Start-up claims motor insurance first with Moneysupermarket

As well as promising competitive car insurance, Insure The Box aims to influence behaviour by incentivising good drivers through the way it charges.

The company has also singled out low-mileage drivers as likely to benefit from their proposition.

insurethebox can be accessed via aggegator Money Supermarket - the first time the web comparison site has launched a new motor insurer.

Steve Sweeney, head of car insurance at Money Supermarket, said: "The benefits of Insure The Box are clear and I believe this insurer could really help keep motoring costs down and successfully promote safer driving.

"Insure The Box is one of the most innovative car insurance propositions we have seen for a long time. The industry has been crying out for a new concept that really works and while ‘clear box' technology certainly isn't new, insurethebox is more sophisticated in its design, making it a more sustainable scheme."

At the heart of its system is a small box installed by Insure The Box, which monitors exactly when and where the car goes and how it is driven. Customers can visit their own password-protected portal on the insurethebox website to see how well they are driving compared to their peer group.

Drivers pay for a fixed number of miles, typically 6 000. When the allocation is about to run out they receive email reminders. They can then choose to buy additional miles automatically through their credit cards or bank accounts or opt instead to use top-up principles similar to mobile phones. If they have driven well, the policy will be awarded up to 100 free miles every month.

The technology also makes it possible to respond rapidly to accidents, reducing the time it takes to get help and potentially saving many lives, Insure The Box added.

"Any parent whose teenage child has just passed their driving test will know the anxiety they feel whenever their son or daughter takes the car out, especially at night," says the company's founder and joint chief executive Mike Brockman.

"A seventeen year old man is 17 times the insurance risk of a 45-year-old, since they have more accidents with a significantly higher cost of claims. By encouraging good behaviour we can't promise to make him or her drive like a middle aged person, but if we can just make a seventeen year old lad behave like an 18-year-old then we are reducing the risk of an accident by 40%."

Joint chief executive Andy Haynes continued: "We believe that telematics is the way forward. The response from the market, including insurers, reinsurers and investors, has been refreshingly positive."