.jpg)
Brokers in Quebec have a golden opportunity to educate young drivers in the province about auto insurance in the province using Facebook and other social media channels, Quebec’s insurers say.
Brokers generally do “a great job” at educating young drivers about insurance, but some of the messages have not been heard, Groupement des assureurs automobiles (GAA) general manager Anne Morin told Insurance Business. She cited a SOM survey indicating that young drivers don’t know much about the policy coverage they have.
“We got confirmation that young drivers don’t know a lot about their auto insurance,” Morin said. “For us, the survey proves they don’t know what a deductible is. They don’t know what kind of protection is within the [insurance] contract. So for us, that means if they get into a bad accident, they will get a very big surprise.”
But with young drivers making up the majority of 100,000 new drivers in Quebec each year, it’s important that young drivers come to a more sophisticated knowledge about insurance. IBC and GAA have therefore launched a public education campaign aimed at young drivers called “En voiture, j'assure.”
“If brokers have Facebook pages or a website, they can do the promotion of the contests and the campaign,” Morin said.
“We know that young people are not going to say, ‘Okay, today I am very interested in automobile insurance. Today I am going to read my policy.’
“They won’t, and so that’s why we’ve decided to use social media to try to reach this audience, which is very connected to Facebook and other channels.”
Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and GAA tested the insurance knowledge and driving attitudes and behaviours in a survey of 750 Quebec drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 and their parents.
The SOM survey evaluated the level of knowledge of auto insurance, driver behaviour, attitude to certain risky behaviour, as well as the role of parents with young drivers.
The survey found that the answers of parents and their kids varied significantly when asked if their insurance policy covers liability, collision or fire, theft and vandalism.
“The younger generation is not as familiar as their parents about what coverage is included in their auto policy,” IBC said. “This can be explained essentially by the fact that, in more than 85% of cases, coverage is purchased by the parents.”
Another alarming trend is that young drivers generally believe they will not get into accidents.
Nearly two in every three (63%) young drivers surveyed underestimated the risk of having an accident. On a scale of one to 10, young people put the risk of having an accident at 3.
When it comes to driver behaviour, most parents set different rules for their kids about using the vehicle they drive. Thirty-six per cent reported rules around alcohol consumption (36%), while others set limits related to speed limits (22%), curfew (14%), safe driving (13%), destination of the young person (12%) and no cell phone use behind the wheel (8%).
