Ingenie Car Insurance Review: The Best Black Box Cover for You?

Ingenie Car Insurance Review: The Best Black Box Cover for You?

Car insurance for learners and black box cover for young drivers with a great app for tracking your driving style and discounts you'll earn for safe driving, but be aware of missing standard features like accident recovery and high cancellation black box costs.

Good for

  • Earn discounts a few times a year for safe driving
  • Good app to track driving score and potential discounts

Bad for

  • No recovery after an accident unless you buy breakdown cover
  • No guarantee on accident repairs
  • Customer service closed Sundays
  • High cancellation fees

Editor's Rating

3.0/5.0

The guidance on this site is based on our own analysis and is meant to help you identify options and narrow down your choices. We do not advise or tell you which product to buy; undertake your own due diligence before entering into any agreement. Read our full disclosure here.

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Find out the pros and cons of Ingenie car insurance to decide if their car insurance might be good for you. Read about how Ingenie features compare and how existing customers rate their customer service.

In This Review

Ingenie Car Insurance Overall Review

Ingenie is a specialist car insurance provider of telematics-based cover for young drivers as well as learner driver insurance for those practising on a learner's permit before their driving test. Ingenie may offer you a good price and a nifty app, but be aware that their policies are lacking some features we'd like to see, such as recovery and accommodation/transport cover if your car is not drivable after an accident (unless you buy the breakdown add on), a guarantee on any repairs done by an approved repairer after an insured incident or the option for a courtesy car if yours is totaled.

Black box

By installing a black box in your car, Ingenie is able to track features of your driver style such as speed, braking, acceleration and cornering—this encourages safer driving which should translate into lower premiums as a result. On the other hand, if you display unsafe driving patterns and receive red messages or black messages from your box, your insurance premium may be negatively affected (go up).

While you should never use your mobile phone while driving anyway (it's illegal) be aware that Ingenie won't cover you for an incident where the driver is convicted of using a mobile phone at the time of the incident.

Depending on what's compatible with the make and model of your car, young drivers will either get a fitted black box (which needs to be professionally installed by one of Ingenie's fitting partners) or you'll get a self-fitted box in the post. You pay for the box, which costs:

How much is an Ingenie black box?You may need to pay this
Fitted black box£105
Self-fit box£50

Who underwrites Ingenie?

Ingenie's car insurance policies are underwritten by Ageas, Covea, Highway, Pukka and Zenith, some of which are among the largest car insurance companies in the UK.

Ingenie Features

Young driver policies bought direct from Ignenie have some good features, including a courtesy car (in the event your car is in for repairs after being damaged in an injured incident), windscreen repair, personal injury cover, stereo cover and cover in Europe for 14 days. However, as you'll see in the table below a number of features we usually see as standard are not included automatically with Ingenie. For example, to get recovery for you and your car if you can't drive it away from the scene of an accident, you'll need to have purchased the additional breakdown cover for an additional premium.

How Good is Ingenie Car Insurance?A Good Policy IncludesDoes Ingenie Deliver?Ingenie Comprehensive Young Driver Coverage
"Must Have" Features
WindscreenFull repair or replacement
thumbs up
Included
Belongings£200+
red x
Up to £100
Keys£300+
thumbs up
Up to £500 for loss or theft, if the person who may have your keys, transmitter or card knows the identity or garage address of the car.
Protected NCD2 times in 3 years (standard or optional extra)
thumbs up add on
If you buy the add on and have no more than 2 claims made in any period of 3 years
Car recovery after accidentIncluded
thumbs up add on
If you buy the breakdown cover
Courtesy car (repairs)Minimum 14 days
thumbs up
Included
Repairs guaranteed12-month guarantee
red x
Not included
"Should Have" Features
New car replacementTheft or damage at least 60% of list price; cars up to 12 months old
thumbs up
If damage is more than 60% of list price at time of damage
Stereo and satellite navMarket value for manufactur fitted
thumbs up
Unlimited for manufacturer fitted; up to £300 for other permanently fitted equipment
Alternative transport & Hotel after accident£250+
thumbs up add on
If you buy the breakdown cover (~£84.99)
24-hour emergency helplineStandard
thumbs up
Included
Courtesy car (total loss or theft)Standard or add-on extra
thumbs up add on
If you buy the hire car add on (~£24.99)
Motor legal expensesStandard or add-on extra
thumbs up add on
If you buy the add on
Breakdown coverStandard or add-on extra
thumbs up add on
If you buy the add on
"Could Have" Features
Same cover in EUStandard or add-on extra
thumbs up
Up to 14 days
Child car seat replacement after accident, theft, fireIdeally replaced even if no visible damage
red x
Not included
Larger/premium courtesy carStandard or add-on extra
red x
Not available
Uninsured driver NCD protectionStandard
question mark
If you bought NCD protection, being hit by an uninsured driver would count as a fault claim and would go down as one of the claims you're permitted before your NCD drops
Cancellation feeNo more than £50
red x
£35 or £80, plus you may also incur a cancellation charge for the black box

Ingenie Car Insurance Customer Service Reviews and Ratings

Ingenie has been rated with 3.7 stars out of 5 by over 2,100 customers on Trustpilot. Most negative reviews are complaints about the cancellation charges or price hikes for cars with modifications (e.g., tinted windows or alloy wheels added later).

