Frequently asked questions

Unlike some other black box insurers, there’s no threat of turning into a pumpkin with us. We’re more interested in how you drive than when you drive.Speeding is one of the things we look at in your driving data so it does have an impact on your discounts. That said, we’re not a speed camera. We’ll only get in touch if we’re worried about your safety.

We would only consider cancelling your policy in extreme cases, and we would normally send you several warnings and try to contact you to help you improve your driving before this would happen. However, driving at unacceptably high speeds will result in the immediate cancellation of your insurance with us.Having a black box is part of ingenie’s insurance, so you need to keep your box as long as you’re with us.As long as you’re 25 or under, we can insure you as a new customer. If you turn 26 while you’re insured, that’s fine - everything just carries on. If you’d like to stay with us even after you turn 26, we’ll offer you a renewal quote if we can because we’d love to keep you! When you leave ingenie, the black box in your car becomes your property. You don’t need to have it taken out because we deactivate it remotely so it stops collecting data. If you’d like the box to be removed by one of our engineers, it costs £85 and you just need to call our box fitting team on 0330 024 1086.

Find out more about our charges.

A black box is a smartphone-size device for collecting driving data. We fit it out of sight in your car, usually behind your dashboard, and it just sits there quietly with no effect on how your car works.

We use this box to build up a picture of your driving style and give you driving feedback on how you’re doing. The box gets fitted by an approved ingenie engineer and generally takes less than an hour.

For more on the box, check out telematics explained and fitting the box.It's fitted within the first 10 days of the policy starting, but don't worry: you're insured from day one. Fitting can take place Monday to Friday between 9am and 5.30pm, and on Saturdays between 9am and 12pm. We’re happy to come to your home, college, work or anywhere else that’s good for you in mainland Britain or Northern Ireland.The black box installed in your car records speed, acceleration, braking, cornering and mileage. We also collect data on your car's GPS location, which may help the police recover your car if it’s stolen.

Find out more about stolen car recovery.Having a black box is part of ingenie’s insurance, so you need to keep your box as long as you’re with us.Yup, we love family! If you need someone else to be there while the box is fitted, just make sure you leave all your documents and keys with them ready for the engineer.

You'll need to have the following documents ready at your box fitting:

Driving licence or pass certificate
Vehicle Registration Certificate (log book) or new keeper's slip
Proof of any No Claims (if you have a No Claims Discount)

The engineer who comes out to fit your box will check your documents and take copies.

You can rearrange your box fitting by giving us a ring on 0330 0241 086 or email [email protected]. You'll need to give us 24 business hours' notice or there's a £50 late charge.

A black box is a fitted smartphone-size device for collecting driving data. We fit it out of sight in your car, usually behind your dashboard, and it just sits there quietly with no effect on how your car works.

For more on the box, check out telematics explained and fitting the box.

We really don’t want to have to cancel your insurance because of a bit of admin. If you didn’t have everything at the time, just call us on 0330 678 0652 as soon as the box has been fitted. You'll then need to send us the missing documents within 28 days.

You can email copies (photos or scans) of your documents to: [email protected]

Or you can post them too:

Europa Group Ltd, Europa House, Midland Way, Thornbury, Bristol, BS35 2JX

Make sure you include your name and reference number (which is at the top of every letter we send you). You don't have to send the original documents - copies or photos are fine.

If you’ve checked that there’s no debris or any obstruction stopping the self-fit box being pushed in fully, then give us a call on 0333 2309 272 and we’ll talk you through what to do next. If your OBD port is faulty we may look to arrange for you to have a fitted black box instead. Take a look at our help page to check where to plug in your self-fit box in your car. Just enter your car details and our location tool will do the rest. It’s part of your insurance to have a working box in the car so you’ll need to leave your self-fit box plugged in while you’re on holiday.

