07/10/2021

RoadHow App: How does it work?

► RoadHow app driver companion app tested
► Trains learners and experienced drivers alike
► Also claims to lower your insurance premium...

Want to keep your driving knowledge fresh? Or are you a learner looking for some extra-curricular learning before your theory and practical tests? RoadHow offers all this, with the aim of making it both enjoyable and easy. It even gives you opportunities to earn real rewards.

RoadHow provides training and quizzes on everything from motorways and what to do in an accident, to how to look after your paperwork and more. It also has the full suite of DVSA courses for learner drivers to revise. There are even hazard perception tests.

Sign up and make an account, and you'll need to provide your driver's licence data and an image of yourself to prove who you are, and we'll get to why later. Once you're all set, the app opens to a weirdly out-of-place social feed, as if you've just opened up Facebook in an alternate universe all about motoring. Get past that and you can start these courses from scratch, either testing your road knowledge or your road perception.

You're guided through courses by simple multiple-choice questions, sometimes with images and videos – tap the screen when you spot a hazard in a hazard-perception clip, as you would on a real theory test, for instance. There are even trivia quizzes about cars and motoring. These are all relatively slick operations – save for a couple of courses where questions repeated themselves. Interestingly, we put our phone down during a quiz and noticed that the app tracks your face – popping a message up saying it can't continue until it can verify it's actually you.

This is mainly due to the awards system. RoadHow claims it can help lower your insurance premium – that's why it needs your driving licence and facial recognition. You can see the results of each course after you've completed it, and each course affects your 'RoadRating', which acts a little like a credit score – after a good amount of courses passed, our rating went from 460 to 521 (the number ranges from 0 to 1000). If you go back to check your answers, the app even rates your 'willingness to learn' – again, designed to make you look good to car insurers come premium renewal.

RoadHow has partnered with Carrot insurance, which uses the score to adjust your insurance premium, and RoadHow is working on getting more insurers on board. Colin Butler, head of partnerships at Roadhow, tells CAR that if your insurance company subscribes to RoadHow, 'they will do an automatic look-up to see if the driver is a Roadhow subscriber, too. If so, we'll send the driver's scores to the insurance company.'

You can also pay for a premium account (£2.99 per month at the time of writing) that offers tangible rewards and money-off vouchers for various shops, too.

RoadHow: How it works

What'll it be today?

Perception tests, road sign knowledge, how to maintain your car and how to behave on motorways are just some of the courses available.

New high score!

You can assess your answers after each course, and each one affects your 'RoadRating'.

I'm watching you

In order to prove you're taking the course, Roadhow needs constant facial recognition.

RoadHow App: Does it work?

Yes. How much it'll affect your insurance premium will vary from person to person. But if you want to brush up your driver knowledge, it's an easy-to-use app. It'll be of most benefit to learner drivers, as it offers DVSA courses in your pocket for free.