Aviva is testing out a new Android smartphone app which has the potential to save new customers money on your car insurance.
The RateMyDrive app builds up a profile of your driving style; accelerating, braking and cornering, over a distance of 200 miles. Using the data gathered, you could save up to 20% on your premiums – Aviva say that the app won’t increase your premium, and they expect 20% of new customers to acheive the maximum 20% saving.
The app is available for testing for owners with an Android phone (version 2.2 and above) who pay more than £200 for car insurance. An iPhone version of the app is also in the pipeline. The current version is only available to customers who are not insured through Aviva – an app for existing Aviva customers is also on its way.
The app uses GPS to collect the information on your driving behaviour, and then sends the data to Aviva within 3 weeks of the journey once it can connect to a wi-fi connection. You’re not obliged to record every journey, but you’ll only get a tailored quote once you’ve completed 200 miles of journeys.
GPS has been used to good effect in exercise apps (keeping track of joggers, cyclists etc) for a while, and now we see one of the first uses by an insurer. I’m sure it won’t be the first, and it could prove a useful benefit for safe drivers.
But what’s stopping a boy-racer getting their safe-driving parents using the app for the necessary 200 miles to get them a discount?
To join the test team, register your interest on the Aviva website.
This sounds like a great app, I hope it works better than the tracking boxes that some car insurance firms choose to fit in the dashboard of the car- these are inaccurate in my experience. I find it slightly strange that they are trialling it on Android as opposed to Apple, most tend to trial their new products on iOS.