International insurance broker Howden, has announced the launch of its Telematics App & Data Beacon ‘Howden Drive’ in the UK insurance market to help lower motor insurance premiums for customers.
Howden Drive will also help to optimise loss ratios for brokers and insurers, as well as to improve road safety. Its launch follows a successful rollout in Europe, where the product has been used by over 250,000 policyholders since 2018.
Penny Searles, Chair, 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 forreducing premiums has never been greater. I am excited to see where the mass adoption of collecting and applying telematics data across policies will lead, and I am confident Howden will be well placed to support brokers and insurers while improving road safety and reducing premiums for customers.”
Howden Drive optimises insurer loss ratios and reduces risk in insurer portfolios by harnessing over a decade of driving and claims data in Europe, and in the UK via Ingenie, the broker explained.
The product also improves driving behaviour by sending intervention communications via a customer application connected to a beacon installed in the vehicle. The data collected provides all policyholders, not just young drivers, with a driving behaviour score that helps them reduce their premiums at renewal.
Jon Law, Managing Director, Howden Driving Data, added: “With customers hungry for solutions that can reduce their outgoings, we are excited to launch the Howden Drive service to insurers and brokers in the UK. 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.”
