Insurers to offer up to £60 Autobrake discount

Insurers are set to offer discounts to customers who own cars fitted with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems from December – and the saving could be as much as £60 annually.

That was the finding of an Auto Express investigation, based on quotes for a 39-year-old driver running a Ford Focus. We can’t yet tell you exactly how much AEB will cut your premium, as the scheme hasn’t been finalised. But as we previously reported, insurers have agreed to reduce the rating by up to four groups for cars with the technology.

So we ran searches for a hypothetical driver at comparison site comparethemarket.com – one with a Focus 2.0 TDCi Zetec, which has a group rating 19, and one with a 1.6 TDCi Zetec, in group 15. AA insurance specialist Ian Crowder said this would give a reasonable indication of the likely savings.

As our table shows, the savings varied from £18.93 to £61.74. With the cost of motoring soaring, drivers will be glad of any discount. But many may struggle to justify the cost of adding AEB – even if it helps protect a no-claims bonus by keeping them out of scrapes.

While Volvo offers its version of AEB – City Safety – as standard on the S60, V60, S80, V70, XC60 and XC70, most makers sell it only as a cost option, or as standard on high-spec models.

And it can be expensive. Ford, for example, offers Active City Stop on the Focus only as part of a £1,050 Driver Assistance Pack. VW provides its version of AEB – City Emergency Braking – on the up! city car as part of a £225 Driver’s Assistance Pack, too. And Jaguar’s Intelligent Emergency Brake comes with Adaptive Cruise Control and Active Seat Belts on the XF for £1,275.

INsurance savings with Autobrake