Once your insurance has been cancelled, we’ll send you an email with a Freepost label to send the self-fit box back to us. All you need to do is:

1) Place the box inside an envelope

2) Print out the Freepost label at the bottom of the email

3) Post your box back to us

Once you’ve cancelled your policy we’ll send you an email with a Freepost label to send the self-fit box back to us. All you need to do is:

1) Place the box inside an envelope

2) Print out the Freepost label at the bottom of the email

3) Post your box back to us

If you think the garage may have damaged or interfered with your self-fit box, you should give us a call on 0333 2309 272 as soon as you get the car back so we can check to make sure the box is still sending us a signal. If your car has been in the garage and you think it may have affected your driving feedback, you can let us know the details here and we’ll take a look for you. Having a box in your car is part of ingenie’s insurance, so you need to keep your box active as long as you’re insured with us. Unplugging or interfering with the self-fit box may mean we have to cancel your policy. When you plug in your self-fit box, a red LED light will flash. This shows it’s working. Once you’ve plugged in your self-fit box and we’re receiving a signal, you’ll receive an email asking you to set up your driving feedback account. If you haven’t received this email it may be a sign that something’s wrong, and you should give us a call to check on 0333 2309 272. You can drive as soon as you buy your insurance with ingenie. But you’ll need to plug in your self-fit box immediately to avoid cancellation.The self-fit box in your car records speed, acceleration, braking, cornering and mileage. It also collects data on your car's GPS location, which may help the police recover your car if it’s stolen. Find out more about stolen car recoveryIf we notice your self-fit box isn’t sending us a signal, we’ll get in touch to see what’s happened. If you notice that the light isn’t visible or that your feedback isn’t coming through, please call us as soon as possible on 0333 2309 272.If you’ve checked that the self-fit box is securely plugged into the port (and there’s no debris or an obstruction stopping this being pushed in fully) then give us a call on 0333 2309 272 and we’ll check whether it’s sending us a signal. It’s part of your insurance to have a working box in your car so unplugging or interfering with the box may mean we may have to cancel your policy. This could make it harder to buy insurance in the future.If you need to change the car on your insurance, just give us a call on 0330 678 0652 and we'll go through updating your details with you.If you don’t receive your self-fit box within 14 days of your insurance start date, give us a call on 0333 2309 272 and we’ll check it out.If you don’t receive your self-fit box within 14 days of your insurance start date, give us a call on 0333 2309 272 and we’ll check it out.The ingenie self-fit box is a small cube shaped device which plugs into the OBD port (or the on-board diagnostics port if you like to be fancy) in your car. It’s super simple to plug this in yourself, but if you’re not sure where your OBD port is, just check out our handy box location checker on our help page.

If you have a question about your insurance, need to make a claim or want some help with your driving feedback, you can find all the phone numbers you need on our contact page, in your account and on the ingenie app.

You can also get us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram if you need to chat about anything. Unlike some other black box insurers, there’s no threat of turning into a pumpkin with us. We’re more interested in how you drive than when you drive.The driving feedback and discounts are based on how the car is being driven, not how an individual human behaves. Because we didn’t put a spy cam on the box, we can’t tell who’s driving.

Someone messing up your feedback? Get some advice.Right now we only offer insurance if you’re the main driver but you can add a parent as a named driver. This is actually a much better idea, as it means you’ll be building up your own No Claims Discount right away.

Get some more information about No Claims Discounts.Yes, as long as your car is being fixed by one of our approved repairers.* You can also get Upgraded Replacement Car cover, which gives you a free replacement car for up to 21 days if you crash or your car is stolen.

Have a look at the full details.

* Subject to availabilityYes, and it’s a very good idea! It costs £27 for the whole year and covers you for things your insurance doesn’t - like money lost if you can’t work after a crash.

You get legal representation cover up to £100,000, to help you get back anything that wasn’t insured in an incident that wasn’t your fault.

Check the full legal protection details.That's fine, as long as the owner is your parent, husband/wife or civil partner and you have their permission. You will need to be the registered keeper of the vehicle and have your name on the V5C document (log book), though.

Find out more about a car’s V5C. If your car is stolen, you’ll need to get a Crime Reference Number from the police and then call us on 0330 303 0021. We’ll help the police with locating your car.

Find out more about stolen car recovery. Yes, you are covered for up to 14 days of driving within Europe.

Check section H of your policy wording for the full details.‘Fraid not. We don’t insure cars that have been modified in any way.

Modifications are things like tinted windows, nonstandard alloys and/or wheels, body kits, performance enhancements, transfers and decals. If you’re not sure if your car’s been modified, get in touch with the manufacturer or look online for the car specs.

