It’s something that’s been used for years in the commercial sector but only now is telematics technology available for the masses.
If you’ve never heard of it before (I know I hadn’t) telematics is an invention that allows the way a car is driven to be captured and assessed based on five key parameters: cornering, swerving, braking, speed and acceleration (some also take night-time driving into account).
In the past, telematics has been used in industries like Formula One racing to track, assess and improve the drivers’ speed and performance. However, many insurance companies have now started offering it as a means of driving their customer’s insurance costs down based on how safely they drive. If you consider yourself a safe driver and think you could drive your costs down then give telematics a go and receive a competitive car insurance online today!Why?The European Court of Justice has ruled that insurers can no longer charge different premiums to men and women because of their gender. In short this affects younger drivers and although young male drivers may be charged slightly less it’s the young female drivers who will be hit hardest with increased insurance premiums. Amongst others this is one of the motivating factors for the more widespread introduction of telematics to ensure insurance prices can be calculated more fairly regardless of gender and age.How?A small self-contained box is fitted indiscreetly to your car to track how it is driven. The data is then relayed back to the insurer who can hopefully offer a cheaper price on your car insurance based on how safely you drive. Many insurers will use a points system to score how safety you drive and change your premiums accordingly. What’s particularly good about the system is that you can track and improve the quality of your driving overtime based on the feedback you receive.What’s next?Give telematics a go and see if you could drive your insurance premiums down, after that it’s just a case of deciding how you’ll spend all that extra money you could save.