Black box insurance

You can usually drive your car while you wait for your black box to be fitted. Depending on the insurer, you should have 7-14 days to install the black box. But check with the insurer beforehand.

With black box insurance, you typically get a discount just because you’ve agreed to have a device installed. But you might find your insurance costs are adjusted up or down only a month after installation, depending on your driving score.

Insurers aren’t interested in tracking your daily whereabouts. While a black box might collect your location data, it's only used to get a more accurate picture of you as a driver. This helps give you an insurance price that’s fair and also helps recover your car if it's stolen.

The data that your insurer collects should be analysed according to the T&Cs of your policy.

Safer, careful driving should result in a higher driving score. While black boxes collect a lot of data on your driving, the speed and the general smoothness of your driving are largely what determine your driving score.

This means you need to keep to the speed limits, try to accelerate smoothly and brake with plenty of time. Black boxes don’t like surprises, so consistent, safe driving should see the greatest rewards. You usually get tips through a personalised dashboard on how to improve your driving score.

If you can, it might be better to avoid driving between 11pm and 5am. Driving at these times might lower your score as insurers tend to see greater risk of an accident during these hours.

Your insurer isn't going to tell the police, but your costs might go up as speeding affects your driving score. Going over the speed limit by a small amount occasionally might not affect your policy much. But if you regularly break the speed limit, it’s likely to push up your costs. In some cases, your insurer might even cancel your policy.

If you get a black box car insurance policy, you should try to stick to the speed limit – speed is one of the main influencers on your driving score.

If you think you’re going to go over your mileage you should talk to your insurer in advance.

Some black box insurance companies let you buy more miles if you exceed the agreed limit. Others may amend your policy price if you tell them ahead of time that you’ll be going over. If you have a pay-as-you-go car insurance policy, you may be charged automatically if you exceed the mileage limit without topping up.

One of the key safety benefits of having a box installed is the accident alert. Some insurers offer this, but not all.

If your car experiences G-force above a certain threshold, it suggests an impact, and the black box notifies your insurance company. If your car is stationary, they may try to call you. The black box can tell if the car isn’t moving, if the ignition is still on, and the severity of the impact.

If your insurer believes that you might be injured – especially if the car’s in an isolated or remote location – it may call the emergency services on your behalf. The potential for saving lives may ultimately prove invaluable. This service may not be available with all insurers, check your policy details to be sure.

A professionally-fitted device needs to be removed by a professional. It's not illegal to remove a black box but you shouldn’t attempt to uninstall your box mid-policy as it could leave you uninsured.

You don’t need to have the black box removed if you’re cancelling the policy or not renewing - it just stops collecting data. If you still want the black box removed, you might need to pay the labour cost. For those with a self-fitted device, you can remove this yourself.

If you're selling your car and have cancelled your policy, you don't need to remove the box. Even so, you might want to tell the new buyer the box is there.

Yes, you can normally drive abroad with a black box fitted to your car. You typically get up to 90 days' cover to drive in the EU and certain other European countries with many black box car insurance policies. But you should check the terms and conditions in your policy before you drive abroad.