Get the full story on modifications. If you cancel your policy before the end of the first policy year, you’ll pay up to £175 to cover the cost of the black box and its fitting. You only earn a No Claims Discount for a full year of insurance, so cancelling does mean no NCD for that year.

You can see the list of possible charges here.Speeding is one of the things we look at in your driving data so it does have an impact on your discounts. That said, we’re not a speed camera. We’ll only get in touch if we’re worried about your safety.

We will not release your data to the police or to any civil authorities, unless we suspect fraud or attempted fraud, or if we are required to do so by law or a court order
We will not be using your driving data as a 'speed camera'
We will not use the data to decline your claim simply because you were driving above the legal speed limit
We will use the data to help us identify if another driver is making a false claim against you
We will use the data to help us identify if you are making a false claim

We use your black box to build up a picture of your driving style – your speed, acceleration, braking and cornering. We then review the price of your insurance 3 times a year at 3, 6 and 9 months. Reviews are based on how you’ve been driving over the previous 3 months. Drive well and you’ll pay less.Yes, you’re insured from your insurance start date, even if you haven’t had the box fitted. We’ll contact you the day after you buy your insurance to arrange your box fitting, which will need to happen within the first 10 days of your insurance starting.When you leave ingenie, the black box in your car becomes your property. You don’t need to have it taken out because we deactivate it remotely so it stops collecting data. If you’d like the box to be removed by one of our engineers, it costs £85 and you just need to call our box fitting team on 0330 024 1086.

Find out more about our charges.ingenie insurance is for a whole year and we don’t offer breaks or pauses at the moment.As long as you’re 25 or under, we can insure you as a new customer. If you turn 26 while you’re insured, that’s fine - everything just carries on. If you’d like to stay with us even after you turn 26, we’ll offer you a renewal quote if we can because we’d love to keep you!

If your insurance is still active with us, we won't be able to send you your proof of no claims - as this will still be in use on the policy. But once your insurance has ended, we'll send out any proof of no claims you've earned within 48 hours.

You can use your renewal document as proof of no claims before you get your official document from us, as long as you haven’t made any claims.

Please note: this FAQ includes advice on driving abroad based on current Brexit information.

If you plan to use your car outside the UK after Britain leaves the EU, you’ll need to have a Green Card.

A Green Card means you’ll have proof of cover when driving in:

Countries in the European Union (EU)
Countries in the European Economic Area (EEA)
Andorra
Serbia
Switzerland

ingenie will get your Green Card directly from your insurer and post this to your home address. To request your Green Card please call us on 0330 678 0652 14 days’ before you plan to travel so we can process this for you.

Yes, you’re insured from your insurance start date, even if you haven’t had the black box fitted.

We’ll send out your self-fit box within 14 days of you buying your policy, and you’ll need to fit this to your car within 10 days of receiving the box.

If you need a fitted black box, we’ll contact you the day after you buy your insurance to arrange your box fitting, which will need to happen within the first 10 days of your insurance starting.

When you leave ingenie, the black box in your car becomes your property. If you’ve got a self-fit box, we’ll send you a Freepost label to send the box back to us as the box can be reset and used again. It’s good to recycle!

If you've got a fitted black box, you don’t need to have it taken out because we deactivate it remotely so it stops collecting data. If you’d like the box to be removed by one of our engineers, it costs £85 and you just need to call our box fitting team on 0330 024 1086.

Find out more about our charges.

Hey, things change. If you need to change the car on your insurance, just give us a call on 0330 678 0652 and we'll go through updating your details with you.

Keep in mind that the car is part of how our insurers work out how much your insurance will cost, so you may need to pay some extra - or we might even give you money back. If you're planning on buying a new car, it's worth checking how much of a difference that might be before committing.

There’s a £25 admin charge for making changes to your insurance.

If you’ve got a self-fit black box, we’ll advise you whether you can still use it in the new car or if you need to switch to a fitted box. In most cases you’ll be able to take your self-fit box with you and plug it into your new car. If you need help finding the OBD port, you can use the location checker on our help page.

If you cancel your policy before the end of the first policy year, you’ll need to pay some cancellation fees. If you’ve got a fitted black box you’ll pay up to £175 to cover the cost of the black box and its fitting.

You only earn a No Claims Discount for a full year of insurance, so cancelling does mean no NCD for that year.

