t OBD just provide the power?

Fas1975

Original Poster:

1,808 posts

193 months

Sunday 13th March 2022
quotequote all
Emily's dad said:
Doesn’t OBD just provide the power?
Taken from their website:

The plug-in Ticker device

It’s a small box about as long as your index finger. We post the device out to you and you follow the instructions included to plug it in to your car’s OBD (Onboard Diagnostics) port – this is usually near your steering wheel and only takes a few seconds. It draws minimal power from your car and sends us your driving data directly.

When you leave Ticker, you can unplug the device and send it back to us to recycle.


Emily's dad

277 posts

165 months

Sunday 13th March 2022
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From my recent enquiries for my daughters insurance most black boxes are quite simple and seem to be GPS based.
They can tell when and where you drive, how fast you accelerate/brake and your speed.
Some are stuck to windscreen with an internal battery, some are installed by the provider and they don’t tell you where they are fixed.
Others plug into OBD and are powered from it rather than an internal battery.
My daughters dash cam can be plugged into and powered from the OBD, so you may find it may just be a power source rather than monitoring the car’s systems.

lost in espace

6,587 posts

236 months

Saturday 31st December 2022
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Well that was shortlived. 6 weeks into the policy we have been "asked" to cancel because of significant speeding. If we don't Ticker will cancel it with obvious consequences. £50 admin fee to start the policy, £50 cancellation fee, and £36 for the smart box. Luckily there is another insurer at a similar price, one which says significant speeding is 30mph over the speed limit.


TwigtheWonderkid

49,040 posts

179 months

Saturday 31st December 2022
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lost in espace said:
Well that was shortlived. 6 weeks into the policy we have been "asked" to cancel because of significant speeding. If we don't Ticker will cancel it with obvious consequences. £50 admin fee to start the policy, £50 cancellation fee, and £36 for the smart box. Luckily there is another insurer at a similar price, one which says significant speeding is 30mph over the speed limit.
Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but you seem to be annoyed at Ticker instead of being furious at your son. He's been consistently speeding, knowing he has a black box. Is he some kind or moron? As for the new insurer, 30 mph over is 50 in a 20, or 70 in a 40. That's not significant, it's fking outrageous, especially for a new driver. The new insurer saying what they've said is ridiculous.

If it were my son, he'd be being told that any reports back from the new insurer of speeding, no matter how minor, will mean the car gets sold until he can fund his own stupid driving.

Enut

1,003 posts

102 months

Saturday 31st December 2022
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lost in espace said:
Well that was shortlived. 6 weeks into the policy we have been "asked" to cancel because of significant speeding. If we don't Ticker will cancel it with obvious consequences. £50 admin fee to start the policy, £50 cancellation fee, and £36 for the smart box. Luckily there is another insurer at a similar price, one which says significant speeding is 30mph over the speed limit.
Will you have to disclose the insurance history to the new insurer? Seems like a really poor start to a driving career, hopefully the lesson will be learned. Look on the bright side, at least they didn't have an accident whilst speeding.

TwigtheWonderkid

49,040 posts

179 months

Saturday 31st December 2022
quotequote all
Enut said:
lost in espace said:
Well that was shortlived. 6 weeks into the policy we have been "asked" to cancel because of significant speeding. If we don't Ticker will cancel it with obvious consequences. £50 admin fee to start the policy, £50 cancellation fee, and £36 for the smart box. Luckily there is another insurer at a similar price, one which says significant speeding is 30mph over the speed limit.
Will you have to disclose the insurance history to the new insurer?
No, the insurer have cut him a huge break and given him the chance to cancel before he has his policy cancelled.

ClaphamGT3

12,234 posts

272 months

Sunday 1st January 2023
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Emily's dad said:
My daughter knows there’s no black box, but I fitted a Garmin Mini dash cam. I’ve got the app on my phone so can check how she’s driving at any time. I am the “Black Box”
There's helicopter parenting and then there is controlling/coercive behaviour. On the basis of what you have typed here, you are demonstrating the latter. You need to give your head a wobble. rolleyes