Does Driving After 10pm With a Tracker Affect Insurance?

Caeva O'Callaghan | December 7th, 2023

You might have heard that tracker insurance is a good way for young drivers to save money, but will it let you drive at night?

There are no restrictions on the time of day you can drive when you have a tracker installed for the purposes of insurance.

However, the amount of kilometres you may travel during the year is extremely limited. You need to keep an eye on your kilometres allowance to make sure you don’t incur extra costs.

In this article, we’ll cover the following:

A number of things can affect how much you spend on car insurance: from how much you drive to where, when and how. Read on to find out how a tracker can help, and when it might hold you back.

What is a tracker for car insurance?

It might be sold to you as a tracker, a black box, telematics box, or another name. But they all mean the same thing: a small device which the insurance company installs on your car that monitors your driving habits.

When you take out a black box car insurance policy, your insurer will arrange for a third party to install the black box device in your car. It’s pretty small – around the size of a mobile phone – and they’ll place it in a discreet location, so no one will be able to see it’s there.

Most insurers, such as AIG, offer cheaper car insurance by allowing young drivers to select a plan by the amount of kilometres they expect they’ll need to travel in a year. For example, you can choose to take out 8,000, 10,000 or 12,000 kilometres, and with some car insurance plans you can earn monthly reward kilometres by driving safely.

It never matters what time of day you drive. However, if you use up your annual kilometre allowance and need to purchase more, it can get expensive.

How does installing a tracker reduce my car insurance?

A tracker rewards you for driving safely. The black box tracks your location, your speed, how sharply you turn, how suddenly you brake, and how far you drive. The data feeds back to the insurance company, who uses it to decide how safe a driver you are. Safe drivers might enjoy discounts or rewards, and unsafe drivers may end up paying more.

If you have been driving very safely, you could earn up to a maximum of an additional 300kms per month. If you’ve proven yourself a risky driver, the costs of additional kilometres may go up.

Driving safely also helps to grow your no-claims bonus, and build a reputation as a sensible driver that will stand you in good stead next time you buy or renew your car insurance.

The problem is, if you regularly commute to school or work, tracker-style insurance might now allow you enough kilometres in a year to be able to make the trips you need.

How can I save money on car insurance without a tracker?

If a tracker won’t be suitable for you, there are other ways you can reduce your car insurance premiums, even if you’re a younger driver.

First of all, don’t forget that we can help – simply pick up the phone and give us a call, and we can help get you the most competitive car insurance quote available for your needs.

Otherwise, here are some tips:

  • Get your full license as soon as possible.
  • Get named driver experience: while most insurers will insist on a full year of this, some providers offer discounts to young drivers who have six months’ experience on their parent’s policy.
  • Choose a smaller car: the bigger the engine and the more expensive it is, the more you’ll pay.

Getting young drivers car insurance doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Call us today and we can help you save money on your next policy. You can call us on 0818 224433 or 042 9359051.


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All Information in this post is accurate as of the date of publishing.