You can see the list of possible charges here.

If you paid by instalments, your insurance will automatically renew on the policy end date – so you’ll need to call us to let us know if you don’t want to renew.

If you paid in full, your insurance will automatically expire on the policy end date (if you don’t call us to renew). You’ll get a reminder email about 17 days before the end date, with all the new details of your renewal policy, so there’s time to make up your mind. We’ll be sorry to lose you!

With ingenie, you can have a maximum of 3 named drivers on your insurance. If you want to add a named driver:

and you bought your policy on or after 5th March 2019, just call us on 0330 678 0652
and you bought your policy before 5th March 2019, just call us on 0345 234 2238

Your insurance will automatically expire on the policy end date if you don’t call us to renew. You’ll get a reminder email about 17 days before the end date, with all the new details of your renewal policy, so there’s time to make up your mind. We’ll be sorry to lose you!

If you’d like to add someone to your insurance for temporary cover, give us a call and we’ll look into that for you.

If you bought your policy on or after 5th March 2019, just call us on 0330 678 0652
If you bought your policy before 5th March 2019, just call us on 0345 234 2238

We’ll send you your renewal quote about 17 days before your insurance is due to end. Lots of things go into calculating this quote - how you’ve driven, your No Claims Discount and whether you went over your mileage are just a few.

Congratulations! You rock. Just let us know about your pass as soon as possible so we can update your details and get you on the road. Give us a quick call on 0330 678 0652 to get fully insured and you'll be ready to go.

FYI: it’s very likely your insurance will go up when you change from a provisional to a full driving licence. This is because you’ll be driving by yourself for the first time and will probably be doing a lot more miles than when you were a learner driver, which can increase your risk of having a crash.

Yes, ingenie customers can earn an NCD by completing the full 12 months of insurance without making a claim. Your NCD is applied to your renewal quote but if you decide not to renew then we'll send this to you once your policy is finished.

Insurance companies usually reward customers by offering a No Claims Discount for each year you go without claiming. ingenie offers a No Claims Discount that's built into your renewal quote, and gives you extra discounts if you drive well.

When it comes to mileage, you're in control. When you fill out our quote form, tell us how many miles you think you'll drive over the year. Our handy calculator will help you work out an estimate.

It's really important that you're as accurate as possible because if it looks like you're going to drive more than you've estimated, you'll need to buy more miles. Don't forget to include any additional driver's miles in your estimate.

If you bought your insurance with us after 5th March 2019 and would like to add more miles - just call us on 0330 678 0652.
If you bought your insurance with us before 5th March 2019 and would like to add more miles - just call us on 0345 234 2238.

If you use up all your miles, we'll get in touch to let you know you need to buy more. If you continue to drive over your estimate your insurance could face cancellation.

The cost of buying more miles varies and remember there's a £25 admin charge for making a change to your insurance.

You should get links to your insurance documents by email within 48 hours. Your Certificate of Motor Insurance will be sent by email once your box is fitted.

If you don't get your documents in this time, please email [email protected] or give us a call on 0330 678 0652 to check everything's OK.

Hey, things change. If you need to change the car on your insurance, just give us a call on 0330 678 0652 and we'll go through updating your details with you.

There’s a £25 admin charge for making changes to your insurance.

We offer 3 types of UK breakdown cover which you can take out at the same time as you buy your insurance.

Roadside- if you break down further than a mile from home, call any time and we’ll send out someone to repair your car by the roadside. If it can’t be repaired, we’ll take it to a garage or location of your choice within 20 miles of the place you broke down.

Roadside & Recovery - everything above, plus we’ll recover the car and all its passengers to any UK location of your choice.

Total Breakdown – everything you get with Roadside & Recovery plus home start and alternative travel or accommodation if you can’t drive your car to your destination.

Find out more about your breakdown cover here: www.ingenie.com/breakdown-cover.

If you're 25 years old, have the car owner's permission and your Certificate of Insurance says you can, you're cool to drive other cars on a third party fire and theft basis. If you're not sure, just email us at [email protected] and we'll check for you.

