Telematics.com Review : Sheila’s Wheels Model Driver Insurance
Sheila’s Wheels are best known for their all singing; all dancing 1950s themed; pink-coloured television adverts in which they promise better premium for women drivers. As well as their main insurance product, they’ve now lent their branding to a telematics policy designed for good drivers to save even more on their premiums. You also need to check out sheilas wheels travel insurance and what sheilas wheels driving abroad policy is.
Gender equalisation rules for car insurance now mean that the company is not only forced to accept male drivers, but offer them the same premiums as women. They can still offer better premiums than most insurers though as male drivers, who are responsible for more accidents than women, tend to stay away from the company due to the excessively pink branding. So whether your male or female don’t be put off getting a quote for Sheila’s Wheels – even if you won’t use the complimentary handbag cover!
When the EU ruled that insurers were no longer able to offer pricing that discriminated based on gender, Sheila’s Wheels decided it was time to rewards good drivers – who statistically are more often women than men – based on their actual performance by using telematics or ‘black box’ insurance. Sheila’s Wheels Broker Model Driver policy use the full gamut of data analysed by telematics black boxes, so offers premiums based on how well you drive in addition to when and how far you drive.
The telematics policy offers by Sheila’s Wheels isn’t suitable for everyone, but for those who feel they are suitable for the policy it can offer substantial savings over traditional insurance policies. The main downside of the telematics policy is that it discourages journeys that take place between 11pm and 5am. While this isn’t a curfew, any journeys taken during this time will be more closely monitored for driving performance and thus have more chance to negatively affect premiums than daytime driving.
Sheila’s Black Box
Sheila’s Telematics policy was designed to provide a telematics policy that favoured the way women typically drive. Sheila’s Wheels carried out research into driving practices based on gender and discovered that women were best at routes they regularly drove. They therefore opted to tailor their policy to this form of driving by pricing premiums based on how well you drive on your regular journeys. This is called the ‘Model Driving Score’ on the telematics interface provided.
Other than using a specific type of driving for pricing premiums, the telematics technology used here is similar to others on the market. The black box which Sheila’s Wheels provides tracks your cars movements using GPS around the clock, as well as transmitting data from the car to the insurer about speed, acceleration, braking and mileage. All this data is turned into a driving score by a clever computer programme. The black box can’t tell who is driving the car though, so if you share it’s best to ensure you only allow experienced drivers to use your car. The box will be installed within a month of you taking out the policy.
Sheila’s Wheels points out that their policy is best suited for those who are facing extremely high quotes on premiums for traditional insurance. Typically this ‘high risk’ group will be young or new drivers. After gender based pricing ended young female drivers faced gigantic rises in premium, with many seeing quotes doubling overnight. Sheila’s Wheels telematics is perhaps most beneficial to this demographic, so if you’re a young woman wanting to cut your premiums and don’t mind your car movement being tracked by the insurer this policy could be perfect for you.
Model Driver Dashboard
After the engineer installs your black box you can start reviewing your driving skills, performance and journey history online using the Model Driver Dashboard. This dashboard scores you out of 100 based on four driving performance indicators. These indicators are how well you drive your regular routes, how often and how well you drive at night (less night driving is better), how you brake and your speed. You should aim to get your score as close to 100 as you are able to, but realistically even a good driver will have a lower figure, for instance 80.
As well as the driving score the dashboard monitors how many miles you drive each day. This is important as when you sign up for a car insurance policy you have to estimate how many miles you’ll drive, and this is used to price the policy. The dashboard also has other functions such as being able to see a score out of 100 for each of the four driving behaviour indicators we listed above. It also gives you detailed reports as well as quick tips and, if something about your driving needs correcting, alerts. There are many sheilas wheels model driver reviews but we hope you find this one comprehensive and informative if you are looking at sheilas wheels breakdown cover or sheilas wheels additional driver policies.
Have a read of our article on The Benefits Of Having Telematics Insurance For Women Drivers.
| Key Points Of This Policy | |
|---|---|
| | Pricing based on regular journeys |
| | Premium reviews every 3 months |
| | Not just for women |
| | Personal Model Driver Online Dashboard |
| | Free Handbag Cover |
| Charges and Fees | |
|---|---|
£26 | Amendment fee |
£150 | Car change fee |
£50 | Missed / failed installation fee |
£55 – £150 | Cancellation fee (after 14 days) |
