UK motorists are ignoring the financial benefits on offer for installing a telematics ‘blackbox’ to their car for fear of being labelled a bad driver.

A new survey from Compare The Market has revealed that only 14 per cent of motorists would consider a telematics policy when their car insurance is up for renewal. The fact that motorists might save an average of £482 a year does not seem to persuade drivers to switch, with 56 per cent of driver saying they are not comfortable with sharing their personalised driving data.

Though the insurers have spent millions on educating the driving public of the benefits of telematic policies, through advertising campaigns, 35 per cent of those polled by Compare The Market didn’t know that having a blackbox fitted could lower their premium. A further 17 per cent said they couldn’t be bothered to switch, while 13 per cent said they had never heard of telematics insurance.

Dan Hutson, head of motor insurance at Compare the Market, said: “There is a common misconception that telematics policies only benefit young drivers, whereas people of all ages stand to save considerable amounts.

“As the cost of insurance seems set to rise throughout 2019, telematics can offer a great way to avoid expensive premiums so driver scepticism around this technology is worrying.

“Motorists agree that black boxes could make driving safer and more affordable, but this alone seems not enough of an incentive to switch providers.

“Our research suggests that if drivers were able to take their black box with them, over a third more people would consider purchasing telematics and would potentially save a lot of money in the process.

“For drivers to truly embrace the benefits of telematics policies, the industry must work to fix this interoperability issue and make switching blackbox providers as easy as possible.”

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