I paid 2.5k for my first ever insurance policy without a black box last year for a 1.2vw polo from 2007. I just didn't want the headache of constantly worrying about the penalisation you could possibly get from insurance companies.
You gotta tell me how you did that, the lowest I can get a car down to is 2.6k WITH a black box!!! Im using all the basic insurance tips as far as I can tell
@@itsak2419mate, go on auto trader and spec in insurance groups 0 to 3. If the car you’re trying to insure is category 30 then your quotes are going to be horrendous as a new driver
I’ve got a black box, it’s the type that is connected to your battery, in my experience they are great, my scores have been perfect throughout the nearly 2 years of have one, although the method it uses to measure acceleration seems to be too temperamental.
One of the girls i used to work with had a blackbox fitted and she wasnt allowed to drive at night... we worked until 2 am so she always haf to get a taxi or her dad to come pick her up. Defeated the purpose in my eyes
I love your videos. I watched so many of your videos leading up to my test and I passed. I love the way you relay information and your nice personality. Stay awesome!
depends who you are with , I had a blackbox for 3 years of driving with and it was great barely ever penalised me for anything and never had to worry about my car being stolen or anything as there's a box inside it! got the upside of really cheap insurance after my first year as well. Bare in mind I'm just an average driver not good or bad. also in my experience black boxes do not penalise you for around 10% over the speed limit (I set cruise at 77 on motorways and have never been penalised)
I wonder if harsh acceleration is a mark against not being smooth, ie: accelerating then suddenly not (like when you hit redline) instead of hard acceleration then gently letting off for the last 5mph. Same for hard breaking - being in control of the grip instead of letting the abs do it.
I've got a black box, had it 2 years now, I'm used to it. Was annoying this year though as premiums just went up anyway so my insurance did not go down despite maintaining an excellent score (though i called and kicked off a bit and got a discount) - It shouldn't penalise you for harsh braking though as sometimes you have no choice.
The one on your phone is open to so much, you didn't know it had started recording your driving, but by the sounds of it, if you are on a bus, train, plane etc. Moving faster than walking speed it is recording it as you driving your car. And it probably wasn't even you driving most of that time before, you would have been in the passenger seat.
@@WeAreThePeople1690 well the blackbox isn't connected to the network so it relies on your phone to send the actual data to the insurers. Additionally it records your phone usage, and it also informs you of how well you've driven and which areas you need to improve.
@lucian0043 Do they give you a sim card, too? Or do you use your own sim? If it's the latter, do they give you any discount to go towards your phone bill? Or is this the same as council recycling, where you do their job for them, and pay for the privilege!! I have been driving for 25 years, no claims ever, and always paid what the insurance company quoted, the cheapest one, obviously until I got a steady quote. But my oldest kids (twins) are learning, and I am looking into cutting their premiums down. These black boxes seem like more hassle than they are worth, if they react the way this one app is. If it was linked to a dashcam system, and they paid for the lot, it would be better for new drivers, but I bet the savings wouldn't be as good if the company had all the charges related to it transmitting the data back. £200 of a difference because one is female and one is male, is taking the 9iss as well. It's all a con when you look into it!!
For my first car last year, they wanted 8k without a black box but then been offered 3.2k with a black box. Other cars were pretty much the same. Had to sell the car because the insurance increased because I moved house. From £270 a month to £320 and only had 3k miles for the year. Couldn’t add more as it was £20 for another 2k miles.
Had a removable black box, saved me like £800 and maintained an excellent score. Insurance company (Admiral) was happy and requested it back only after 3 months in, rather than the full six months. Winner winner chicken dinner. The only downside was not being able to drive past 10pm for three months.
I had the same one with Bell (owned by Admiral) and you can drive after 10pm but it will tank your overall score. If you have 5 stars for smoothness and speeding it doesn’t make a difference however. Would recommend it fully
Hi I have a black box with an ap on my phone . It gives you a score after every drive only they don’t take into account if you have to stop suddenly for a hazard or going round bin Lorry’s. It had me for accelerating too fast and breaking too hard . I called them and said about they don’t allow for hazards. Even when I think that I did a perfect drive and let me tell you driving like a granny 😂 it doesn’t mark me with a high score. Mine does stay in the green and I can check after a fortnight to compare my driving with others . So far I have stayed in the green for weeks but am always worried when someone cuts in front of me on a road without indicating . I had a person weaving back and forth on a dual carriageway so slowed down to not have to keep braking and still got marked down for it. I personally hate them and dread every drive . I won’t be having one when my insurance is due for renewal. I will pay more .
Question: For the mobile app, does it let you flag the type of travel, example does it activate whenever you are in a vehicle either driver or passenger or if on public transport where you aren't driving?
