For some people, the idea of a tracking device in your car feels a little bit Big Brother/MI5/James Bond supervillain surveillance - but this definitely isn’t the case. It’s actually really helpful across a wide number of businesses and everyday needs.
Telematics tracking with an insurance policy from WiseDriving is a great tool especially for young and new drivers, as it measures and monitors how you drive to calculate a score and an accurate price for your insurance.
We use GPS tracking within the telematics device to monitor where you’re driving and measure your speed and stopping time. Here, we’ve delved into how telematics satellite tracking and how it works.
When is telematics satellite tracking used?
This type of tracking can be used across a wide variety of industries and niches including:
Telematics car insurance - Tracking how you drive to calculate how much your policy should cost you. Fleet tracking - Businesses use satellite tracking if they have drivers and mobile workers out in the field, this means they can see where drivers are and manage their tasks more efficiently. Anti-theft - Everything from vehicles to building machinery can be equipped with a tracking device, so if it is stolen it can be found quickly and easily. This may also deter criminals from stealing them in the first place.
Can a tracking device see where you are at all times?
The GPS tracking system within your telematics device works in real time, so yes, it can see your location while you are driving. This is an excellent tool if your vehicle is unfortunately stolen as we can track where it is and alert the authorities.
So, how does telematics satellite tracking work?
There are three main elements that go into tracking a vehicle:
A telematics device (such as a black box) is installed in the vehicle A server holds all the data this telematics device captures This data is available to view by your insurer
1. Telematics device
One of our engineers will fit a GPS-equipped black box in your car (or, in some cases, you might fit this yourself) - this isn’t visible and won’t affect your driving in any way. You can also use a self-installed tracking device that is tethered to an app on your phone.
The device collects information about how you drive - we measure the following things:
- How fast you drive and whether you stick to the speed limit
- What time of day you’re driving
- How aggressively you brake and accelerate
The device monitors this behaviour with the help of GPS satellites and the information is sent back to a server, which then stores it. There are around 30 GPS satellites orbiting the earth, the tracker in your car uses a GPS receiver to send its location to three or more of these satellites so your location is pinpointed. More than one satellite is used to improve location accuracy, with three being the minimum required to establish an accurate location.
With 445,000 people now using telematics car insurance in the UK - a 40% increase over the past year - just imagine how much data is being sent back and forth right now as you read this!
2. The data is kept safe on a dedicated serverR
A server processes and holds all of the information that is recorded with your tracking device, ready for when it needs to be checked by our team and for any score reviews. You can also check your driving score via your online WiseDriving account - this means you can keep an eye on how you’re doing in real time, as it is updated every day.
This also means your policy price can lower throughout the year, instead of having to wait for your renewal period. So, drive safely straight away and you could save some money within a few months.
3. We view this data via our system
There isn’t a team of boffins standing around a big screen tracking your every move. We can simply take a look at the data being stored on the server that’s been collected from your vehicle, as and when needed.
So, that’s telematics and satellite tracking in a nutshell. If you’re considering adding a telematics insurance policy on your car to save some money with careful driving, click here to get a quote today.
