Fraud News: Black Box Proves Driver Was Innocent Party in Accident Claim

A policyholder has been spared a £8000 claim against their motor insurance policy by proving a case of mistaken identity with data from a black box.

Following a routine day, the policyholder was shocked to receive a call from their insurer alleging that they had been involved in an accident and had subsequently fled the scene.

The policyholder accused of causing the incident denied being anywhere near the vicinity of the crash, and with the claimant’s insurer continuing to insist upon their involvement, both parties had reached a stalemate. 

In order to settle the dispute, the insurer accessed their online portal provided by Insure Telematics Solutions (ITS), the company behind the black box fitted within the policyholder’s car, in order to establish the insured vehicles’ movements on the day in question, ultimately to determine whether it had been involved in the incident, as alleged. Insure Telematics Solutions make this level of information readily available on the portal for Insurers to view and/or extract instantly in the form a report.

Black boxes are devices fitted within vehicles to record and monitor driving; a standard black box will be able to determine the speed, braking, cornering, and crucially, the location of a vehicle at any given time.

Following the insurer’s review of this easily accessible data from ITS, it was immediately clear that the accused policyholder was telling the truth. Whilst they had driven near the vicinity of the alleged incident on the day in question, the black box data was able to quickly verify that this was not at the time of the alleged incident, nor did the behaviour and movements of their vehicle match up with the known facts of the crash.

The policyholder was further vindicated when the data proved that their vehicle had in fact been parked and stationary at the time of the crash, and therefore there was zero possibility of it having been involved in the accident.

This mistake could have cost the policyholder heavily, with the claimant’s insurer seeking £8000 in damages. Had the policyholder not had a black box, they could also have been faced with a long and protracted wait to clear their name, as well as the associated stress of having to provide documentary evidence to their insurer to assist in the defence of the claim, not to mention possible fines imposed by the Police for fleeing the scene.

Adam Gooch, Commercial Director at ITS said, 

“When an insurer makes a claim, it is vital that the facts of the alleged incident can be quickly verified. Whilst an eyewitness testimony can form a part of the claims investigation process, incidents such as this demonstrate the importance of having reliable, objective methods of discerning fact from fiction. In this case, the data the insurer was able to access from ITS’s black box portal was instrumental in avoiding payment of a claim that the policyholder was not involved in, saving the insurer in excess of eight thousand pounds and preserving the policyholder’s no claims bonus”.