Ingenie Ratings & Customer Reviews
Trustpilot customer service rating3.7 out of 5

Ingenie Car Insurance Discounts and Prices

Ingenie car insurance is designed to offer discounts to young drivers for safe driving, which they track via a black box in your car. Interestingly, they say you can get discounts 3 times a year and that drivers save an average of £563 when they renew for a second year.

Their app has a pretty cool display showing your driving score and how much you're on track to save at your next price check.

chart showing ingenie discounts and how you can save money

Ingenie Cancellation Fees

Black box policies can be more expensive to cancel due to the costs of the black box, and Ingenie is no exception. Ingenie has a wide array of fees and charges, and you'll pay more for canceling or changing your car if you have a fitted black box (to reimburse Ingenie for to the cost of professional installation). If you anticipate canceling your policy during the policy year, for instance if you're planning to sell your car, then you might want to keep these fees in mind. Here are a few of Ingenie's cancellation charges:

Ingenie Cancellation Charges
Cancellation£35 (within the 14 day cooling off period or before cover has started)
Cancellation£80 (after the 14 day cooling off period)
Young Driver Box (Fitted box)No refund of the cost of the fitted black box or installation (£105).
Young Driver Box (Self-fitted box)No refund of the cost of the self-fit box (£50) after the cooling-off period.

Also, mid-term changes like selling your car, buying a new car, adding named drivers, changing your address, etc. are £30 (plus, the cost of your insurance can change).

Important Ingenie Car Insurance Phone Numbers

Customers can reach Ingenie customer service 6 days a week—phone lines are closed on Sundays. (Of course, claim lines are open 24/7.) Phone customer service lines are open Monday to Friday from 9am - 6pm and Saturday from 9am - 1pm.

There's an online live chat feature, they are open 9am-5:30pm Monday through to Friday and 9am-12:30pm on Saturdays.

Ingenie Car Insurance Contact Numbers
Customer Services (ingenie box for young drivers)0330 678 0652
Customer Services (Learner Driver)0330 678 0674
Claims (Windscreen)0330 303 0024
24 Hour Helplines
Breakdown cover (if you have it)0330 678 0685
Claims (ingenie box for young drivers)0330 303 0021
Claims (Learner Driver)0345 165 0563

Policy Documents

To learn about the full details as to what's covered and what's not, read through the Ingenie car insurance documents.

Ingenie Car Insurance Compared to Other Car Insurance Brands

To better understand the value of Ingenie Car Insurance you need to see it relative to other available options. We’ve compared this option to other car cover so you can decide which will create more value for you given your individual needs.

Ingenie vs. Bell Plug and Drive

Bell Plug and Drive is one of Admiral's black box brands. Admiral is the largest UK car insurance company in the UK by premiums written. Bell has a decent set of features but you should read their customer ratings before buying (we discuss them in our review) and customers have to wait to receive an email from Bell to find out how their driving has been rated.

Quick Takeaway: If you want a snazzy app that updates you on your driving score and potential savings, ingenie may be what you're looking for. But the set of standard features is relatively poor compared to Bell.

Ingenie vs Diamond

Diamond is another black box Admiral brand—this one aimed at women. Cover is robust for a telematics plan and includes most of the basic "must have" requirements, but beware that you don't get accommodation or onward travel in case your car is not roadworthy after an accident. Customer reviews are solid, rating around 3.5 according to Trustpilot and Reviews.co.uk.

Quick Takeaway: Diamond and Bell are similar as they're both Admiral brands. For instance, you call the same phone number for both if you need emergency roadside assistance after a collision. Check prices as one may be a touch lower than the other.

Ingenie vs Carrot

Carrot is another black box provider that also suffers from black box errors, with customers reportedly having journeys recorded when they're actually taking the bus or when they and their car are safely parked at home. Prices may be lower, but there's no way to call into customer service—Carrot is an online company and as a result only offers web chat customer service. While the high street rewards for good driving may be enticing, plans are quite basic and you can't buy any no claims bonus protection—of course, if you're a new driver then you won't have a no claims bonus to protect anyway (you usually need around 4 years of accrued NCB in order to buy NCB protection).

Quick Takeaway: If the price is right and you just want basic cover then Carrot may be a good option, but be aware of the high cancellation fees, lack of customer service phone lines and missing features.

Erin Yurday

Erin Yurday is the Founder and Editor of NimbleFins. Prior to NimbleFins, she worked as an investment professional and as the finance expert in Stanford University's Graduate School of Business case writing team. Read more on LinkedIn.

Comments

The guidance on this site is based on our own analysis and is meant to help you identify options and narrow down your choices. We do not advise or tell you which product to buy; undertake your own due diligence before entering into any agreement. Read our full disclosure here.

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