The announcement of a new telematics smartphone app is just another indication of where the industry is headed, says a spokesman for the Canadian company that has spearheaded this technology in Ontario and Quebec.
“We have over 30,000 using telematics in Ontario and Quebec,” says Joe Daly, the communications director for Desjardins Insurance. “About one third of all our renewals are opting for a telematics device to be installed on their vehicle. It is a great way to segment our customers, and those who opt for telematics tend to stick with you as an insurer.”
A San Francisco technology firm, Driveway Software, has launched a new telematics smartphone app for the usage-based auto insurance market. The SmartUBI platform includes a smartphone application, cloud-based analytics and portals.
It is designed to be a cost-effective, quick to deploy telematics solution for insurance carriers. A policyholder would use their own smartphone to monitor their driving behaviour and capture data. Insurers can then use the cloud portal to assess the drivers’ risk.
Although a strong proponent of telematics, Daly wonders if such a smartphone app would be as accurate as the installed device that is currently used as an industry standard, and by Desjardins. (continued.)
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“Smartphones are great, but what is to prevent someone from switching (the phone) off if they decide to go speeding, or drinking and driving?” Daly told InsuranceBusiness.ca. “Telematics is really for conservative drivers, and it attracts conservative drivers, offering a savings of up to 25 per cent.”
The SmartUBI Platform and its features include:
- Customized smartphone UBI app for the collection of driver data;
- Preliminary analysis within the app to produce a driving score with guidelines customized for each carrier;
- Driving data uploaded to Driveway’s SmartUBI cloud servers for a more detailed analysis against a broader data set; and
- Driving data, including scores, transferred from cloud servers to carrier’s system via SmartUBI’s carrier portal for use in underwriting, pricing, rewards, incentives, pay-as-you-go billing, etc.
“While the Driveway name might be new to the insurance industry,” says Driveway Software CEO Jake Diner, “we have been around for some time offering our smartphone app to consumers with over 150,000 drivers already using our software.”
Steve Kee of the Insurance Bureau of Canada told InsuranceBusiness.ca that auto insurance brokers here are taking a close look at telematics, and are right now seeing how this new technology will fit. It is a technology that telematics industry consultant and president of Kairos Solutions Dave Huber says can’t be ignored. (continued.)
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“Similar to the adoption cycle of credit-based insurance scoring,” says Huber, “risk scoring using telematics is today’s competitive advantage for the early adopter auto carriers and will quickly become a necessity for every carrier to remain competitive in the auto insurance market.”
Daly agrees, saying that telematics devices will likely one day be standard equipment in every car, despite the current resistance by some customers.
“Yes, you do get those who say that ‘you are monitoring my driving,’ or ‘you are going to sell my information to another company,’” says Daly. “But that isn’t how Telematics works – and really, you can learn a lot more about someone by what they post for free on Facebook.”