Your premium is reviewed 3 times a year at 3, 6 and 9 months. Your last 3 months of driving is used to help us work out your renewal price. We work out this price from your driving data, plus any No Claims Discount you’ve earned. Things like how many miles you drove in the previous year and any details that have changed will also go into the calculation.The max you can earn off your insurance is 21% of your original price and you could pay up to 10% extra if you drive poorly. You'll find the exact amounts on the score section of your ingenie app or My account area. You can also see how much you can save over the whole year in your policy documents.Every 10 days, we’ll update your driving score and tell you what discount or increase you’re on track for at your next price review. If you’re on track for a discount, keep working on your feedback because you could push it up even higher! If you’re on track for no discount or an increase in price, try to keep up with your feedback messages as these will show you the areas you can improve. You can also check out our How to improve section, which you’ll find on the app and My account area. There’s also loads of advice in the Young Driver’s Guide.The cost of repairing or replacing your car is only one of the factors that goes into calculating your insurance price. Repairs to other cars or property you damage are also taken into consideration but that’s not what makes crashes so costly.

The true cost of a crash is when people are hurt. Care for someone who’s seriously injured can cost millions - that’s what we have insurance for. It protects us and anyone we hurt against the massive long-term cost.

More personal injury claims, particularly for whiplash, have also made insurance more expensive, which is why your insurance may cost more than your car. The car itself is the least of it!Insurers look at loads of things to work out your insurance price, including your age, job, where you live and your car. They also look at the cost of repair, how much other people with your details crash and how much compensation for injuries and damage cost. ingenie calso used the black box to build up a picture of your driving style, so we can review your the cost of your insurance times a year based on your driving.Nope, there‘s no additional cost as it’s part of what you pay for your insurance. However, a charge may apply if you change your car or cancel your policy.Yes, if you don’t want to pay for your insurance upfront, you can choose monthly instalments. You’ll normally be asked to pay a 20% deposit followed by 10 monthly payments. This way of paying is kind of like a loan that you pay back each month, so there’s an APR (a bit like interest) on it.The price of your insurance is reviewed 3 times a year based on how you’ve been driving. If you drive well, you’ll get a discount on your insurance - up to 21% off! If you drive poorly, the price of your insurance can go up by 10%. You can see the maximum amount your insurance price can change on your quote.We use the data from the black box in your car to build up a picture of your driving style. We then review the price of your insurance 3 times a year based on how you’ve been driving if you drive well then the cost of your insurance will come down by up to 21%.We have to refund money to the account you used to pay for your insurance. If the account closes, we’ll need confirmation from the bank. Once we have this we’ll send you a cheque.

Yep, we’ll send your discount by bank transfer to the account you used to pay for your insurance.The quote we give you is based on things like your age, your car, how long you’ve been driving and where you live. We then work out discounts based on how you drive - if you drive well, you’ll earn money off your starting price.If we’re worried that you’re driving dangerously or you get more than 1 red (dangerous) message in the same area of your driving (like speed or braking), we may get in touch to have a chat about how to improve. This would include tips on how to improve your driving, helping you work towards earning good driving discounts.

Getting red (dangerous) messages means you’re likely to pay more for your insurance, and if you get 3 of them in a quarter for the same driving category, you’ll lose 30 points from your driving score. This 30 point penalty will stay in place until after your next 3-month price review.

If you get 6 red (dangerous) messages for speed, this will mean a black (highly dangerous) message.

Your score will be set to zero for the rest of the quarter but you'll start the next quarter with a clean slate
You'll get the highest increase you can for that quarter
Your policy will be put on review and unless we see a significant improvement in your driving, your insurance will be cancelled
If you receive a second highly dangerous message at any time over the year, your insurance will be cancelled

We measure acceleration (g-force) using the accelerometer in the box. Acceleration means the rate at which speed changes. So, if your speed increases rapidly over a short period of time, it will mean more acceleration than if you speed up gradually.

Braking also uses your box’s accelerometer data and is basically the opposite of acceleration: the rate at which your car slows down.

Cornering looks at the rate at which your car turns. The 2 main factors that determine the g-force generated when cornering are the angle of the corner and the speed at which your car is travelling. The tighter the corner, the slower you should approach and travel around the bend.

We calculate your speed using the GPS signal transmitted from your box - it’s the rate at which you move from one point to another. That speed is then compared to our database of speed limits across the country. Doing speeds that could get you a speeding ticket and points will affect your driving score.

