Wednesday 12th March 2003

Pay as You Go Insurance

Norwich Union puts the pieces in place for a GPS based insurance system

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Norwich Union has signed a deal with IBM and Orange UK to provide the technology and telecommunications for its new "Pay As You Drive" insurance programme.

The days of paying an annual premium could be numbered as insurance companies attempt to collect more data about you and your driving habits.

The system will use data collected from a transmitter device in a customer’s car to rack up the insurance bill based on when, where and how often the car is used.

Drive into Moss Side and leave the car there and you can expect your bill to run through the roof. Leave the car parked in a garage in the Lake District and your next direct debit should be a small one.

"Pay As You Drive" is due to be piloted this year with 5,000 volunteer motorists. Any customers interested in taking part in the pilot, which will
last up to two years, can register at www.norwichunion.com .

Not a bad idea in principal, but a bit depressing to know that days of driving where you like and when you like are gone. With tolls and geographically linked insurance, the freedom of the motorist will be entirely linked to the size of their wallet.

[8ball]

Hmm getting the feeling that big brother is watching you. Or at least wants to watch you a lot more

[victormeldrew]

As someone whose Chimaera has racked up probably 300 miles in the last 3 years, I say bring it on. Unless my garage turns out to be a high risk/high fee area of course, in whicjh case this is a scandalous infringement of civil liberties. Shame on them.

[FourWheelDrift]

Christ!!!!

Might have to avoid Luton then

>> Edited by FourWheelDrift on Wednesday 12th March 10:33

[zippy500]

Good idea, do it for car tax also and it will get my vote.

[agent006]

I assume they can use it to check whether your car is where you say it will be (garage etc.).

I wonder what their pricing structure is. Which roads cost more than others, i assume it's by accident risk.

[whoozit]

I foresee sales of vintage cars without 12v electrics (or indeed any electrics at all) rising if this happened

[domster]

And they could also see if you were exceeding the speed limit at the time of you having an accident. I bet they would be tempted to use that to get out of a claim.

Hmmm, makes a lot of sense for insurers, but could end up costing you more in terms of money or liberty... after all, who here has got a water meter? Not me. I'd rather pay the annual amount rather than worry about every flush. And water meters are rarely cheaper...

[Guy Humpage]

Surely they can also work out your speed and charge you extra for exceeding the speed limits.

[justinP]

No more lying about your annual mileage either, or where the cars kept!

Cheers

JustinP

[m-five]

I notice the website doesn't mention anything about the driving standard though.

All it mentions is that the fee will be based on where & when you drive and for how long. No mention about speed.

I suppose they could take the view that if you average 100mph on motorways for the two years of the trial without an accident and reduce you speed in bad conditions then you could be viewed as a low risk, whereas the numpties who do 30mph on NSL dual carriageways would end up paying more.

[danger mouse]

Mmm...

Wonder what information they will glean from the system and who they will be able/obliged to share it with.

I'll bet driving in spirited manner will increase the premiums even if they don't report it to the fed's.

Seems like a cunnng way to blackmail the general driving populace into driving within the speed limits. If you can afford to take the hit then you can do what you like.

My insurance is up in a month or so, wonder if they do a discount for long term Orange customers.

Porbably not...


Mouse

ps. Could be a cheap way to get Tracker in you car though

[tsh]

Also makes it very easy for them to undercut your current insurer by making assumptions about your driving pattern - e.g. quoting you for just commuting and forgetting that you might drive at weekends.

For a low use car, it's not really much different from a limited mileage policy, just a bit more flexible. Be interesting to see ther T&Cs!

Sean

[victormeldrew]

Interesting points about speeding. Once they have the data I guess they can do lots with it, but are they going to have the capacity for real-time monitoring? I'd have thought they would probably capture location data maybe as you change transmitter location for example, meaning much fewer data to store and process.

Economically its hard to see what they will get out of it, other than a gain in market share if its popular. No-one is going to opt for it unless they are going to save money after all; unlike insurance generally there is no complusion.

I've signed up anyway, seems like a good idea, on the face of it, for my seldom used TVR. I look forward to getting more details from them.

[pikey]

... add to that conjestion charges, motorway tolls and fines based on speed and we have roads full of the rich only!

No thanks!

[Fatboy]

A lead box over the reciever and dirt cheap insurance here we come

[justinP]

A lead box over the reciever..

Why is it radioactive?

[v8thunder]

I damn sure hope this isn't going to become standard accross the board. I don't know of any other country that scrutinises it's citizens like criminals the way we do. In any other country they'd have toll booths for congestion charging, but here we have cameras that could be up to all sorts. I don't like this. I'm going to make sure all my future cars have specialist insurance for proper cars - ones where trust, honesty and decency are valued.

[sublimatica]

Umm... most GPS units rely on a clear view of the sky to know their position. When the car's in the garage they're only going to be able to assume your position. (i.e. Where were you when the signal disappeared? In your driveway, therefore the car must be now in the garage.)

Blocking the signal would leave you paying less insurance, but I'm sure that if you have an accident on the M6 and your insurance tracker thinks you're still at home then your insurance company ain't going to pay a bean. Same problem as people with limited mileage policies who disconnect the speedo.

[RPA]

Since GPS speed camera detection devices such as Origin Blue i can show your current speed, what's to stop insurance companies using this technology to calculate your speed and tell you to get stuffed if you were speeding before you had an accident..... fault or no fault?

[robp]

Sounds a bit too optimistic in my opinion.

In theory they clearly have the technology, but in practice I doubt it will work.
Any excuse to keep the premiums high I reckon!