Black Box Blocking OBD Port

Hi everyone, so straight to the point I have a black box insurance policy. I have no intention of defrauding the insurer or anything like that, however the black box is in the OBD port. My car recently got a check engine light, I don't suspect it's anything serious but I wanted to plug it into my OBD reader to quickly check what it is and potentially clear it (rather than having to pay lots of money for a mechanic to do the exact same thing).

I'm obviously not allowed to unplug the black box at any point, but it is using and blocking the OBD port (it didn't come with a Y-splitter or anything like that) so what am I supposed to do? Is there another way to access the port? Or can I call the company and let them know ahead of time to unplug it briefly?

Thanks!

Blocking as in it’s plugged into OBD2? If so I 2nd IWMTom’s comment that’s seriously crap setup - on modern cars there’s been reports of weird and irritatingly intermittent electronic issues caused by OBD2 readers permanently plugged into the port on modern cars as the port isn’t designed for constant use (so manufacturers claim anyway).

For your actual problem you’ll need to look in your policy details and if there’s nothing there contact your insurer - I would hope they’re not going to penalise you for unplugging to pull codes but who knows. Hopefully it’s not caused by the unit itself.

That's a ridiculous installation method! Name and shame the insurer.

It's MyPolicy! They do seem kinda **** but they were just the cheapest available sadly. I think I'll have to call them and see what they can do about it since this just doesn't make sense. Regardless of if I do it myself or a mechanic, sooner or later someone will need to use that OBD port.

It's likely that they're only actually making use of two pins, power and ground. I'd hazard a guess that it's easier and cheaper than getting an installer out to wire it in elsewhere. Still.. very poor..

Hi everyone, so straight to the point I have a black box insurance policy. I have no intention of defrauding the insurer or anything like that, however the black box is in the OBD port. My car recently got a check engine light, I don't suspect it's anything serious but I wanted to plug it into my OBD reader to quickly check what it is and potentially clear it (rather than having to pay lots of money for a mechanic to do the exact same thing).

I'm obviously not allowed to unplug the black box at any point, but it is using and blocking the OBD port (it didn't come with a Y-splitter or anything like that) so what am I supposed to do? Is there another way to access the port? Or can I call the company and let them know ahead of time to unplug it briefly?

Thanks!

Probably also only usually connected to cars not in warranty as I know as a start Volvo will try to blame non-Volvo kit plugged into OBD for electrical oddities.

you can do it quickly! My friend has one and sometimes goes for entire drives without it plugged in - they usually send a notification to her phone saying to plug it back in - nothing major (except for being uninsured) **. If you're just checking codes you'll be good.

** Don't do this - I've enabled a lot of questionable things on this forum, but don't unplug your black box and go for a drive

You've re-entered the list of people I don't hate.

Bump

Why?

Because I have the exact same situation and the original question hasn’t been answered

Hi everyone, so straight to the point I have a black box insurance policy. I have no intention of defrauding the insurer or anything like that, however the black box is in the OBD port. My car recently got a check engine light, I don't suspect it's anything serious but I wanted to plug it into my OBD reader to quickly check what it is and potentially clear it (rather than having to pay lots of money for a mechanic to do the exact same thing).

I'm obviously not allowed to unplug the black box at any point, but it is using and blocking the OBD port (it didn't come with a Y-splitter or anything like that) so what am I supposed to do? Is there another way to access the port? Or can I call the company and let them know ahead of time to unplug it briefly?

Thanks!