The Floow Opens Up Telematics To All Insurers

The Floow - March 20th, 2018

graphic introducing floowdrive including logo, phone screen displaying FloowDrive and short text explaining more about FloowDrive
  • FloowDrive gives brands access into the telematics market for a fraction of the time that would previously have been required to get up and running.
  • International insurance chiefs recognise telematics as the benchmark for defining risk and pricing policies.

At a time when the number of people killed on Britain’s roads has reached a five-year high[1], global telematics company, The Floow, today launches the world’s first complete production-ready telematics platform that opens up the market to all insurance organisations that support safer driving on the roads.

Today’s launch of FloowDrive allows all insurance companies, fleet operators and auto manufacturers that support responsible driving to adopt the technology, giving them a platform to launch into the telematics market in a matter of days, rather than it taking several months.

Whilst the current telematics market has grown by 26% in the last year to 17.4m policies worldwide, the technology that drives greater safe driving and lowers insurance premiums has to date been limited to a handful of major insurers. The scale of financial and time investment and technological complexity required has been a barrier preventing more organisations from entering the telematics market. This changes today with the arrival of FloowDrive.

The timing is significant. A new poll of more than 200 decision makers from international insurance companies, out today, reveals that the widespread adoption of telematics is now seen to be dominant in shaping the future of car insurance. When asked how the motor insurance industry would change, all the top five factors mentioned related directly to the application of telematics.

  1. Autonomous cars will have required insurance companies to totally rethink risk – 43%
  2. There will be greater car sharing, replacing outright car ownership, and a move to usage based insurance – 37%
  3. Telematics will become the new benchmark for defining risk and pricing of policies – 36%
  4. Drivers will have an overall score for their driving ability, affecting their premiums – 35%
  5. The insurance industry will focus more on ‘mobility’ as an issue – 34%

The new FloowDrive platform, which transforms the role of a smartphone to an in-car data sensor, could also re-cast the mobile phone from villain to the saviour of safe driving in Britain today. Currently the worst 20% of drivers that use their mobile phone when driving have double the claims experience compared with those who don’t. Transforming the smartphone to a telematics sensor, which is not handled at all during a car journey, would itself reduce the number of accidents on the roads.

The Floow, which has been a leader in the market since 2012, has a proven track record of helping people drive more safely, reducing claims frequency by 15% as well as the severity of accidents when they occur (based on lower claims reported). Further, through its coaching services for higher risk drivers, The Floow has helped insurers to reduce accident propensity by a further 16% in some of the poorest performing segments of their portfolio.

Launching the product today at Insurance Innovators Conference in London, Aldo Monteforte, CEO of The Floow comments: “As a fast growing company – and a global leader in shaping the telematics industry – we have the scale and experience to be able to offer a proven, production-ready solution to companies that want to adopt telematics to improve safe driving and better manage insurance risk. The combination of our access to big data combined with world-class data scientists has helped us model personal scores for all drivers. Giving people access to these scores, as well as advice, incentives and coaching to improve them, reduces accidents, prevents driver distraction and makes drivers more self-aware when they are behind the wheel. The launch of FloowDrive today sees the telematics market opened up to all companies that want to support safe driving. The days of investing many months to develop a credible telematics offer are now over. From today, any company can be up and running in a matter of days for a cost-effective sum.”

Telematics creates new role for the mobile phone

Following the banning of hand-held mobile phones usage in cars, and figures associating them with accidents, The Floow has crafted a new positive role for the smartphone. Turned on (but not being handled by a driver) during a journey, it acts as the sensor to monitor driver behaviour, enabling The Floow to determine a safety score for each driver based on: smooth driving, distraction, speed, fatigue and time of day. By monitoring their scores and in-app advice, drivers can identify how to become safer drivers and, as they improve their scores, they can secure lower car insurance premiums, together with the potential to qualify for other rewards and incentives. The mobile phone is the essential device to deliver The Floow’s mobility telematics recasting the device from villain to hero of safe driving in the UK.

A win-win for insurers and the consumer

At a time when UK car insurance premiums have risen by an average of 23% to £827 in the past two years alone, the application of telematics also offers a shared benefit for both the consumer and the insurance company: both benefit from the outcome of safer roads and insurance risk that is based on each individual’s actual behaviour behind the wheel.

Benefits for the consumer:

  • Intuitive journey scoring helps people to better understand their driving habits and become safer drivers.
  • Fairer pricing for insurance cover based on an individual’s actual driving behaviour.
  • Access to an optional app-based rewards scheme that incentivises and rewards better driving.
  • Additional education and coaching modules to help drivers understand their scores and identify the small changes they can make to drive more safely.

Benefits for insurers:

  • Better loss results.
  • The ability to more accurately predict claims.
  • Greater customer loyalty in an industry where consumers switch between insurers regularly.
  • Fewer accident claims and the ability to offer lower insurance premiums.

David James, Chief Operating Officer at The Floow said: “Our aim is to encourage more insurance and fleet organisations to use telematics to make mobility safer and smarter for everyone. Through FloowDrive we can give these organisations a fast and cost-effective telematics platform that can be customised and branded for the client. FloowDrive ushers in a new chapter for telematics. The concept and benefits have been proven. Our new product can stimulate the market and deliver tangible road safety improvements that benefit everyone.”

[1] Some 1,792 deaths were recorded in road traffic accidents in 2016, up 4 per cent on the previous year and the most since 2011 [Department For Transport].

Share this article