Cash-strapped motorists are considering turning to a telematics-based car insurance policy in an attempt to save money.
New research, published by GoCompare.com, has found that up to 57% of UK motorists may have switched to a "black box" insurance policy by 2017.
As drivers are consistently being squeezed by the costs of owning a car, figures from the research found that 92% of motorists in the UK think that their car insurance premiums should be based largely on the way they drive. In fact, almost all of them (97%) believe that careful drivers should be rewarded with cheaper car insurance.
Overall, 59% of the respondents aged over 55 said they might switch to a telematics-based car insurance policy in the next five years, while approximately two out of ten (19%) of all respondents said they would consider this option at the point of their next renewal date.
Further figures from the study analysed what UK drivers felt about motoring costs and 'black box' car insurance policies. While three quarters of them would expect telematics-based car insurance to lead to cheaper premiums, more than half (54%) would like regular incentives in terms of discounts and special deals.
A further 43% of British drivers consider that more awareness of the benefits of behaviour-based policies would be advantageous.
Driving self-improvement
Finally, data shows that UK motorists are willing to improve their driving skills and road safety. 35% said they would like big insurance brands to offer behaviour-based policies, while a third would want to be able to access data on their driving behaviour via a PC-based dashboard and three in ten would happily take advice on how to improve their driving based on their own data.
"Given the rising costs of motoring, we think that the new generation of telematics car insurance policies will play a greater role in the car insurance market in the coming months. And, as our survey shows, many drivers, across all age groups, would happily embrace the new in-car technology in a bid to keep their premiums down," explained Scott Kelly, head of car insurance at Gocompare.com.
