Read about Carrot to see if their car insurance for learners or high risk drivers might be suitable for you. Find out how Carrot features compare and how existing policyholders rate Carrot's customer service.

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In This Review

• Carrot Car Insurance: Overall Review
• Customer Reviews and Ratings
• Administrative and cancellation fees
• Phone numbers and policy documents

Carrot Car Insurance Overall Review

Is Carrot Insurance any good? While telematics companies are typically plagued by customer complaints related to the black boxes, Carrot seems to do relatively well in this regard. Read more about the most common complaints below.

Carrot is a telematics car insurance broker, which stands out as drivers who demonstrate good driving are able to earn rewards—that's the carrot, as it were (e.g., points you can turn into high street e-gift cards to retailers that might include Spotify, M&S, Pizza Express, Starbucks, Asos or Amazon.co.uk).

While the rewards might be enticing, consumers should be aware that Carrot policies are missing some recommended features and is the only company we've come across to date which does not make the Policy Wording available to consumers on their website—making it impossible for a customer to know exactly what they're getting before they sign up.

Carrot offers two types of policies, both of which track of your journeys, but in different ways. The Safe Driver (or 'Better Driver') plan uses an iOS or Android app to track driving style—this plan is designed for those who may have previously had convictions or endorsements and are having difficulty getting affordable insurance.. The Private Car (or 'New Driver') plan involves having a black box fitted to your car to track your journeys—this plan is designed for young or inexperienced drivers.

Carrot has won many innovation awards, such as the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award and the Insurance Technology Awards, but that doesn't mean their technology is without fail. Many customer complaints are related to the telematics recording journeys that never happened, or for instance the app recording a bus ride as a car ride.

Potential customers should be aware that some administration fees are higher than you'll find with other companies, which is important to keep in mind especially if you anticipate changing your car or canceling your policy (e.g., because you sell your car and don't get a new one that you want insured by Carrot).

The main car insurance coverage is now underwritten by Haven, with extra products underwritten by some of the biggest UK car insurance companies:

Features

Carrot has improved visibility and now their policy wordings are available on the website.

We review certain features below for their Private Car Telematics policy. But we we recommend that you read the policy wording before you buy a policy to confirm the details and features for yourself. However, overall we would say the quality of features is good and has improved recently (but you might find more robust feature elsewhere).

How Good is Carrot Car Insurance?	A Good Policy Includes	Does Carrot Deliver?	Carrot Comprehensive Private Car Black Box Coverage
"Must Have" Features
Windscreen	Full repair or replacement		Included
Belongings	£200+		Up to £250
Keys	£300+		Not covered
Protected NCD	2 times in 3 years (standard or optional extra)		Not available
Car recovery after accident	Included		Included
Courtesy car (repairs)	Minimum 14 days		Included (if you use their repairer)
Repairs guaranteed	12-month guarantee		5 years while you own the car
"Should Have" Features
New car replacement	Theft or damage at least 60% of list price; cars up to 12 months old		Included
Stereo and satellite nav	Market value for manufacturer fitted		Up to £1,000 if permanently fitted to your car by the manufacturer
Alternative transport & Hotel after accident	£250+		Up to £100 pp or £250 in total stc
24-hour emergency helpline	Standard		24/7 claims line
Courtesy car (total loss or theft)	Standard or add-on extra		If you buy the Guaranteed Hire Vehicle Cover add on
Motor legal expenses	Standard or add-on extra		If you buy the add on
Breakdown cover	Standard or add-on extra		If you buy the add on
"Could Have" Features
Same cover in EU	Standard or add-on extra		If you buy the add on
Child car seat replacement after accident, theft, fire	Ideally replaced even if no visible damage		Up to £75 (perhaps a bit low...)
Larger/premium courtesy car	Standard or add-on extra		Not available
Uninsured driver NCD protection	Standard		Included (stc)
Cancellation fee	No more than £50		£75 after 14 days, plus £33.25-£105 for devices, plus no refund of arrangement fees

Their site does say that you can add motor legal for £22.40, including IPT tax and one of 3 levels of breakdown cover ranging from £57.50 to £90.

