OK, this may be the most important post you will have read all year. A lot of Fiat drivers are younger drivers and this is actually the prime target of a new product by Norwich Union.

Remember I had my insurance idea you may have heard me talk about? (the one where I went into a competition) well originally I had tried to get it made by Hill House Hammond (a broker mainly owned by Norwich Union). When I went to talk to them I basically spoke to the Midlands head of NU, it was above Hill House Hammond's head. We talked at length (me badly, him well) about insurance and I didn't do myself any favours. However, the discussion got onto car insurance as a new product he was working on called "Pay As You Drive" car insurance. I forgot about it until he had taken the effort to send a huge folder through of information about it (must have thought I was interested) including an application form to be on the pilot scheme. The Pilot should have started Jan 2003, it didn't hence I couldn't be part of it. Since then however they have always kept me updated about it.

All of that rambling is fairly pointless (just me explaining why this is something I know a little bit about) However, the name sums it up, you pay per mile (with an allowence per month) and your mobile phone sends off the data of how far you have gone etc.

Anyway, the BBC will explain it a LOT better than I could:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4167347.stm

I haven't had enough chance to look at the actual specifics or whether the cost benefit is real yet but I am sure the people who has missed out on this iinnovation will be interested to hear about it.

What a great idea! Unfortunately I am far too old to be a part of this type of scheme now but I can see the benefits for most young drivers who drive fairly sensibly!

its only on 3pft

im gonna be too old for it, but it is a very good idea

Paul, i reckon most young drivers would start getting HUGE bills if they did this. I reckon most of them seriously under-estimate the amount of miles they are gonna do.

When i took out my first policy, i stated 6,000 miles - 3 months later i went to my broker to increase it. I reckon that most youngsters give really low allowances and then go WAY over them year after year.

Actually, it must be noted than throughout every bit of literature I have been sent it HASN'T been aimed at young drivers as a rule, it was aimed at everybody and at no point did they say an age range.

This 18-21 age thing is out of the blue!

it says on the bbc website that they have brought it out early because it already has statistics for the off-peak and peak accidents

Matt, it's like this:

If it costs more for a young driver (who usually covers less mileage than most) it won't work, simple. NU would have wasted millions trying to implement it.

....i.e. whatever the final fees are it will have to save young people money.

The pilot scheme only started about 5 months ago so this "launch" - which isn't a real launch, it doesn't appear as if NU are offering it yet is to me just out of the blue.

It's weird which way they have the on/off peak bands, I am not sure if this will stick, what does it say, 8p/mile during the day? So if you do 6k/year, you get 100 miles a month free so 4.8k miles paid for gives £384. One off fee for box ~ £200....still seeming a bloody good deal right now - it all depends how much the prices change, how much mileage you do and how much you drive between peak ours.

it seems good, to an extent.

charging young drivers £1 a mile from 11pm-6am is a joke. I think this is similar to cab prices?

however, the 6p per mile off peak times is pretty good. It probably won't appeal to anyone over 21, because their insurance would work out alot cheaper than this sceme.

I dont see how that can save me money....

I cover 150-200miles a week at most (and did before I went to uni) ~ 8-9k a year, mainly between 9am-6pm...

But my insurance is already double what it was because I declared the modifications...

is there a limit on car size or what car you are allowed cause i fancy a stupidly fast car

paul, on top of that £384, you still have the fire and theft aspect that you have to pay monthly.

what about if you need to make a long journey?? I did 1,000 miles in a week once going on holiday, and i needed to drive from hastings to plymouth through the night - that journey would have cost me £300 in insurance for 5 hours driving. that really takes the p155 in my opinion and would always stick with "regular" insurance.

i do see its benefits tho, as my dad has 2 cars - PAYG would be good for 1 of those for him.

joecinq said:

charging young drivers £1 a mile from 11pm-6am is a joke. I think this is similar to cab prices?

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I agree...it certainly discourages me from driving my mates to the pub!

But it certainly doesnt help if yure knocked down by some drunken fool whilst yure walking home....

joe, the point is that when I was told about it the mile price would consider your age etc. as normal.

I fail to see how everybody immediately says it will cost more - it may if the prices stay the same but it won't work then, the idea is to give people the chance to pay only for the distances they drive, whatever the cost comes out as, it should come out as less if you are currently paying say 12k/year insurance.

As I have said, if it comes out more then it simply won't work which isn't what NU wants at all!

as with everything, it wont suit a lot of people, but who cares, if they're better off using a conventional policy than they've lost nothing. Its a very good idea. What about NCB, is it possible to accrue this whilst on the scheme?

Also on most policies the milage isn't limited, its a rough guide from which the insurance companies extrapolate some kind of risk, it doesn't matter if you go over it, and before anybody shoots me, I asked my broker, because I was unsure how it worked.

i read about this in the daily mail... sounds good in theory.. but i bet it'll be poo.

We'll see...I am a bit let down by the press release given out compared to what I have been told about it all in the past!

It's a bad thing,a very bad thing.There is a hidden agenda behind it,& it's nothing to do with cheaper insurance.They are marketing this very cleverly.Think about it,they will know everything that you do,where you are & where you've been.Plus what speed you where ,& in what posted limit.Let's say for example.You have a minor shunt,But you where slightly over the speed limit at the time.They could put a clause into your police to void your insurance cover.If the black box records anything over what it should be!They could make the information available to the authorities as well! The Government wants these boxes fitted to all cars in the future! This is a back door way to do it! Avoid at all costs,it's just big brother control freakery again.

Alex, on my policy, it specifically states that if i exceed my stated milage, the excess on my policy significantly increases.

Guzzi Steve said:

It's a bad thing,a very bad thing.There is a hidden agenda behind it,& it's nothing to do with cheaper insurance.They are marketing this very cleverly.Think about it,they will know everything that you do,where you are & where you've been.Plus what speed you where ,& in what posted limit.Let's say for example.You have a minor shunt,But you where slightly over the speed limit at the time.They could put a clause into your police to void your insurance cover.If the black box records anything over what it should be!They could make the information available to the authorities as well! The Government wants these boxes fitted to all cars in the future! This is a back door way to do it! Avoid at all costs,it's just big brother control freakery again.

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You can run, but you cant hide.... and if you break the speed limit doing so, you'll get points and a fine too!!!

Actually I have heard that for years (and personally I am not sure whether or not to believe this) that the government has been putting sensors in the road that detect cars traveling over it, with the aim of fitting transponders to each car on the road, to charge you for the priviledge of driving. Again this could be mis-used.