Sheffield, United Kingdom, 8 September, 2020: Global telematics company The Floow together with Direct Line Group (“DLG”) today announce the launch of the first pure app-only telematics insurance initiative in the UK market, DriveXpert.
The launch of DriveXpert sees DLG becoming the first UK insurer to use an app-only proposition to support policy-backed insurance on its Privilege brand. Once a user has registered and downloaded the app to their smartphone, it acts as a mobility sensor evaluating and scoring smooth driving, mobile distraction, road risk, speed and time of day.
DriveXpert collects this journey data and feeds it into the FloowDrive platform, where it is used to calculate scores based on driving behaviour. The driver scores can ultimately result in policy premium discounts and provide feedback to help drivers become better behind the wheel.
David James, The Floow Chief Operating Officer, said
“We have developed a strong, collaborative relationship with Direct Line Group since we started working together in 2012. It’s a relationship based on innovative thinking laser focused on providing the best insurance cover to drivers and positively influencing safer driver behaviour.
The launch of DriveXpert is truly a ground-breaking development. The platform harnesses the smartphone as a telematics sensor, rather than utilising the traditional black box method of recording driver data. DriveXpert is primarily targeted at young drivers, those aged under 26 years old, and offers an upfront discount to the driver, with the potential for them to also obtain a reduced premium at renewal time dependent on their scores.
The motor insurance market is rapidly evolving and we are committed to being at the forefront of this data-driven evolution, using telematics data to ensure both insurers and policyholders get the best out of their policies.”
Neil Ingram, Head of Motor Product Management at Direct Line Group, said:
“This is a very significant milestone for both organisations and the UK insurance telematics market itself, a continuation of the long-term partnership we have enjoyed with the tech experts at The Floow, and a clear demonstration of the commitment from both sides to transform motor safety for the benefit of all drivers.
The previous products The Floow has developed for us, such as DrivePlus on our Direct Line brand, all used a smartphone app with a black box or onboard device to collect journey data. We now see that using a smartphone for data collection is just as accurate as using a black box and, as smartphones are more cost effective and pervasive, this widens the potential reach of telematics technology within motor insurance.”
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Notes for Editors
About The Floow
Based in Sheffield in the UK and Detroit in the U.S., The Floow is a leading telematics service provider built on the mission to make mobility safer and smarter for everyone.
We do this by delivering Connected Insurance solutions to motor insurers that:
- Improve their ability to assess risks through a suite of behavioural scores that are highly predictive of claims propensity and improve risk differentiation compared to traditional risk models.
- Reduce operating costs by engaging drivers to help them improve their performance and turning them into partners in risk prevention, preventing fraud and delivering on timely FNOL
- Collect data from smartphones as well as most other sensing devices in an agnostic fashion
Over the years, The Floow has been recognised with a number of awards including the Made in Sheffield Mark, named Winner of Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards, recipient of the Queen’s Enterprise Award (Innovation) for 2016, Winner of Red Herring 100 in 2017 and recipient of DIAmond Award in 2017.
Our FloowDrive product was named Best Smarter Travel Innovation at the Smarter Travel Awards and The Floow was named winner of the Technology Innovation in the European Usage-based Insurance Industry from Frost & Sullivan in 2018, Winner of the Insurance Times Tech and Innovation Data Analytics Excellence Award in 2019 and our FloowCoach programme was named Private Sector Initiative of the Year at the 2020 Young Driver Focus Awards..
For more information please visit: www.thefloow.com
About Direct Line Group
Direct Line Group is headquartered in Bromley. Through its number of well known brands the Group offers a wide range of general insurance products to consumers. These brands include Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege.
The Group also provides insurance services for third parties through its partnerships division, Direct Line Group Partnerships. In the commercial sector, the Group’s NIG and Direct Line for Business operations offer insurance products for businesses distributed through brokers or direct, respectively.
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