Government and insurers are understood to be in the advanced stages of discussions on a deal that would see telematics-linked motor insurance policies exempted from IPT in exchange for security service access to driver data held on insurer databases.
This would, of course, be excellent news, both for telematics insurance providers and for the public at large, and could help prevent the use of participating vehicles in future terror attacks and/or other anti-social activity.
Bankstone News understands that one of the final sticking points in negotiations is securing a binding commitment from insurers that IPT savings will be passed on to consumers. But government sources have insisted that such a commitment is sine qua non to any deal.
By giving the wider population an additional financial incentive to migrate en masse to telematics-based insurance policies, the move could help put an end to the current situation in which potential malefactors can move around the country completely unmonitored.
There is also understood to be strong resistance among insurers at a mooted 20% IPT rate on non-telematics car insurance to offset the financial impact of removing IPT from telematics policies – and also of amplifying the financial incentive to switch to black box acceptance.
But with good progress apparently being made on ironing out any such wrinkles, a deal is expected to be made within weeks if not days, with the necessary legislative revisions to follow soon afterwards.
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