Car insurance companies may text parents when you speed

Young drivers who have installed a device into their car, which monitors their driving, may be reported to their parents by their car insurance company for bad driving.

Commonly referred to as a ‘black box’, these telematics devices monitor driving aspects such as speed, braking and steering, and are able to identify ‘reckless’ driving as a result. However, concerns are being raised about what the insurance companies do with the data they record.

In certain situations, they are allowed to hand information over to the police, but there are also reports now that some firms are texting parents when their child drives dangerously, to inform them about this.

Three insurance providers, Marmalade, Ingenie and Woop, are reported to be companies which will text parents when their black boxes record signs of dangerous driving, such as speeding.

A director of Big Brother Watch, a campaign group, said: “It’s intrusive enough that such as device is capable of recording and transmitting the exact location of where and when a young person is driving. Giving other people easy access to that data, even parents, is a step too far.”

A black box can help young and newly-qualified drivers to get cheaper car insurance premiums, as they are designed to provide feedback on driving and also encourage good driving behaviours. Insurers say that having a black box makes a young driver safer, and leads to fewer insurance claims made.

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