How Drive Smart works
Drive Smart is a small device that stays in your Motability Scheme vehicle and pairs to your phone via the Drive Smart app. It helps you understand how your vehicle is being driven and how this can improve.
We’re pausing Drive Smart for all customers
Key details
- From Thursday 14 May we’re pausing Drive Smart for all customers. We’re using this time to review how we can make sure Drive Smart better supports you.
- Customers who wish to keep using their Drive Smart device, app and rewards, will have the choice to opt in.
What Drive Smart measures
Drive Smart gives you feedback on:
- Speed: Keeping within the speed limit
- Smoothness: Gentle acceleration, braking, and cornering
- Usage: How often the car is driven and for how long on each trip
Usage alone will never give you a red score, but it helps to be mindful of how you and your drivers are using your vehicle.
Understanding your driving score
The app gives clear feedback after your journeys, so you know:
- What your drivers are doing well
- Where improvements can be made
- How to drive more safely
Small changes like smoother braking or staying within speed limits can quickly improve your score.
Each week, you’ll receive a score showing how safely your vehicle has been driven. Every driver contributes to the score, so it reflects how your vehicle is used overall.
- Green: your vehicle has been driven safely and you’re earning rewards
- Amber: some improvements needed, but you’ll still earn rewards
- Red: higher-risk driving detected. We’ll help you and your drivers improve
Your individual journey scores vs weekly scores:
- You’ll get a score after each journey and weekly score in the app. Your individual scores show how you drove that journey and add up to your weekly score
- It’s helpful to be aware of how you’re driving day to day, but it’s the weekly score that looks at how safely you’re driving and how many rewards you’ll earn
Red scores can happen for individual journeys. But if you get a weekly red score, you’ll need to make sure you drive safer next week. The app will give you personalised tips to improve.
Usage and how it's measured
The usage part of your score in Drive Smart looks at how often and how long your vehicle is driven each day. It does not limit how much you can use your vehicle, and you can continue to drive as much as you need.
UK insurance data shows that making lots of journeys a day, or long periods of driving without breaks, can increase the risk of an accident. That’s why Drive Smart includes a usage measure as part of your overall score.
Your usage score starts to reduce if you make lots of trips in one day or spend a long time driving without a break. But this will not affect your Scheme lease, and you will not get a red weekly score for usage alone.
We know you might need to use your vehicle more frequently or for longer journeys. Drive Smart is designed to support safe driving, not limit your independence. We’re monitoring this closely to make sure the scoring stays fair for everyone.
Phone use and distractions
You will no longer see distracted driving in your Drive Smart app.
This feature was used to record when the driver's phone was used during a journey, like making a call or touching the screen.
We added it to raise awareness of the risks of using a mobile phone while driving. It never impacted your score, as we know the driver's phone may be used by a passenger during the trip.
We understand that seeing this was causing concern. So we’ve removed distracted driving.
Rewards and progress
You can track your progress over time and earn rewards for safe driving.
If your vehicle is driven safely, you could earn up to £160 a year in rewards. You can spend these at well-known brands like Asda, M&S, Uber Eats, and more.
You can put this towards your food shop or coffee with family or friends.
Check the Drive Smart app to see your rewards and how to use them.
FAQs
How does Drive Smart use my location?
The Drive Smart app uses Bluetooth to connect with the device in your Scheme vehicle. It uses location data in your phone to understand when your journey has begun. This also enables it to understand the speed limit of the road, and how fast and how well the driver is braking and cornering.
Drive Smart uses this information to see how well the Scheme vehicle is being driven and to offer tips on how to improve. It does not look at the driver's location outside of journeys in your Scheme vehicle.
Will my adaptation have an effect on my score?
Having an adapted vehicle should not affect your score. Scoring is based on speed, smoothness, and usage.
If you think your adaptation is affecting your score, call Direct Line Motability (DLM) on 0300 037 3737.
Does Drive Smart have a curfew?
There is no curfew with Drive Smart. Your vehicle can be driven whenever you need. This includes late at night or early in the morning.
However, driving at night can have a bigger impact on your score because driving at night carries a higher level of risk. This means higher risk behaviour like speeding or harsh braking at night will affect your score more than during the day.
Which permissions do I need to enable on my phone?
Location services: To get all the journey information accurately, like your speed and cornering.
Bluetooth: To connect to the device.
Motion and fitness: To automatically detect the start of a journey.