If you get black (Highly Dangerous) message:

Your score will be set to zero for the rest of the quarter but you'll start the next quarter with a clean slate
You'll get the highest increase you can for that quarter
Your policy will be put on review and unless we see a significant improvement in your driving, your insurance will be cancelled
If you receive a second highly dangerous message at any time over the year, your insurance will be cancelled

Warning: driving at unacceptably high speeds or creating an extremely high number of harsh braking or harsh cornering events may lead us to cancel your insurance with us immediately ingenie is about creating a community of better, safer drivers. We’re trying to make insurance more affordable for the people it costs the most by proving young drivers can be skilful drivers - so we can’t allow unacceptably dangerous speeds.

If we do see these kinds of seriously reckless speeds, we’ll try to contact you by phone to tell you we’ll be cancelling your insurance, and follow up with a letter confirming the cancellation.You’ll get driving feedback messages about every 10 days, as long as you’ve driven at least 40 miles in that time. If you haven’t had any yet, it might be that you haven’t driven enough miles for us to give you a good idea of how you’re doing.

If it’s been more than 10 days and you’ve definitely driven more than 40 miles, send us an email to [email protected] and we will look into it for you.Take a look at your driving messages on a regular basis as these will highlight the areas you can improve in. You’ll also find a How to improve section on our app and in the My account area, which covers each of the 4 key areas of your driving - speed, acceleration, braking and cornering.

If we’re worried that you’re driving dangerously or you get more than 1 red (dangerous) message in the same area of your driving (like speed or braking), we may get in touch to have a chat about how to improve. This would include tips on how to improve your driving, helping you work towards earning good driving discounts.We look at the trends in your driving to see where you’re doing well in your speed, acceleration, braking and cornering, and where you could improve. We then work out a score out of 100 (100 being the best) so you know how it’s going at a glance. If you’ve got room for improvement, take a look at the How to improve section on the app or in your My account area.Once your black box is fitted, you’ll get your first set of feedback messages about 10 days later, as long as you’ve driven at least 40 miles. If it’s been more than 10 days and you’ve definitely driven more than 40 miles, send us an email to [email protected] and we will look into it for you.Your messages are based on how you’ve been driving in the last 10 days (or since your last set of feedback) and shows you the areas you’re driving well in and where you can improve.

This means that your latest feedback messages are not directly linked to your driving score. You’ll need to scroll back through all the feedback messages you’ve had since the start of the review period to see how your driving has affected your score.Every 10 days, we’ll give you an overall driving score out of 100 for your speed, accelerating, braking and cornering. To help you improve your score, you’ll also get driving messages for each of the 4 key areas with some helpful tips. To find out more, check out our How ingenie works page.Yes, and we would love that because drivers who share their feedback with a parent are 10% less likely to have a crash. Pretty big deal.

It’s easy to share your feedback - just log in to your My account area and go to the Share your feedback section. We’ll send an email invite to view your driving feedback.You’ll get the link to set up your driving feedback account in the 48 hours after you’ve had your box fitted. We’ll send this to the email address you set up your insurance with, so make sure you can get into that email account. You’ll get your first set of driving feedback messages about 10 days after your box fitting - as long as you’ve driven 40 miles.So we have enough driving data to get a good idea of your driving style, we wait until your second set of feedback messages to give you a driving score and the discount you’re on track for.Not a problem - happens all the time. Send us an email to [email protected] with the garage's address and the date and time they had your car. We’ll check this against your driving data and update your feedback if necessary. Don’t worry - we’ll make sure your driving score and discounts aren’t affected by your mechanic’s over-enthusiastic checks.

If your car has recently been in the garage and you think this might have affected your feedback, just fill in this form and we’ll be happy to check this for you.

Call us as soon as you can on 0330 303 0021 - just make sure everyone’s safe first. Our claims team are ready to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you look in the ingenie app you’ll find a crash guide to help you collect all the information you need from the other drivers and witnesses. If you need your windscreen repaired or replaced, give our windscreen claims team a call on 0330 303 0024.

If you use one of our approved repair companies, the excess (the amount you pay towards a claim) is £20 to repair and £75 to replace.If you need to speak to someone about a claim, please give our claims team a call on 0330 303 0021. We’re open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.