Specialist car insurance provider Carrot Insurance was formed in 2012, after the death of company founder Kamran Mahmoudzadeh’s son in a motoring accident. The idea was to offer a form of insurance that rewards safe driving and so cuts further tragedies.
Defaqto: 3/5 stars & 2/5 stars (depending on policy)
Six Carrot Insurance policies achieved three-star ratings. These were the New Driver and Better Driver insurance policies underwritten by Aviva, Aviva (comparison site policy) and Zurich. Two stars were awarded to the Better and New Driver policies from Zurich (comparison site policy).
Trustpilot: 3.8/5 stars
TrustPilot awarded Carrot Insurance a rating of 3.8 out of five based on 2,561 customer reviews. A total of 40% of respondents rated the company as excellent, while 19% said their experience was great. At the other end of the scale 26% had a bad experience.
The insurer focuses on telematics or black box car insurance policies, which use GPS technology to track policyholder’s speed, mileage and driving style.
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Each week policyholders get a Driving Style score and issues rewards that differ depending on the type of policy held and how well the insured car is driven.
Carrot specialises in providing car insurance that encourages safe driving, using telematics as the means to establish how safely policyholders’ drive. The provider offers two types of cover:
New Driver cover – this telematics insurance sees a black box installed for free to the insured’s car, with weekly rewards issued in the form of Carrot Points. Rewards and progress can be monitored on a personal online dashboard
Better Driver cover – is an app-based telematics policy that is intended for drivers with some road experience. Rewards, in the form of e-gift cards are issued for good driving scores
Carrot provides three levels of cover:
Comprehensive Covers losses and injury incurred by the policyholder and all third parties
Third party, fire and theft Covers losses and injury incurred by third parties as well as losses affecting the policyholder that result from fire, theft and attempted theft
Third party Only covers losses and injury affecting third parties, including passengers in the insured’s vehicle
Given Carrot Insurance’s remit, to offer black box cover to inexperienced and young drivers in particular, it’s focus is on what these motorists tend to need, meaning drivers needing certain cover, such as multi-car insurance and temporary or short-term cover should look elsewhere.
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Learner driver insurance
Carrot Insurance has partnered with Choose Your Insurance to provide learner driver insurance. Customers can buy cover while they learn to drive for a period of from one to 24 weeks.
While Carrot Insurance offers a specific type of car cover, namely telematics or black box policies, the underwritten policies from Aviva, Ageas and Zurich provide the following benefits as standard.
The insurer provides up to £5,000 cover in the event of the injury to or death of the policyholder or other parties resulting from an insured incident.
Insured drivers are covered for the cost of replacement locks for stolen key and entry fobs up to £300.
Standard cover will provide for accidental damage to or theft of in-car equipment that was installed by the vehicle’s manufacturer, up to £750, while all other permanently-fitted equipment is protected to a value of £300.
Carrot Insurance will cover the cost of damage to the insured’s windscreen subject to an excess.
This form of cover ensures policyholders will be reimbursed, subject to a cost limit and any excess for lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed personal possessions.
The insurer will cover any medical expenses incurred by the insured and other parties, depending on the level of cover to the tune of £200 each.
Aside from the standard car insurance features and benefits listed above, policyholders can opt into buying the following additional extras.
Breakdown assistance ensures that if the insured’s car is stranded, a trained mechanic will attend the vehicle to undertake emergency repairs for a period of up to 60 minutes. Higher levels of protection are available, including European cover
Legal cover can be provided to ensure that claims-related legal matters, including recouping excesses from third parties and pursuing personal injury claims are covered up to £100,00
Carrot Insurance is a specialist insurer, offering telematics or black box insurance. This makes it an especially worthwhile insurance provider to consider in the following circumstances:
if you like the idea of a rewards scheme
if you are a learner driver
if you are a new driver
if you are an inexperienced driver
if you want to be able to track your driving performance to see where you can make improvements
Carrot Insurance responded to a House of Commons’ inquiry into why so many young drivers are involved in road traffic accidents by maintaining that all 17-to-22-year-olds should have a black box policy for the first year after passing their driving test.
The insurer has also been lobbying the government to cut or scrap income premium tax for young and inexperienced drivers who buy telematics cover, to help reduce the cost of premiums and promote safer driving.
The Financial Ombudsman Service received fewer than 10 complaints about Carrot motor insurance in the first half of 2020. To put that in context, 67 firms had 10 or more complaints each and those totalled 4,550 complaints. Nearly 200 firms had fewer than 10 each, sharing just 479 complaints between them.
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