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We’ve just launched a new feature to help you avoid paying driving fines in central London.

Driving through central London is confusing enough without the added stress of trying to figure out whether you’ve passed through certain areas that require you to pay special fees or charges. Our new app update can help.

What is ULEZ?

The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is an area around central London where drivers have to pay a fee depending on the level of pollutants their vehicle emits when they drive through it, kind of like the Congestion Charging Zone. The good news is that it’s resulted in a 20% reduction in emissions since its introduction in April last year, and nitrogen dioxide has also fallen by a third thanks to the scheme. 77% of all vehicles in the zone are now compliant with the tough emission standards, which means it’s working. That’s very good news for us all.

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We’ve been spending some time learning a bit more about the ULEZ charges in central London. We started by putting in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Transport for London to see what the breakdown of costs looks like and, more importantly, to see if there was anything we could do to make things a bit more straightforward for our members.

The numbers are pretty interesting. Drivers have paid £48.9 million in daily charges since ULEZ came into effect in 2019, but a staggering £21.5 million has been collected in late penalty charges – many of these by motorists who may have had no idea the charge exists, or even how to pay it.

In one case, the highest number of penalties issued to one vehicle in the last eight months was 165. That means someone spent nearly half a year stumbling into the ULEZ zone (impressive as it’s only existed since mid-April 2019) and either didn’t notice, or just didn’t care about the charge. A penalty is £160, or £80 for an early payment. This means that one unlucky driver had to pay a minimum of £13,200 in ULEZ charges, which is a bananas amount of money. It’s an extreme case, but it’s something we’d like to help our members avoid happening. If a late ULEZ payment can be prevented, we’ll let you know using a new feature in our app.

Given that air pollution in central London and its surroundings is responsible for 9,000 early deaths each year, and more than 50% of that toxic air pollution is caused by vehicles, we welcome the ULEZ as it protects our lungs from the harmful effects of pollution. The ULEZ is set to cost drivers £213 million in its first year, but they’re spending much more on improving air quality (around £800m), which is necessary for the future of humans living in the capital.

By design, the ULEZ payment deadline is pretty tight, meaning you have to pay by midnight on the day of travel (or the next working day if it’s a weekend). That means you may need to up your intake of fish oil before every journey to increase your chances of remembering to pay on time.

There’s also the potential for you to unknowingly enter a ULEZ zone and end up with a late payment that way, too.

How does this new feature work?

We’ll send you a notification at the end of a trip to let you know that you’ve traveled within a ULEZ zone. Think of it as the digital equivalent of scribbling ‘Phone Mum’ on your hand when you notice the date during work and then realise it’s her birthday.

It’s all done through the By Miles app using the GPS information we have about the your journey. A notification will pop up at the end of your journey to remind you that you’ll need to pay the ULEZ charge, along with a link to the TfL website for payments, so you can double-check what fees you owe for your car – because sometimes life can, and should, be as easy as that.

By Miles app Ultra Low Emissions Zone London Warning in Hand

By Miles co-founder (and my esteemed colleague) James Blackham had this to say about the launch of our new feature when I spoke with him in the kitchen this morning:

While the ULEZ zone is a positive step towards tackling climate change and improving air quality in the city, it’s clear that it is causing considerable confusion among drivers in the capital. Many are unaware where zones start and finish, and the tight timeframe you’re given to pay the fee if you accidentally pass through it is costing unsuspecting motorists millions.

The £21.5m issued in penalty notices won’t help to get motorists behind what is an important mission so, after falling foul of the penalty charge ourselves, we wanted to give drivers a tool to help them pay charges that are owed and avoid a punishing penalty charge. Penalty charges won’t educate drivers to make the air in the capital cleaner, they’ll just annoy them and make them poorer – we’re trying to raise awareness and make the process clearer, fairer and more effective.”

The ULEZ charges are safeguarding our future. We think they’re a great idea and totally welcome these kinds of pollution-reducing measures. Our aim is to bridge the gap between technology and the charges, resulting in a seamless payment process for everyone involved. The money saved from an overdue fee could be spent on so many wonderful things, such as experiences, memories and a giant ice cream on a sunny day.

We’re not stopping our quest for a fairer driving experience there either, as we’ve also improved the feature to alert you when you owe different kinds of toll payments as well. You can now get reminders for the London Congestion Charge, Durham Congestion Charge and Dartford Crossing too.

By Miles app Ultra Low Emissions Zone London Message on phone

If you have any other toll roads or charges you’d like us to remind you about (ones that you have to pay for retrospectively), drop us an email any time at ask@bymiles.co.uk. We’d love to hear your thoughts!

If you’re a By Miles member, check out the new feature on our app today. Just head to your notifications section to switch it on or off.

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Six things you should know about connected cars.

