Getting rid of Smartbox in car

Trouble is I can't see it!

Have a friend of mine who reckons he can rip it out but also on good terms with our local garage so will see what they think if that fails.

From a removal point of view, it was only a very basic install. They sent a random guy round who installed it with a lunch box containing a few pairs of pliers and some electrical tape.... So I'm guessing it's not very hightech or permanent.


Will keep people posted. Guess I'm not the only one looking for ways not to pay their extortionate removal fees.

Most of them charge you to remove the box.

I would never have a box fitted to my car, and I would never buy a car with a box on it. In fact, I'd never buy a car that had even had a box fitted and removed in the past...

No,No,No!

I have been monitoring (in conjunction with my son) his early dashboard results from his Hasting Direct Black Box and I would say the scoring method is crafty.

It appears that you could make a long daylight journey (say 100 miles) but if on the same day you drive up the local fuel station and back (2 miles) after 10pm you will score 0/100 for the 24 hour period. Which obviously dramatically affects your average rating.

Is my assumption correct and have other users had any similar experiences?

Slightly off topic, but how much leeway is there for their tolerance of speed? Do you get marked down instantly the second the GPS thinks you've gone 1mph too fast?

Just thinking of the GPS on my running watch which occasionally gets confused by trees/ buildings and registers a burst of speed that Usain Bolt would be proud of through the solid walls of buildings 10m from the road I'm actually on. Hell, I've flown aeroplanes with two GPS receivers that didn't want to agree! And what about tunnels? I drive through the A38 tunnels every so often which are usually enough to confuse my sat nav- what happens to the data in there?

I have a box with Hastings SmartMiles and I've found that regardless of the miles you've done in the week, if you drive a minute past 10PM you get a 0 for the day. Also, I've found that my 'average' daily score for time of day has seriously decreased and is not infact an average at all. I've had the box two months and of the 56 days of recorded data i've had 54 scores of 100 and 2 scores of 0 (as I've been very careful not to drive late!).. Yet my 'average' score is 32?!

My insurance company are also going to charge me £90 to take the box out or they can just deactivate it.
But my insurance also state that they own the black box and that I need to mention that it has a black box fitted to whoever purchases the car. I'm temped to just pay £90 to get the box taken out because I don't want them to own anything that is attached to my car. This black box insurance has ended up costing me a fortune and I've never once broken the speed limit or driven at night.

Bell doesn't have a curfew, but states night time driving would affect scores, I didn't really see that happening.



If you saw where they placed it, you could do it yourself....my one is deactivated but still with the same insurer...I could take it out myself, they attached mine near the fuse box.

Do the company not want the box back?

Normally companies charge to remove them. If they're not removed then the company will still track your car even if you are no longer with them and will sell the information gathered from yours and other cars to third parties. However, if you have changed your insurance you can ask them to deactivate the box (should be free of charge) and they are obligated to turn off the box.

Its not deactivated after the policy finished; its used to collect data which they then sell. So it could go on having an affect on your insurance prices and who knows what happens if you speed.

I wouldn't advise anyone to have one of these boxes. Yes its saved me £500 but its dangerous and I feel its made me a worse driver. You spend your whole life staring at the speedometer and not the road. You basically cant brake and have to try and coast or use gears to slow down. And you can't accelerate so end up annoying people behind you or merging at dangerously low speeds. Driving on the motorway with one fitted is tantamount to suicide
And if police or ambulance (or a tailgater) comes up behind you, you haven't got the leeway to go over the limit to get out the way.
And there is no official leeway. I've gone over a little bit (1-3mph) without penalties, but in the policy documents it said any speeding will lead to the policy being canceled.
And the night time driving is a nightmare. 1 minute after 10pm and your score is 0 for the day.



It saved me £500 for the first year, but then when the renewal came (despite having gained a 95% perfect driving score) the prices for a normal policy were actually cheaper than having the box. But I had no intention of keeping the box anyway!
There's a reason the policies with boxes are the worst rated -if you can afford it, stay well clear!


But back to topic.
When they came out to fit it, it was only a small box (about the size of a old fashioned computer hard drive) and they fitted it under the steering column where all the fuses and wires and stuff are. I've had it open and can't actually see anything.
A friend of mine reckons its only been spliced onto the wires, should be easy to remove.
I don't want to go messing though -so was hoping someone else who had had one of these policies would share their experiences.