Confused.com Launches a New Mobile Phone app to Reward Good Drivers

CARDIFF, August 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Confused.com has announced the launch of MotorMate, a new easy-to-use driving app that shows people how good a driver they are at the touch of a button, whilst earning rewards.

The app mirrors in-car telematics technology which is where a black box is fitted to a car monitoring driving performance and potentially allowing good drivers to benefit from cheaper car insurance premiums.

The app also allows drivers who are interested in telematics but are unsure about installing a little black box in their car to 'try before you buy'.

The app has been developed in an exclusive partnership with MyDrive Solutions, the pre-eminent driver behavioural profiling company in the insurance telematics industry, and RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents), to deliver an app that allows drivers to earn real rewards and understand how good a driver they are compared with expert RoSPA drivers, who represent the gold standard for safe driving. The app is free to download from Google Play and Apple's App Store.

The app monitors driving behaviour every second and also filters the quality of the GPS data ensuring the driver gets the most accurate evaluation of their driving behaviour. For example, if a driver is moving slowly through congestion, the app will not mark down the driver for driving too slowly, it will recognise the location and traffic build-up and will filter this from the final score, ensuring the driver score is accurate.

The Confused.com MotorMate app also has a unique heartbeat functionality where it will check in with the phone holder every day to communicate that it is working properly and to ensure that all data is being recorded on every trip.

All individual driving trips made using the app are scored out of 5 stars based on the user's anticipation of the road, braking, acceleration, and driving at a sensible speed. Feedback on a driver's behavior will usually be given 10 minutes after the journey has ended (subject to network coverage).

An overall 'Confused.com MotorMark' is given after the user has driven 250 miles in total (this doesn't have to be during one journey - it can be a multiple of journeys). Their 'Confused.com MotorMark' score will be out of 100 - 100 being an expert driver and 20 being a driver who needs improvement.

The 'Confused.com MotorMark' score is a reflection of how the user drives overall, taking into account factors such as anticipation, pace, acceleration, braking and cornering and gives a more thorough understanding of the driver's behaviour. The overall score also benchmarks the user's driving score with that of an advanced RoSPA driver.

MotorMate will allow drivers to look at their driving patterns by reviewing their driving score, and seeing where there's room for improvement. By using the app as a monitoring tool, drivers should increase their driving score over time, making them a safer driver in the process and making the roads even safer.

As users of the app become safer drivers, they could reduce their car insurance costs since being a safer driver should reduce the risk of being involved in an accident, which means less claims and potentially cheaper car insurance premiums. In fact, this is just how a black box insurance policy works in real life, and those who opt for a telematics policy, will ultimately be rewarded for being a good driver.

About Confused.com:

Confused.com is one of the UK's biggest and most popular price comparison services. Launched in 2002, it generates over one million quotes per month. It has expanded its range of comparison products over the last couple of years to include insurances for specialised car insurance groups, buildings insurance and critical illness insurance.

PR Contact:
Sarah Wenham
Confused.com press office
Friary House
Greyfriars Road
Cardiff
CF10 3AE
+44(0)2920-434275
http://www.confused.com