We all know, all too well, about the rise and rise in insurance premiums lately. In fact, our very own Paul Healy has written a thorough investigative piece on it, which you can read here.
Insurers are therefore scrambling to try and save face and one of them, AIG, is offering a significant discount for drivers who sign up to use its XLNTdriver app. A smartphone app, it uses the phone's accelerometers and GPS chip to carefully monitor your driving, watching for whether you're speeding, braking aggressively or driving in an erratic manner, and it reports its findings back to AIG in real-time. Those signing up can get a 30 per cent discount on their insurance straight away, and if they rack up a good driving record over the following months, they could be in fir further discounts down the line.
Speaking at the announcement General Manager of AIG in Ireland, Declan O'Rourke, commented: "AIG is committed to promoting safer driving in Ireland and we're delighted to show that commitment with the development of the XLNTdriver app. While using this technology can save our customers money its principal benefit is that it encourages drivers to improve their driving habits".
"The safer a driver becomes the more discounts and offers from AIG they can take advantage of. We are delighted to reward safe driving and help reduce insurance premiums".
However, it should be noted that the app doesn't require you to turn it on when you're driving - it's always on and always logging data so those concerned about privacy or surveillance should probably think very carefully about using it.