Discover how it is transforming the insurance industry
Last February 18th Octo held a Day Conference entitled “Does telematics work? Yes, but only if …” during the XXI Insurance Week – Madrid, 18th -20th February 2014. The event was a success regarding both attendance and ideas exposed in it.
The Insurance Week is the main meeting point for the Spanish Insurance Industry. Challenges, forecasts, future trends and present situations within the Insurance Industry are analysed in forums, talks and workshops.
The event sponsored by Octo was divided into three parts. In the first, Ms. Giulia Nasini, Brand and communication Manager at Octo and Mr. Davide De Sanctis, Country Manager at Octo Iberia, analysed the current situation of Telematics in Spain and Europe. The main point is that 15 years from now all cars will be telematics. The development of the global market for connected cars will be very fast, passing from 13 billion euros value in 2012 to 39 billion euros in 2018.
Octo Telematics representatives explained how a Telematics Insurance Policy is implemented and what should be done to reach the maximum profitability when an Insurance Company is investing in it. Furthermore, they exposed some successful cases that helped the audience to understand that “building a more transparent and fair relationship between the Insurance Company and the client” is the goal.
During the second part, Ms. Ana Isabel Blanco, Deputy Director for traffic at DGT (Dirección General de Tráfico, the Spanish Government Agency in charge of traffic and security in transports) emphasized on safety issues, explaining the implementation of eCall (Automatic Emergency Call) across Europe. The eCall could save around 1,500 lives per year and reduce serious injuries cases by 6% annually. Currently there are more than 3 million vehicles circulating throughout Europe, which have monitored 480,000 accidents. Finally, Mr. Ignacio Grilló,Director of Car Angel Spain, told the audience about how implementing video telematics to vehicles means to save up.
In the third part, Mr. Juan Luis Miguel, Deputy Director at Zaragoza Research Center and Mr Ignacio Juarez, CEO of CESVIMAP (Experimentation Center and Mapfre Road Safety) set out their ideas. Both stressed that in difficult times like current –in which due to the economic crisis, the attempted fraudulent claims in insurance are doubled-, telematics helps to reduce by 14% the frequency of claims for policyholders respect to traditional insurance policies.
A comparative study between smartphones and devices on board -presented by CESVIMAP- showed the advantages of both devices. The in-vehicle devices allow the companies to know the actual driver usage profile, not the policyholder’s one. This data make possible: 1) assessing the actual risk, adjusting and customizing the insurance policy premium 2) giving the driver a technology that renders traveling safest and cheaper compared to the current situation in insurance market.
During the vivid discussion that followed the presentations, the audience was interested in the essential conditions for success during the process when adopting telematics insurance policies. Topics such as the supposed high economic costs of telematics or how privacy is affected by those devices were completely clarified. And it became clear that it’s time to transform current opportunities into competitive advantages for the future. Telematics is already the critical factor in transforming the insurance industry car.