Chair says changing market dynamics ’are encouraging insurers to consider telematics applications to help reduce insurance premiums’
International broker Howden has announced the launch its motor telematics data service Howden Drive in the UK insurance market.
A statement released today (31 May 2023) said the telematics app and data beacon had been designed to help lower insurance premiums for customers, optimise loss ratios for brokers and insurers and improve road safety.
The UK launch came after Howden rolled out the product in Europe, where it has been used by over 250,000 policyholders since 2018.
Penny Searles, chair of Howden Driving Data, said: “It’s clear that changing market dynamics are encouraging insurers to consider telematics applications to help reduce insurance premiums for mainstream policyholders.
“With motor premiums at their highest point since 2011 – driven by a lack of capacity and with the cost of living crisis biting – customer appetite for reducing premiums has never been greater.
“I am excited to see where the mass adoption of collecting and applying telematics data across policies will lead.”
How it works
The broker explained that Howden Drive optimises insurer loss ratios and reduces risk in insurer portfolios by using more than 10 years of driving and claims data in Europe – and in the UK via Ingenie, which provides car insurance for learners and young drivers.
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Howden Drive also targets driving behaviour by sending intervention communications via a customer application connected to a beacon installed in the vehicle.
The data collected provides all policyholders with a driving behaviour score that helps them reduce their premiums at renewal.
Jon Law, managing director at Howden Driving Data, said: “The data collected from our devices and apps not only provides a behaviour score to lower premiums, but it validates the data set initially provided at quote for the entire life of the policy.
“In a market where we often see many key risk factors provided at quote change mid-term without insurers being notified – such as business use, kept address and marital and employment status - the ongoing validation of these factors will help insurers charge the right premium for the right risk.”
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