TomTom, UK Insurance Company Team Up for Cheaper Policies

Drive carefully, your TomTom is watching!

Buying car insurance is never easy. More often than not, the quote you get is based on several factors that you can't really help, such as age, gender and post code. Sure, if you're 18-years-old and drive a souped-up red Honda civic you're probably statistically more likely to drive faster than, say, a 67-year-old man with a people carrier, but it's not definitive.

In an effort to reward people who drive safely, insurance company Motaquote has teamed up with TomTom to offer Fair Pay Insurance. Fair Play Insurance is based on your driving (taken from data on your TomTom GPS) and offers a bonus scheme to those that drive well. If you've always obeyed the rules of the road, your premium should reflect that. A TomTom unit will be placed in the customer's car when they sign up and will track their driving behaviour. The scheme then uses driving ability and behaviour to allocate premiums.

Drivers will get the specially-developed TomTom PRO 3100 navigation device, which includes Active Driver Feedback and LIVE Services. Policy-holders can then be alerted to certain driving activities, such as harsh cornering and sharp breaking, and will also benefit from accurate traffic information that's updated every two minutes.

"We've dispensed with generalisations and said to our customers, if you believe you're a good driver, we'll believe you and we'll even give you the benefit up front," said Nigel Lombard, Managing Director of Fair Pay Insurance.

"Our entry in the insurance market with our proven fleet management technology puts us at the forefront of a move that could help to revolutionise the motor insurance industry," said Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director of TomTom Business Solutions. "We offer a unique combination of navigation, traffic information and telematics which opens up great opportunities for insurance companies to promote greener, safer driving and create a ground breaking portfolio of new insurance products."

According to Reuters, TomTom hopes to expand to other insurance providers later this year.

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