£4 million refunded to customers with free excess cover More info

Black box car insurance

Compare prices for black box car insurance, also known as telematics insurance

Go.Compare car dice

What is black box insurance?

With black box insurance, also known as telematics car insurance, your car is fitted with a small device that monitors your driving style.

The safer your driving is, the lower your insurance premiums might be when you come to renew.

Telematics car insurance

How does it work?

A black box is installed in your car which monitors how you drive with telematics technology.

It detects things like how fast you drive and how hard you brake, the force of your acceleration and your cornering style, as well as any sudden manoeuvres and swerving. It also looks at the times that you’re driving on the roads.

Taking all of these things into account, the insurer awards you with a regularly updated ‘driver score’ which indicates how safe a driver they consider you to be.

With a good driver score, you’ll likely be rewarded with lower premiums when you come to renew your insurance. That’s because as a safer driver, you’re a lower insurable risk.

As the policyholder, you can keep tabs on your driver score via your insurer’s app or website. They may also offer advice on how to improve your driver score and what aspects of your driving might be considered unsafe or in need of improvement.

Who is it for?

Mostly, black box insurance is for young, inexperienced drivers aged between 17 and 25.

As a young driver, when you apply for a car insurance policy, you’ll automatically be charged a high premium.

That’s simply because new, especially young, drivers are considered a high risk on the road.

The policy price you’re quoted doesn’t take into account how safe you are as a driver.

And that’s where black box insurance can step in. It gives you the opportunity to prove that you’re a safe driver, so you can be rewarded with lower premiums when you come to renew.

Benefits of blackbox insurance

As well as helping to make premiums more affordable, black box insurance offers other benefits such as:

It can help policyholders develop safer driving habits

Throughout the term of your policy, you can monitor and improve the way you drive by reviewing your driver score and the data on your insurer’s app or website. Here, you’ll see exactly what sort of driving faults you may be making regularly - like accelerating too sharply or braking too hard. And you can work on improving your driving style and driver score over time. When you come to renew, you should be quoted a lower price for your policy, that reflects how safely you now drive

Theft tracking

Black boxes use GPS to collect your car’s data, so if your car is stolen, your insurer can liaise with the police to locate it

Accident alert

A black box will sense any strong impact to your car. This will be picked up by your insurers and in some cases, the insurer will check you’re okay and call the emergency services if necessary

Can help prove who’s to blame in an accident

If you’re involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault, but there’s a dispute about who’s to blame, your insurer can check your data. This can help prove things like the speed that you were travelling and that you were driving safely, which can help build your case

Is black box insurance right for me?

Car insurance for young, inexperienced drivers can be really expensive, so a black box insurance policy can help save you money.

Some providers only allow people up to the age of 25 to take out black box policies.

But where there’s no age limit, even experienced drivers may find it can help lower their insurance costs.

  • Older drivers often get charged high car insurance prices because of their age, so they could reduce their premium prices with a black box policy
  • If you drive fewer miles than average, a telematics policy will prove this and might mean you can get cheaper premiums
  • If you only drive at low-risk times of day, that can bring your premium down as well. This is almost any time outside rush hour, excluding the middle of the night, which is usually considered higher risk
  • A black box can also prove you’re a good driver if you fall into a high-risk category, for example if you have a driving conviction

However, if you’re already a careful driver with several years of no claims on your policy backing that up, you’ll likely get better discounts and premiums on traditional car insurance policies than with black box insurance.

What details do I need to get a quote?

You can apply for black box insurance just as you would for a normal car insurance policy. You’ll need to provide information such as:

  • Personal details including name, address, date of birth, occupation
  • Your driving licence details
  • Car details - make and model, registration number, any modifications
  • Your estimated annual mileage
  • Any previous claims, points on your licence and driving convictions

Our expert says…

Telematics is a very useful tool, but any tool is only as good as its wielder. If you ignore your black box and don’t drive carefully or within any pre-arranged limits, you could pay more for your premiums"
Ryan Fulthorpe, Motoring expert at GoCompare

£4 million refunded to customers with free excess cover^^

If you need to claim, we’ll pay £250 towards your excess^. Just another reason to make your life choices on Go.Compare.

Get car insurance
excess cover for car

Tools and calculators

Page last reviewed: 23 February 2023
Page reviewed by Ryan Fulthorpe