ALLIANZ AND MARMALADE BACK USE OF BLACK BOX TECHNOLOGY TO HELP COMBAT CAR CRIME

A black box policy holder with Marmalade the leading provider of cars and insurance for 17-24 year-olds, underwritten by Allianz, has been reunited with his stolen vehicle after police used the black box's in-built GPS to trace its location.

Police were able to use the car’s black box to recover the vehicle 25 miles away after it was stolen from the policyholder’s home address in Hertfordshire. Two men were arrested just a few hours after the theft, when the car was found.

Crispin Moger, CEO of Marmalade, said: “This is a great story and we will start to hear more examples like this. I’m certain that if black box technology were used more widely we would see more car owners reunited with their stolen cars more quickly and an increase in convictions. ”

The black box data was able to show that the vehicle was stolen at 09.37 on November 16^th from the policyholder’s address in Hertfordshire. This journey was recorded as “red”, meaning a number of harsh braking acceleration and cornering events were detected. A number of other journeys were made on the same day whilst in the thieves’ possession, within the region of North London.

Crispin continues: “I was pleased to hear our young customer was quickly reunited with his car. The use of telematics offers so many clear benefits to drivers, including encouraging safer and better driving, affordability as well as peace of mind. I hope the government starts to take note of this and the use of black box technology is taken more seriously next year as a priority for young drivers.”

James Tucker, smart technologies manager, Allianz Insurance said: “This is a fantastic example of how technology and insurance helped a customer when they needed it most.Connecting to our customers clearly brings them many benefits but also helps the wider community by improving road safety and reducing crime.”

Using up-to-date black box technology, Marmalade monitors driving and flags to young drivers when there is a problem based on accelerating, braking, cornering and speed. If there is an issue, the customer care team call the drivers within 24 hours to discuss what happened and provide advice on avoiding the same mistakes. This has enabled Marmalade to achieve a driver safety record which is almost four times better than the national average, which has in turn meant that it can keep premiums low.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Marmalade is the leading provider of car insurance and cars for young drivers. Founded in 2006, it helps young drivers get behind the wheel, keeps them safe, improves their driving skills and saves money.

On a national basis, 1 in 5 young drivers is involved in an accident within the first six months of passing their test. With Marmalade, this statistic reduces to 1 in 18 meaning their young drivers are nearly four times less likely to be involved in an accident as they develop their driving skills in this critical period.