By Miles is a UK Pay-per-mile car insurer. Our monthly rolling contract and real-time itemised billing puts the driver back in control of their car insurance.


1. What is a connected car?

A connected car is a car that is equipped with internet access, allowing the car to share internet connectivity with other devices both inside and outside of the vehicle.

The Internet of Things

Connected cars are one part of the ever growing web of connected devices known as the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT allows everyday items to have access to the internet so that you have more control over how and where you interact with them. Thanks to the IoT, we can now control and monitor things such as: heating (Nest, Hive), lighting (Hue), fitness (Fitbit), security (MyFox), music (Sonos) and even air quality (Awair).

Note – as of December 2019 – By Miles offers Connected Car insurance..


2. How can cars become connected?

You can either buy a device to connect your car to the internet or you can buy a vehicle that is already connected.

In the UK, Vodafone already offer a kit which when plugged in, can turn your car in to a WiFi hotspot. Vodafone use their 4G network to offer the same sort of connectivity you could get with your mobile phone.

Telematics devices, which look at your car health and performance, are now also using the cellular networks to add connectivity to your car. This connectivity is often “machine to machine” and so doesn’t offer the driver direct connectivity to the web. However some telematics providers are also starting to offer a WiFi hotspot too.

These Connected Cars

Car manufacturers (OEMs) are investing heavily into connected cars. OEMs understand that a connected car can create a real-time relationship with the driver that allows them to offer a better, broader and safer experience for their customers on an on-going basis.

On 28 April 2015 the European Parliament voted in favour of eCall regulation which requires all new cars be equipped with internet connectivity from April 2018. An eCall-equipped car will automatically contact the nearest emergency centre in case of a collision and tell it the location of the car.

So in essence, all new cars built in the EU from April 2018 will be connected cars.


3. Which car manufacturers are investing the most into connected cars?

Car manufacturers (OEMs) are investing heavily in both connected car and autonomous (self-drive) vehicle technologies. These two disciplines complement each other very well.

Autonomous vehicles are still seen as a thing of the future, where as connected cars are a current reality.

Most innovation is happening in Europe. The EU has led the call for eCall regulation. Large german OEMs like VW/Audi, Mercedes and BMW are forging ahead with the connected car. American and Asian OEMs are catching up quickly with Toyota looking to augment their established electric car positioning.

Connected Cars OEMs

OEMs are hoping connected car technology will help improve vehicle management (both mechanical and logistics), safety, driver assistance (breakdown and traffic) and in-car entertainment.


4. How many connected cars are there?

In 2016, approximately 25 million connected cars were built. This is estimated to grow to around 90 million (75% of all cars built) by 2020. The total number of connected cars on the road by 2020 is expected to be about 250 million.

Connected Cars - Global Shipment Estimates


5. Are drivers concerned about their car becoming connected?

Drivers have have concerns about how the data collected by their connected car is used. Invasion of privacy is the number one concern for drivers.

People's Concerns on Connected Cars

Surveys have found that people are increasing willing to share data as long as they get something in return (for example, a better experience). And data is shared all the time about how people live their lives.

We have got used to our mobile phones sharing our location via Google traffic (to show traffic hotspots), or Strava recording our exercise routines or Netflix using our tv history to recommend new programs to us.

Telematics - Data Sharing

When asked how willing drivers are to share their data with OEMs, around 50% said they were happy if they got something in return, 30% we willing if that data was only used for research and the final 20% didn’t want any data shared.

Driver's Willingness to Share Connected Car Data


6. How will connected cars affect my car insurance?

Telematic devices and the connected car open up new car insurance opportunities for drivers.

Advantages of Telematics

Pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) policies use data from the car to measure how it travels, typically so that low mileage drivers can benefit from lower premiums.

Pay-how-you-drive (PHYD) polices use data to measure driver behaviour. This means drivers can benefit from lower premiums if they have good driver habits.

Connected cars will give insurers more metrics about the driver so that they can create a more bespoke insurance tailored to the driver. The cost of the insurance policy will be more representative of the driver and car, rather than just based on old fashioned metrics like where what sort of job they do.

Usage of Connected Cars

Usage based insurance (i.e. a combination of PAYD and PHYD polices) is growing year on year. The US and Italy markets have larger number of drivers who opt for UBI. The size of the market in the UK is growing at about 25% per year.

Driver Appetite for Usage Based Insurance

The main appeal of usage based insurance, is the reduction in insurance premium. Confused.com estimate savings on an average policy is likely to be around 30%. Confused.com believe 50% of drivers say they would use UBI if it could save them more than 20% on their policy premium.


Bonus: Real Data From Connected Cars

By Miles is looking to use data from connected cars to offer cheaper car insurance to lower mileage drivers.

Take a look at the sort of information a telematics device can tell a car insurance company, read 5 things we learned from our pay-per-mile trial.


Sources