smarbox insurance !!

[Gawri20]

hi all, passed my test last month, and have finally made enough money to buy myself a nice little clio.

ive found this thing called cis smartbox insurance, much much cheaper than some quotes i've been given (£12000), they offered 800 quid a year, which is really reasonable.

but they fix a gps system to your car, which measures how safely you drive and if you don't follow the rules then they will cancel the policy.

has anyone heard of this? and if you have it can u tell me how strict it is, because lets face it, very few people actually do 30 on a 30 mph road.

thanks!

[FisiP1]

These seem to have found their way here from the USA now.

I think they are scary intrusions into peoples lives, but I suppose if you look at it another way most of us carry phones that can probably be used to track our movements anyway.

I can't give you any advice or such on how they work or any pitfalls, but I have heard that most impose curfews on the vehicle.

Oh and.. I do 30 on a 30 road, 90% of people in my area do. And so should you if you want to keep sane insurance rates if you are young.

[Mastodon2]

If you've only just passed your test and are thinking about speeding in 30 zones already, can I be the first to suggest a bus pass?

[mike9009]

It has been discussed before on here.

What is so wrong with doing 30 in a 30? Unfortunately if you want to pay £800 for insurance at a young age, you need to stick to the rules and need big brother watching. ( because i know how good a driver i was at 17!)

Mike

[davepoth]

Hypothetically speaking, is there any idea of what would happen if the GPS signal got jammed?

[Willy Nilly]

mike9009 said:

It has been discussed before on here.

What is so wrong with doing 30 in a 30?

Nothing in the olden days when speed limits used to be set sensibly, now if you live next to a road and shout load enough they lower the speed limit. I can think of a number of roads that were 60mph not so long ago but now are a 30.

[fridaypassion]

Smart boxes are a great idea for young drivers. Quite how you exercise the self control required is a bit beyond me personally but at least it gets you on the road for a semi reasonable cost.

There should be a cutoff for these devices of say 3 years after passing.

If insurance companies put these boxes in to ensure you never crash then what exactly are they insuring against of they negate all the risk from their end?

[mike9009]

Willy Nilly said:

mike9009 said:

It has been discussed before on here.

What is so wrong with doing 30 in a 30?

Nothing in the olden days when speed limits used to be set sensibly, now if you live next to a road and shout load enough they lower the speed limit. I can think of a number of roads that were 60mph not so long ago but now are a 30.

Agreed, but that wasn't the point i was making......

[okie592]

well if your never going to exceed any speed limit, be it a 20, 30,40,50,60, or go more than 70 on the motorway
if your never going to have to break too hard, for instance to avoid a accident
if your never going to take a corner a bit to fast.
if your never going to drive after 10pm
if your happy with your insurance premium going up for doing any of these things, then sure its a good idea.

i just did a quote 19 yo 2 years driving 0 NCB and its about £100 cheaper on a bora tdi, which imo is in no way worth it considering they can charge you if you do any of the above.

just think how easy it is to not notice a change in speed limit, then boom a extra £40 on your policy every time, i bet in a year for every single driver on the road it would increase at least once.

[Gawri20]

i would have thought that they average it all out or something like that, surely the price wont go up as soon as you go above the limit, thats just crazy!

[okie592]

they do it over 90 days, but once you get your own car you will notice how hard it is to speed everyday, creep up to 35 in a 30 twice a week for 8 weeks and it might end up costing you alot more in the long run over the life of a policy.

Im with admiral multi car atm, they are pretty good, when my parents came on with a insignia and a jag xj the policy came to £2100 for the year with the discounts

1400 for me 450 for my mum on the insignia and and 350 for the xj ( only driven about 3k per year) which i rekons not bad concidering im 19 and a boy

[Mark_Karting]

Gawri20 said:

hi all, passed my test last month, and have finally made enough money to buy myself a nice little clio.

ive found this thing called cis smartbox insurance, much much cheaper than some quotes i've been given (£12000), they offered 800 quid a year, which is really reasonable.

but they fix a gps system to your car, which measures how safely you drive and if you don't follow the rules then they will cancel the policy.

has anyone heard of this? and if you have it can u tell me how strict it is, because lets face it, very few people actually do 30 on a 30 mph road.

thanks!

I have a system fitted to my car from a company called InsureTheBox (IIRC). Saved me roughly £3k.

My policy will not punish me or cancel if I drive over the speed limit or after 11pm etc. However the car is limited to 6500 miles P/A and I get bonus miles for when and how I drive, if I go over the 6500 I have to pay £90 for every 500 more I do.

Unfortunatley I crossed th 6.5k last week and have had to add another miles. And out of a possible 100 bonus miles every month I earned 2 in february, its probably around 30 since last May.

