U.S., European UBI Subscribers Expected to Double in 3 Years

The United States is among the fastest growing markets for insurance telematics, and 60 percent of large insurers offer either mileage-based or driving-behavior based discounts, according to “Telematics-based Insurance - Two Tiered Proposition is increasingly becoming a key Tool for OEMs to decrease Cost of Ownership Issues for Customers,” from Frost & Sullivan, a business consulting firm.

Also, the number of UBI subscribers is expected to double in the next three years in both Europe and North America. Beyond that, the research projects even sharper growth trends, with Europe remaining consistently ahead of North America. By 2020, researchers expect Europe to be approaching 24 million subscribers, with North America floating around the 20 million-subscribers mark. These projections aren't quite as gaudy as those asserted in ABI Research's latest figures, but they point to the same potential for growth.

While the growth potential presented with telematics use by government fleets has been pointed to recently, auto companies have been very active in partnering with insurers.

Ford and General Motors currently leverage their telematics infrastructure to offer mileage-based insurance discounts, and have done so since 2010.

“Frost & Sullivan expects a massive shift in the telematics-insurance value chain with more OEM involvement because of the direct benefits they stand to gain,” the report said.

Through its vehicle health report, a feature of the onboard SYNC program, Ford’s offers mileage-based discounts in partnership with State Farm. Drivers can receive discounts of up to 45 percent, and the program currently doesn’t account for driver behavior.

General Motors has a similar partnership between GMAC and State Farm, using the OnStar infrastructure and odometer readings from the monthly diagnostics report to provide discounted auto insurance; the maximum discount can be up to 50 percent.

“GM, though, with its plan to integrate LTE in the next generation OnStar offer, has clear intentions to do advanced driver behavior analysis to set up a two- tiered telematics-insurance program,” the report says. “The key is to use the advanced communication pipe and bandwidth of LTE to set up such an infrastructure.”

In Europe, Vauxhall has partnered with Ingenie to offer a driving-behavior based insurance program to drivers between the ages of 17 and 25.

“A black box is installed in the car, which collects data points, such as cornering, swerving, braking, speed and acceleration, which then act as the base to which discounts are offered every three months with a maximum discount of up to 10 percent in the first year,” the report said. The policy premium is y based solely on driving behavior, offering discounts to responsible drivers.

In the UK, Citroen offers the C1 Connexion, a car equipped with a black box fitted by Teletrac that collects driving related information. Young drivers get full or a large part of their insurance cost covered in the cost of the vehicle for the first year. Customers receive constant reports on their driving. If a driver gets more than four warnings for unsafe driving behavior, they lose the discounted insurance offer.

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