Telematics installed
An engineer may do this, you may plug it in yourself, or you may just download a smartphone app.
Black box car insurance, also called telematics insurance, is a type of policy that involves having a device in your vehicle that allows your insurer to monitor your driving habits.
If you drive well and have low-risk driving behaviours your insurer will offer you lower premiums when you renew.
Telematics insurance is particularly valuable for drivers who personally drive in a low-risk way but belong to demographic groups insurers consider higher-risk. This includes young people, new drivers and drivers with criminal records.
🚩 It is illegal to drive without at least third-party car insurance in the UK
There is no requirement to take out a black box policy if you’re a new driver. However, it is one of the ways you can reduce your insurance costs, which are almost always significantly higher than costs for older and more experienced drivers.
An engineer may do this, you may plug it in yourself, or you may just download a smartphone app.
The way you drive is monitored by your telematics device, and the data is fed back to your insurer.
Different insurers will have different timeframes for adjusting your policy. Often, it's at your renewal.
An engineer installs this type of device into your car, usually behind the dashboard.
You install this type of device yourself. It goes in the USB slot or cigarette lighter.
You download an app to your smartphone, and use it while driving.
The time of day you drive | Locations you drive in | Types of road you drive on |
Sudden impacts on the vehicle | How fast you accelerate | How you brake the car |
How you take corners | How often you drive | How much you drive |
💡 Top tip: Telematics data isn't just looking at whether you're a good driver. It also scores you on lower-risk driving habits such as only driving during the day.
As with standard car insurance, there are three levels of telematics insurance cover: fully comprehensive, third party fire and theft, and third party only.
💡 Top tip: Fully comprehensive cover is usually cheaper than the other types of insurance, even though it covers more.
Fully comprehensive car insurance:
✔ Covers you and your car
✔ Covers fire damage and theft of your car
✔ Covers other people and their cars
Third-party, fire and theft car insurance:
✔ Covers other people and their cars
✔ Covers fire damage and theft of your car
Third-party only car insurance:
✔ Covers other people and their cars
These are the average annual prices of telematics policies sold through MoneySuperMarket.
Telematics insurance is not guaranteed to make your insurance cheaper.
It is likely to save the most money for:
who are also members of groups insurers consider high-risk:
It depends which type of telematics policy you take out:
Some black boxes require professional installation by an engineer. Your insure will normally arrange this for you at a time of your convenience
Some black boxes you can easily install yourself by plugging them into your car via its USB port or cigarette lighter
Some telematics policies use a smartphone app which you'd need to download onto your phone
It depends on your insurer and policy type. But as a general rule of thumb:
You will not be charged anything extra for black box installation
You will be charged around £50-£100 for removal if you have the type of black box that needs to be uninstalled by an engineer
Some insurers will also charge no-show fee if you miss a scheduled installation appointment.
No. Turning off or tampering with a black box while your telematics policy is active can invalidate your insurance.
However, you can cancel your telematics policy at any time. As with all car insurance policies, you may be charged some fees for doing this, especially if you've had the policy in place for more than two weeks.
To get the best results from black box insurance, you need to drive in ways that are considered low-risk by insurers. These include:
Not exceeding speed limits
Braking in plenty of time
Not accelerating quickly
Not driving late at night
Staying within a set mileage limit
Telematics insurance can be brilliant at bringing down insurance costs for careful motorists, especially brand-new drivers faced with eye-watering premiums. However, some policies penalise or prohibit driving at night, and push up the price if you drive more than the expected mileage, so black box cover won’t suit everyone.
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No, you'll be insured to drive your vehicle as soon as your policy starts, even if you haven't had your black box installed yet.
Yes. Your insurance provider will usually have an online dashboard through their online portal or app, where you can log in to see a dashboard with your driving score.
If someone else is driving your car, or you’re driving someone else’s, the driver must have an adequate level of car insurance in place – whether it’s their own policy or as a named driver. Anyone else who drives your car will affect your driver score.
If you exceed your mileage allocation, extra milage costs will be added to your premium.
You can usually call your insurance provider and add extra miles to your policy and pay the additional costs added to your premium after those changes have been made.
Depending on the provider and type of telematics device you have, it may be able to detect if you’re involved in a road accident – usually by measuring force of impact. The device can send your location to the emergency services, and the data provided may even be able to help insurers determine what caused the accident and whether you were at fault.
The black box uses GPS to track your car’s movement. If your car is stolen, your insurer may be able to help the police locate it, provided the black box is still active and hasn’t been removed from the vehicle. You will need to report your car as stolen to the police and give the crime reference number to your insurer.
If you have a plug-and-drive device or you use an app, changing car shouldn’t be a hassle, but if you have a black box installed it’s somewhat trickier. Your insurer will arrange the installation of a new box in your new car and the old box will be deactivated.
Some insurance providers may fit a new black box for free, while others may charge up to £150 for the service.
You can cancel your telematics insurance at any time. However, you may have to pay a cancellation fee if you cancel before the policy term is finished. Once you've cancelled, your insurer will deactivate your monitoring device.
If you have a black box you can choose whether you want it removed or not, though this may cost up to £150.
If you’re driving abroad you should still be covered by your policy, though you’ll need to check with your insurer whether your driving is still assessed.
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Based on the median annual price of comprehensive policies sold through MoneySuperMarket in May 2025.
Based on the median annual price of third party, fire & theft policies sold through MoneySuperMarket in May 2025.
Based on the median annual price of third party only policies sold through MoneySuperMarket in May 2025.
Based on the median annual price of comprehensive car insurance policies sold through MoneySuperMarket in May 2025.
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