I had a black box for a few months can’t remember which I got think they put it under my bonnet somewhere. Had to get rid of it tho cause I couldn’t drive between 12am and 6am but I got a job that started at 5am
I had a black box on my first car and it was an absolute waste, they constantly remind you that they are more than happy to get rid of your policy and they never keep up on their discount promises. If you don’t really like driving then it’s perfect but if you actually enjoy driving I would recommend never getting one because you can never have fun with it 😂
My first insurance policy was black box. My score tanked so quickly for my acceleration. Went from learning in a diesel to driving a petrol so took a while to get used to it. Then the car got wrote off and got a car with an engine too big for them to insure 😂 so been black box-free for the past year and a half
I'll tell you about my friends experience 😉. They drive around 40% of the time with the app, the app directline driveplus records all drives but you can choose who's driving etc. They just put sometimes that they were a passenger or on smaller trips they're on a bike etc. They do like to go on honest drives but mostly it's in central London or later on in the evening leading to lower scores. They would advise if possible like them measure all drives! However be selective with putting who was driving though. From their experience it isn't too worried about speeding etc since it's based on speed on that road on average and users around you. But for the first year it was 2.3k, around 700 cheaper so they would say it's definitely worth it 😉
I didn't start driving myself until 3 years after I passed my test so thankfully I avoided the sky-high new driver premiums. I'm under 25 so they're still quite high, but not *as* bad. So a black box has never seemed worthwhile to me.
ive got a black box, i do accelerate and corner harshly sometimes 😅 but its only marked me 2 points. i get around 90 points a week driving score and its been fine for me
Recently passed myself and when looking to get insurance myself, I avoided a blackbox and decided to pay the extra like £150 a year. I then added my sister to the policy and it went down £90ish, so blackbox would've saved me £60. I've seen/heard too many stories of people getting their insurance cancelled on them and having to go through the insurance stage again, sometimes it going up. I felt like it could potentially be a hassle just to save £60 a year, I will admit my driving is not perfect and being a new driver I can get things wrong I'm still learning, I was told this is when the real driving lessons kick in xD.
@@DrivingSchoolTV Yeah basically, I'm only human I'm going to make a mistake or 10 xD. With being 32 and a new driver I didn't get caught in the young driver premiums (I pay under £1200, which as I've been told for a first car is good). If it was a saving of like £500+ I would've probably considered it. Also after reading some of the comments there's also time restrictions, I work multiple shifts so some times I work late, some I work early. Would've made getting to and from an unwanted nightmare.
So this is the video you were filming when i saw you ( harsh brake at 7.35 )😂😂 I'm so glad you done this video because now im looking at buying my own car and insurance ive seen how much cheaper a black box is but just dont know if i want to be monitored all the time or if it even is accurate!!!!!!!!!
@@DrivingSchoolTV You are correct !!!!! I havent had a chance to drive yet but hopefuly getting my car next week, to which i will be driving all the time
@DrivingSchoolTV it's nice I know everyone in there as I've been going there for many years. I'm thinking to just start with an Astra or a corsa for my 1st one. Do you have any suggestions on best 1st cars??
A corsa would probably be cheaper than an astra! but I'd suggest how you want to do it is work out the cost of everything involved first, like insurance and road tax and see what combination you can afford. Some cars are way more expensive to insure than others so you could search autotrader for all the hatchbacks in your price range and then use comparethemarket to see what youd pay to insure them. That should help narrow down what you can actually get! And apologise to anyone around in advance for the swear words you're gonna shout when you first get insurance quotes online 🤣
I had to have a black box for 3 years with my first car due to the just add fuel scheme and it massively helped with my insurance prices later on down the line.. they are annoying at first but you just get used to it and I didn’t find it as restrictive as some people think😊
I currently have a 1.0 arosa and I pay around 270 a month without a black box and that was few weeks after me passing. I'd just look around and call up some companies as calling them will get you a better price. Also depends on the details you gave, if you are employed and where you live
For the app black box, what would happen if you were to be a passenger in someone else's car would that also affect your score even though you're not the one driving.
Got 1.4k first year no box, not worth saving a few hundred quid for anxiety. Sure some boxes for some companies might be great, but I rather not risk being locked in to a year of a hellish box (See admiral boxes thinking you're on your phone when the app is open).
@@hasnain8559 Yeah, I remember checking quotes about 2 months before passing and I was getting around 3-4k, but then the month after started dropping. I remember the day I passed I was holding my fiancees hand when the search results were loading hoping it won't be over 2k because I had to start driving straight away lmao.... I think the month/season affects it a lot as well. I checked a quote about 1 month after and it was down to 900! Honestly don't understand how insurance is the only product that doesn't have transparency in pricing when it's required by law.
@@DrivingSchoolTV Just on lessons atm. I've had some harsh braking and harsh acceleration but I've noticed that the app is very forgiving if you go slightly over the speed limit - I accidentally did 73 on a dual carriageway while overtaking, but it didn't seem to care. What annoys me is; it doesn't pick up driving too slowly 🙄 it sometimes takes ages to update too. I've had the app since March. I've effed up massively on lessons but it doesn't know everything, so I think it's just sh!t tbh. The real work begins when I pass, I'm probably going to get hideously trolled by it 😂 I reckon the longer you have it, the better your score.
I think actually now ive done a few lessons with it (obviously wasnt driving) but it rates the lessons higher than my own driving! I think it likes the slower extreemely careful learner style of driving that lasts a really long time and goes around in circles for 2 hours lol.
@@DrivingSchoolTV yea that's what I reckon too. It'll be a different story once I pass, I just know it. In no universe am I a better driver than you 😂 hilarious.
@@SamilyRose I wouldn’t be surprised. I have a little leaderboard going. I am NOT in first place 😂 🤦♂️ but I’m working hard to build it back up it’s just so hard to get points up when you’ve ruined your score already lol
