How Is My Driving Score Calculated?
Your driving performance score is based on a combination of three factors; smoothness, speed and usage.
A major part of having a Young Driver insurance policy with a Black Box, whether that insurance policy is provided by Think Insurance or not, is your driving performance score. What a driving performance score does, is give you (and your insurer) an idea of your driving abilities and can help highlight areas of your driving that you need to improve on.
However, if you don’t know how your driving performance score is actually calculated, then how can you make sure you are doing the right things to get a good score, and eventually a discount on your Young Driver insurance premium for good driving?
The three main factors your driving performance score is based on are speed, smoothness and usage.
Speed – Using the GPS Tracker in the black box fitted in your car, we can work out what speed you should be travelling at using the location data gathered. Excessive speeding could put your Young Driver policy at risk, and in some instances could result in the cancellation of your policy – check out your policy documentation for full details, or speak to one of our team.
Smoothness – We don’t just monitor the speed you’re travelling at, we also look at the rest of your driving too, such as braking and cornering. We can do this due to a piece of technology in the Telematics device that can analyse the G force your car creates. This allows us to work out if you’re leaving enough time to break for a traffic jam, crossing, junction or any other type of stop on your route. We can also work out how much G force you create when cornering to see if you are approaching and taking corners at the correct speed.
Journeys – Frequent, short journeys on high risk roads aren’t going to have a positive effect on your driving score, and if you couple poor driving with high risk roads, you’ll find your driving score will most likely suffer. With the Young Driver Portal you will be able to view the past 20 journeys. This means if you have noticed your overall driving score has gone down after changing your route to work or a place of education, you will be able to look at the individual journeys to see if the change in your route is the thing affecting your driving score.
To keep an eye on your driving performance score you should regularly visit the Young Driver portal, although with some of our policies, you should be doing this at least once a week to comply with the terms and conditions of having a Black Box insurance policy with Think Insurance. More information on what you can view in your Young Driver portal can be found in the FAQ: What kind of information can I view in my portal?
Still got questions? No problem, you can browse more answers in our Young Driver FAQ section where we cover everything from how the telematics device installed in your car works, to the restrictions on your Black Box insurance policy.
Young Driver Black Box Insurance Quote
If you are yet to be insured under a Young Driver Telematics insurance policy then click ‘Get a Quote’ below or call 0800 221 8077 to speak to a member of our Young Driver insurance team. They’ll be happy to walk you through the process and will be able to answer any further questions you may have.