I think it is a good idea and system and you are concious of it so you do peg back your driving. Its teaching to be smooth too as the box has a G-meter and I get marked down for not driving smoothly.

Would I recommend it, yes. Am I having one on my next car, fk no

davepoth said:

Hypothetically speaking, is there any idea of what would happen if the GPS signal got jammed?

I asked this, apparently there is a system to tell them when the box has had a problem or has been tampered with and it voids the policy until it comes back online as far as I was explained

Edited by Mark_Karting on Monday 27th February 22:13

[matthias73]

davepoth said:

Hypothetically speaking, is there any idea of what would happen if the GPS signal got jammed?

Realistically, can I buy you a pint?

[Trackside Junior]

Gawri20 said:

hi all, passed my test last month, and have finally made enough money to buy myself a nice little clio.

ive found this thing called cis smartbox insurance, much much cheaper than some quotes i've been given (£12000), they offered 800 quid a year, which is really reasonable.

but they fix a gps system to your car, which measures how safely you drive and if you don't follow the rules then they will cancel the policy.

has anyone heard of this? and if you have it can u tell me how strict it is, because lets face it, very few people actually do 30 on a 30 mph road.

thanks!

I thought about this. Unfortunately, I take corners too hard for the box, sometimes I break too fast for the box and I hoon too much for the box.

Try companies like Admiral, they do a 10 month policy that gives you 1 years no claims after 10 months, so that you get your premium down a bit quicker. If you're male, I'm afraid the insurance companies are going to hammer you.

Also, you should be doing 30 in a 30 zone. It's 30 for a reason. Drive through my village at above 30 and expect me to flash you and I hope your car gets crushed! Morons drive above 30 in a 30 zone! Just because other, moronic, people do it, it does not mean that it's OK!

Rant over

Happy driving!

[J4CKO]

If its the choice between driving and not driving, i.e. having to be monitored I don't think its a bad idea, and may just be a
good way to bring a little restraint to younger drivers, I remember what I was like then, enthusiasm was much greater than talent or experience, this may remind them that driving isn't a right and you don't get to pass your test and just do as you please.

I suspect we will be buying a family "pool car" for us all to use with one of these in, and the box wont just to monitor errant youngsters but also those of us who have been driving twenty plus years that have some tendency to let the speed creep up, to corner too fast and to not anticipate and rely on the brakes too much to avoid an accident.

We have some friends that have done this and they are positive about the whole thing, their insurance on a little runabout 1.0 is £800 which isnt so bad for a young driver being on the policy, mine back in 89 was about £300 and something, with inflation that would be £700 or so at todays prices so not a million miles off, am hoping it means that we dont have to get the most feeble, tiny 1.0 car around and we can perhaps get something more akin to a proper car, not fast, just not painfully slow and weedy, I think younger drivers should have a bit more metal round them if possible but wit an engine that gives them ample time to question the wisdom of accelerating any more than they have done.

[NadiR]

If you don't want a black box, and still want a reasonable insurance quote, either get a classic Mini or classic Beetle. I'm 17 and I've got a quote of £1300 on the Mini with no black box, and a Clio would probably set me back £6000 a year!

[hairykrishna]

Mark_Karting said:

I asked this, apparently there is a system to tell them when the box has had a problem or has been tampered with and it voids the policy until it comes back online as far as I was explained

Surely it has to tell you, somehow, that you're policies suddenly invalid? I mean it's probably tempting with one of these things to buy a 50 quid GPS jammer but there must be some mechanism to account for it losing signal occasionally in a legitimate way. Are you uninsured in tunnels?

[vit4]

Edit: Just read the "lets face it no one does 30 in a 30". Get the black box.

Edited by vit4 on Monday 27th February 22:53

[Baryonyx]

Gawri20 said:

has anyone heard of this? and if you have it can u tell me how strict it is, because lets face it, very few people actually do 30 on a 30 mph road.

thanks!

With that kind of attitude I think you need some sort of nannying whilst you're driving. You may have passed your test and saved some cash for a 'nice little clio' but you must accept that you don't really know how to drive yet. 30mph zones exist for a reason, and the bellends who hoof it about in them are the reason why 30 zones are changing to 20's.

[okie592]

Trackside Junior said:

Also, you should be doing 30 in a 30 zone. It's 30 for a reason. Drive through my village at above 30 and expect me to flash you and I hope your car gets crushed! Morons drive above 30 in a 30 zone! Just because other, moronic, people do it, it does not mean that it's OK!

Rant over

Happy driving!

so you have never done 31 in a 30 ever ever ever?