The Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) Short Cut

I’ve been following telematics in insurance since 2012 and the main thing I’ve noticed is that the application of telematics by insurers moves at a sluggish pace. While telematics service providers continually improve their platforms and services, offering insurers multiple ways to collect data (connected car, OBD plug in, mobile app), numerous data points to analyze (speed, braking, cornering, road type, etc.), and various applications for the analyzed data (from underwriting to claims), many insurers are still stuck in the initial phase of designing and developing a UBI program.

Aside from the issue of patents, the concern I hear most from carriers who are in the process of developing a UBI program is the data approach. Deciding on what data to collect, how to collect the data, and how to store and analyze the data is a huge obstacle. The main point of the data process is to arrive at some sort of driver risk score. Instead of throwing time and resources to come up with that score, carriers can now partner with an external analytics vendor who will collect, analyze and synthesize the data into a risk score that can then be used by underwriters to determine eligibility for discounts or rewards.

Partnering with an analytics vendor and using their program, such as Verisk Telematics Safety Scoring program (which, it was recently announced, is now approved in 41 states), essentially allow carriers to skip over the data process and jump straight to developing insurance products based on risk scores. Sure, carriers will still have to determine which driving behaviors constitute risk to their company. But, checking off the behaviors on a list for the analytics provider is far more efficient than planning out the hardware to collect the data, storing the data, and in particular, wading through pools of data to make some sense of it all.

A few years ago at a summit for telematics in insurance, the presenters were talking about the possibility of deriving a driver risk score from the telematics data collected from a vehicle. At that time, only a small number of vendors had large enough data sets that could be representative of a segment of the customer driver pool. Today, analytics vendors and telematics service providers alike have collected enough miles and other driving data to develop an algorithm (however simple or complex) to calculate a driver risk score. In fact, providing carriers with a driver score is one of the standard services a TSP provides.

For carriers who are looking to develop a UBI program, or even for carriers who are already entrenched in this process, partnering with an external vendor can save time and decrease the risk involved in launching such a program. As carriers see the benefit in this partnership and as they begin to outsource more to the data process to the data experts, maybe the application of telematics in insurance will pick up.

If you’re interested in discussing this topic further, please contact me at email to arrange a call.

This blog has been reprinted with permission from Novarica.

Thuy Osman is a senior analyst at Novarica.

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