Carrot Car Insurance Customer Service Reviews and Ratings

Carrot Insurance Trustpilot

Carrot Insurance has been rated with 3.8 stars out of 5 by close to 3,400 customers on Trustpilot. While not a bad overall score, only 4.5 out of 10 customers say Carrot is "Excellent" and another 1 out of 4 rate Carrot as "Bad." But their rating has improved over the past year, which we're glad to see. We've scoured the reviews to find what customers like—and don't like—about Carrot:

"I love carrot insurance! it helps keep track of my mileage and my driving scores so easily so i can keep an eye and keep on top of my driving. the reward system also helps as you know with continuous good driving a reward is there for you! it’s website is clear and easy to understand as well which helps me focus on the things i need to focus on."

"... Two months into my cover they have sent an email at 16:54 to say my cover has been cancelled with immediate effect with no explanation! I was unable to contact them as their offices close at 17:00. The next day they reinstated the insurance while they ‘investigate’ me. A week later they have sent another email to say my insurance is cancelled with immediate effect due to tampering with the box. They have come to this conclusion by accusing me of tampering with the box they have no evidence to prove this."

"I used the online live chat service twice to ask questions about my insurance policy, both times the response was very quick answered my questions very clearly."

"Amazing service and very cheap to start your driving career! Customer service is easy to get in touch, live chat is even easier!"

"Being able to submit details and pictures throughout the app is very useful and saves a lot of time."

"... It’s also great being rewarded with points towards gift cards. I have recommended Carrot to so many of my friends and will continue to use carrot in the future."

"Good customer service, easy app, good prices."

The negative reviews mostly center around frustrations with communicating with customer service (e.g., chatting with a web bot) and the black box and app working incorrectly (e.g., recording journeys you haven't taken, journeys on the bus, etc.):

"The app does not work and didn't record my journeys for the entire year throughout my policy. Was told it would be fixed and never was..."

"The better driver app kept crashing 10/12 times a day... Not to mention it failing to accurately record my journey (speed, journey itself etc), often it wouldn't even record at all. Over 200 bad reviews on app stores all for the same issues, over a year and still not fixed."

"The online chat is tedious and slow and doesn't give much help..."

Carrot Reviews.co.uk Reviews

Customers have given Carrot as similar ranking on Reviews.co.uk: 3.8 stars by 3,500 customers. Here is a sample of real customer comments:

"Thoroughly recommend Carrots - and indeed I have done to friends. Very competitive insurance quotes, user friendly app, good customer service."

"Price is really good and black box was fitted on the date it was supposed to."

"Live chat is very useful, had a few issues at the start of my coverage with the app but they where able to be sorted relatively quickly using it."

"Always somebody available to chat online or speak to on the phone. Sorted out my queries quickly and claims were dealt with smoothly."

"... worry of policy cancellation for an error as simple as forgetting to turn on the blue tooth on your phone..."

"... Unfortunately, the app seems to penalise you for driving at night, for driving longer distances (where you are more likely to encounter other drivers and have to respond to their nonsense!) and on faster roads (over 30mph!). There's no way of you arguing with the rating and you get a maximum of 4 Reds before your policy is cancelled."

Cancellation & Administration Fees

Carrot has recently changed their fees. The good news is that the cancellation charged for policies canceled within the first 14 days of a policy start date is now lower, although it's still higher than average at £50. Be aware that the policy arrangement fee continues to rise and is now £97.50 for new policies (£92.50 for renewed policies). You'll also need to pay an admin fee to make changes such as adding a driver or changing your car. And their cancellation fees can be pretty hefty. This means careful consideration before signing up. See below.

Important Carrot Car Insurance Phone Numbers

Unfortunately there are no customer service phone lines with Carrot. Customer service can be contacted through their LiveChat feature Mon-Fri from 8.30am – 6.00pm and Sat from 9.00am – 1.00pm, but they're closed on Sundays. The claims line is open 24/7, as with most car insurance companies.

Policy Documents

To find out more about the conditions and exclusions, read the Carrot policy documents.

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