Few things are more important than having the right insurance coverage. About ten years ago, I was involved in a near-fatal crash where I experienced traumatic physical and emotional injuries. It was really challenging for me to endure the hospital stay and subsequent physical rehabilitation, but with the help of my medical team and my insurance company, I was able to overcome the challenge and completely recover. This blog is all about the importance of choosing the right insurance plan so that you can get on with your life and enjoy those precious years with your family and your friends.
If you're like many drivers, you're always looking for ways to save on your auto insurance costs, from raising your deductibles to shopping around once a year or more for the lowest-priced coverage. However, one relatively new product in the auto insurance industry -- "black box" insurance -- could save you significantly more than these other cost-saving methods if you're a careful, responsible driver. On the other hand, you may have privacy concerns when it comes to allowing an insurance company to track your vehicle's every move. Read on to learn more about this increasingly popular insurance option and how it may be able to save you money.
What is "black box" insurance?
As the name implies, this insurance coverage requires you to install a "black box" of sorts in your vehicle that tracks your average speed, the way you brake, and even the distance at which you follow other vehicles while in traffic. This box will send the crucial data to your insurance company for use in calculating your rates. This can provide a tremendous advantage to careful or infrequent drivers, as your black box data may indicate that you have a very low risk of ever being involved in a crash. Accordingly, your insurance company pays less to provide you with coverage and is able to pass these savings along to you.
Black box insurance is available in every state, although you may have trouble finding an insurance agent in your area who offers this coverage. You may instead be able to enroll in black box coverage online and have the box shipped to your home for installation inside your vehicle. Enrolling in black box insurance will require you to consent to send a wide variety of vehicle and GPS data to your insurance company, and some of this information may be used in aggregate for marketing purposes, so it's important to be aware of the potential privacy issues before signing up.
How can you decide whether this insurance is right for you?
Those with a good driving record can almost always save money on insurance premiums by enrolling in a black box policy. However, you'll need to be very honest with yourself about your driving habits before pulling the trigger, as any unsafe driving data could cause your rate to rise or even lead to a liability finding if you're involved in an auto accident. If you're in an accident with few witnesses and no black box, data on the speed you were traveling at the time of impact will be based primarily on your own recollection, witness testimony, and the accident investigator's reconstruction of the scene. It may be difficult for someone suing you to provide irrefutable evidence that your speeding or distraction led to the crash.
On the other hand, being involved in an accident with a black box can provide irrefutable data on the speed you were traveling, how quickly you braked or swerved to avoid impact, and potentially even a voice recording of the moments following impact -- all information that could potentially be devastating to your legal case if you were negligent in the crash. You'll want to carefully weigh the potential liability concerns before taking out a black box policy.
To learn more, contact a company like Wyatt Insurance Agency.
Share5 July 2016
