Harold Leitner

Many insurers are reluctant to offer smartphone telematics because they think it is only good for usage-based-insurance (UBI). This is not true. Smartphone telematics immediately helps insurers take action to reduce risk and better engage with policyholders. How are insurers using smartphone telematics without UBI? Many insurers are using telematics-based gamification and incentives to reward safe driving because safe driving reduces the frequency and severity of at-fault accidents Telematics Gamification Some telematics solutions include gamification features that make it easy for insurers to create games, manage them, and

Author: Harold Leitner No one can deny that telematics derived driver behavior data is one of the best predictors of at-fault accidents. It is also true that driver behavior driven usage-based insurance (UBI) is helping safe drivers reduce their premiums. This is resulting in usage-based insurance spreading rapidly, with most of the top 50 auto insurers offering UBI products. However, it takes a lot of preparation and ongoing resources to launch and manage UBI products. UBI impacts underwriting, distribution, operations, claims, marketing, and other

Many insurers believe that smartphone telematics is relevant only when driving metrics can be used as rating factors in UBI products. While better loss ratios from UBI are a compelling benefit of smartphone telematics, there are other equally compelling competitive advantages that should not be ignored. Often these benefits alone generate enough ROI to justify telematics. Most personal auto policyholders understand that driving is one of the most dangerous threats to their and their family’s health. They truly want to drive safely. Policyholders appreciate when insurers offer a driver safety analysis tool that identifies their high-risk driving

When I talk to insurance carriers, I often hear the following, “We have a mobile app and adoption is disappointing”, or “We already have a customer web portal, they don’t want a mobile app”. I understand every carrier has unique policyholders, but we have found carriers with successful mobile apps have done one important thing to drive adoption and retention. They proactively use push notifications to engage with their policyholders. Carriers limit themselves when they choose mobile friendly web pages for customer portals. These web pages may look good on a mobile phone, but

Connected Car Telematics and UBI (Continued) Connected cars are disrupting auto insurance by providing very detailed vehicle usage and driver behavior data. Auto insurers can now access safety metrics like blind spot warnings, following-to-close alerts, and assisted braking events to better understand driver risks and how they relate to at-fault claims. However, there are still many scenarios where traditional or smartphone telematics are better sources of risk data. Smartphone Telematics for Driver Behavior Data Many older vehicles do not have wireless connections for sending telematics data to the