Ask the Expert: Should insurers remove telematics black boxes that are no longer needed?

Dear Alex,

After our Vauxhall Corsa’s battery went flat repeatedly, our garage said there was a battery drain and recommended an auto electrician 40 minutes’ drive away. I decided to try my local Vauxhall dealer. When I went to collect the car, they told me the battery was faulty – which was what I’d told them when I dropped it off. They were adamant that replacing the battery would solve the issue and said they would only investigate further if I bought a new one from them. I declined, and went instead to the electrician, who diagnosed a faulty telematics black box, left there by a previous owner. Was this fair from the Vauxhall dealer? Should insurers tell people to disconnect telematics boxes that are no longer required?

– JM

Dear JM,

One of the problems with using a main dealer is that they can be somewhat inflexible in the way they go about solving problems, having to abide by a set of manufacturer-prescribed checklists and fault-finding procedures.

This means that they might not take your word for it if you’re halfway through solving a problem; they’ll usually need to start at the beginning of the fault-finding process and to them that means fitting a new battery. If that doesn’t work, they move on to the next thing on the list.

I’d have hoped for someone at the dealer to say: “Yes, right, the customer has done the first step, so let’s move on to the next” – but perhaps the service advisor didn’t pass the information you’d given them to the technician, or the technician didn’t read the job sheet properly.

In any case, as you’ve realised, a specialist auto electrician is usually going to be a better bet for a more intricate electrical issue than a main dealer, simply because that’s where their expertise lies.

Unfortunately, there’s no obligation for insurance companies that fit telematics black boxes to remove or disable them when the customer’s policy ends. Insurers will offer to remove a black box, but usually charge a fee to do so, which means customers rarely do this.

And as you’ve found, when buying a car it’s very hard to tell that a telematics unit has been fitted, as it’ll usually be hidden behind the dashboard – and there’s no obligation for the seller to disclose its presence.

Usually, the black box is shut down remotely by the insurer – but as you’ve found, it remains connected and like an old alarm that’s no longer in use, it can cause electrical issues down the line. Just another reason why I’m not a fan of having one fitted unless it’s unavoidable.