As loyal readers know, and often state, insurance companies are ever "keen" to reduce their requirement to payout when something goes wrong or charge the earth for "peace of mind".
Thus it should come as no surprise to learn that they have come up with a splendid wheeze, whereby driving when it rains will now be counted as a "risk" that requires insurance companies to increase their premiums on car insurance.
Easy money given the UK's weather!
So how will this little "wheeze" work then?
By using data from “black boxes” installed in cars that monitor speed, braking and acceleration; in order to score a driver based on their risk.
The technology, already offered by insurers Axa, Admiral, LV and Insure The Box, is about to start monitoring the weather.
The boxes will use data from The Weather Company, an American forecaster equivalent to the UK Met Office. The technology can create a "scoring algorithm" by assessing the conditions during a driver's journey.
All very well and dandy, except that:
1 Weather forecasts, even American ones, are generally crap.
2 People tend to need to drive in the rain for such mundane things as going to work, hospital, shopping etc etc.
At this point I can hear you ask, why get these black boxes?
Well at the moment they are voluntary, users are incentivised to have them for a discount to their premiums. However, I am very sure that in a few years' time once there is a critical mass of people with them, the insurance companies will insist on everyone having them.
All in all another means of making money out of those who are honest enough to insure their cars.
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Insurance Companies on this side of the pond are also trying this scam, heavily advertising the reduction in premiums if you install their 'spy in the car'. I too am deeply suspicious of their motives as they are not in business to give anyone a break.
ReplyDeleteNot heard anything about driving in bad weather though. Just imagine out here in the colonies where we have two seasons: July and Winter. When the temperature dips below -20 nobody rides a bike or walks, you drive even a short distance.