The trust gap behind the push for mandatory telematics

A driver who passes their test this month is more than twice as likely to make a collision claim within a year as someone who qualified longer ago.

An industry ranked ninth of thirteen sectors on trust is asking its least trusting customers to accept the most surveillance.

New drivers claimed at 11 per cent in their first twelve months, against 5 per cent for drivers with at least a year behind the wheel, according to Aviva. Aviva wants telematics made compulsory for 17 to 24 year olds in their first year of driving.

Its own commissioned survey found 73 per cent of all drivers support that idea. Among the 17 to 24 year olds who would actually wear the black box, support drops to 60 per cent.

Here is my problem.

The group being asked to accept the most monitoring trusts the industry doing the monitoring the least. Insurance ranks ninth of thirteen sectors on trust, behind the NHS, banking and accountancy, and around three in four consumers believe insurers look for loopholes to avoid paying claims, according to Allianz UK’s own benchmark.

It is the same ask a landlord makes of a new tenant. Hand over a spare key before being given any reason to trust the locks.

I would not fit a black box on my own child’s car without first being shown why the reading would be trusted. A young driver who thinks our industry looks for loopholes has no particular reason to assume a telematics score will be read in their favour.

Mandating the technology without closing that trust gap first will get the box fitted. It will not get the trust fitted with it, and a customer who feels watched rather than understood is not a customer who has been sold fairly.