Beware of the Spy in Your Car – a Black box Will be Fitted in Every Car from 2015

Spy in Your Car

New EU regulations say that all new cars need to have built-in spy box from October 2015 to track speed and driving habits. Motorists will be forced to have this new black-box or face sky-high insurance premiums. These devices are similar to the black-boxes fitted on aeroplanes.

The new technology named as the “telematics” will allow insurers to keep an eye on how fast their customers are driving, how many journeys a year they embark on and their braking habits. If drivers don’t take part in this scheme, they will face huge increase in their insurance premiums. A research conducted by the car industry predicts that about half of all cars will be fitted with these spying devices by 2020.

Tom Ellis, of the comparison website Gocompare, said: “In ten years time there will still be customers who prefer not to have a telematics device installed but it will be an opt out situation rather than an opt in.”

The Department of Transport researched telematics earlier this year and a spokesman said: “The research will help us build a better understanding of how it can influence driver behaviour. We want to see how effective it can be in improving driver behaviour and reducing accident risk.”

“There will be reasons for people opting out – perhaps because they are bad drivers, or unhappy with the privacy element or have an old car but they will have to accept a higher premium to insure their car.”

Andy Watson, chief insurer of the Ageas Group, said: “The ability to have telematics will become mainstream because the technology will be in the car. It means the amount of data available to insurers increases dramatically.”

Pete Williams, of the RAC, added: “We are working with the industry to make sure control of such data is retained by the individual motorist but for the vast majority of motorists it will be a good thing with regard to things like safety and vehicle recovery.”