Telematics explained

Who is telematics good for?

Telematics is great for anyone who wants to take control of their insurance costs.

When it comes to car insurance, if you’re unlucky enough to fall into one of the high risk groups, you're likely to be looking at high premiums to insure your car. Telematics aims to help those in high-risk groups, such as:

• inexperienced drivers
• less frequent drivers with a low annual mileage
• young drivers

If you fall into one of these groups telematics insurance could help you pay cheaper premiums. Although a telematics policy could potentially lead to savings for anyone who's a good driver.

Telematics cover often comes with other benefits:

• free anti-theft tracking
• personalised online driving records

How to get telematics 'BlackBox' insurance

The telematics symbol

This symbol is used on the Confused.com site wherever there is information about telematics, BlackBox, or smart box car insurance policies.

Compare car insurance using our simple online form and we'll find the cheapest quotes for you from our panel of 113 motor providers. Look for insurers with the telematics symbol on their logo - these companies offer 'BlackBox' policies.

• Compare car insurance with Confused.com

What does installation involve?

• Your provider will install the device for you, it normally takes about an hour.
• The device is most frequently put beneath the dash or the bonnet, but can actually go anywhere. Where it's put will usually depend on the provider’s particular device, and the car itself. 
• But the one constant is that it will be put out of sight. The harder to find, the better. It's best not to tamper with it, as this defeats the object of getting one.
  
  Plus, in the (hopefully unlikely) event that your car is stolen, you don’t really want the thief to be able to remove it, as it will act as a tracker.

What does the 'black box' look like?

• The device is essentially a shallow black box, about the size of a standard deck of cards.
• The detail varies between providers, but they basically look like the boxes in the image to the right.