Daily briefing: Thursday – Youth abandoning aggregators?

A constant bombardment of aggregator advertising has become an occupational hazard of turning on your television, and buying motor insurance through an aggregator is a fact of life for most.
 
But recent research shows that 17-25 year olds are starting to kick back against both these trends.
 
The research, carried out by telematics company Ingenie, found that around 80% of 17-25 year olds now find insurer motor advertising annoying and that the comparatively high cost of their cover means they feel no loyalty to any insurer.
 
Interestingly, the research also showed that this age bracket is moving away from buying their car insurance through aggregators.
 
Young drivers are increasingly using aggregators to research which motor insurers are out there, and are then contacting the insurers directly, according to Ingenie chief executive Richard King.
 
Clever use of social media and a tailored service are key to winning over this age bracket, King believes.
 
Aggregators are not immune to the winds of change, and are also keen to adapt to keep up with customer demand and opinion. Covea held back the launch of its new aggregator to develop a proposition that stands out, while the recent development of apps for Confused and Moneysupermarket show the way aggregators are changing their approach.

Everyone’s talking telematics

This year has seen many motor insurers unveil their telematics proposition, and all of them are aiming for young drivers first – the age bracket with the highest premiums that have the most to gain by signing up to a telematics-backed policy.
 
As each proposition gets going, the competition is going to hot up, but not joining the telematics race has its own potential problems. Insurers without telematics propositions run the risk of ending up with a skewed pool of bad risk drivers.