Latest News
Swinton has launched a telematics pilot scheme called Drive it Down, underwritten by Provident.
The telematics black boxes will be made by Wunelli.
Plagued by uninsured drivers and fraudulent whiplash claims representing as much as £2B, the government
of the United Kingdom is considering implementing policies favoring the use of aftermarket telematics
devices. An agreement and recommendations were hammered out in a meeting earlier this week at 10 Downing
Street between Prime Minister David Cameron and eight representatives of the insurance industry.
Government commitment to control the £2bn-a-year cost in whiplash claims. This will be done through
tougher medical evidence, barring whiplash claims below a certain speed limit and use of technology.
Government to act in the “coming months”
AA to launch sat-nav tech tracked insurance policy
The AA is hunting for more insurers for telematics scheme
Wunelli, the leading supplier of telematics solutions to UK Insurers, has today
announced the sale of the ‘Coverbox’ division of its business to DriveStyle Limited.
The brand and the Coverbox product was launched just under three years ago and was at
the forefront of the now growing number of telematics based motor insurance products in
the UK. Coverbox was launched to prove the concept of telematics for both customers and
insurers and has paved the way for other insurers and brokers launching similar products
over the last two years in partnership with Wunelli.
Sandy Dunn, Chairman of Wunelli said;
"Coverbox has exceeded our expectations in allowing Wunelli and our Insurer partners to
test product, processes, customer appetite and journey, in a live environment. However,
being an intermediary was never the main strategic objective of Wunelli. Our focus is on
the data that we collect and the application of solutions derived from the data both within
and outside the insurance sector. For motor insurance, these solutions can be deployed to
help design new products, facilitate more accurate and timely pricing decisions and drive
down claims costs. The development of our unique ‘Driver DNA’ scoring system is a major
step forward in motor underwriting and in helping underwriters determine propensity to claim.
"Our close partnership with the insurers with whom we work has been invaluable in helping
Wunelli provide a first class range of solutions to enable insurers to enter the telematics
market with confidence, minimal disruption to existing systems and at low cost.
"Customer feedback and our experience over the past 3 years has enabled Wunelli to optimize
the on-line and off-line processes supporting the customer journey and maximise the two-way
communication opportunity with a customer that the telematics device provides.
"Coverbox helped us to understand that the box is a very small part of a telematics based
product; it’s more about the data you collect and how you use it effectively to reduce loss
ratios and provide new rating factors.
"We are pleased that the new owners of Coverbox wish to retain the brand and intend to grow
the number of policies and extend the product range. They are very experienced in the use
of telematics in other countries and it is a compliment to Wunelli that they will continue
to use our solutions for their service supply."
Penny Searles, Managing Director of Wunelli added that;
"Without Coverbox we would not have learned some important lessons on what data to collect,
how to validate it and use it for insurance purposes. Working with industry experts to
understand that data and correlate it to actual claims has enabled us to ensure that any of
our insurer partners can get to market at speed and with confidence"
Johan Van Der Merwe, the Managing Director of DriveStyle Ltd, the purchasers of Coverbox,
said;
"We are very pleased with the acquisition of Coverbox. Having had success in other
territories with telematics insurance products and seen the benefits to both the insurer
and the customer at first hand, we are convinced that it is the future of motor insurance
for the UK. Purchasing Coverbox provides us with a robust, proven platform to increase the
product range as the UK market moves into this area. It is good news for us that we can
continue to partner with Wunelli and leverage their knowledge of the optimum process and
data assessments for insurance purposes. This combined with our vast experience of telematics
insurance will hopefully be a powerful combination"
Sandy Dunn - Chairman, Wunelli Ltd - Sandy Dunn has 40 years' experience in the
insurance sector in Europe. He is also the non-executive Chairman of Supercover Limited, and
is a non-executive director of Swinton Insurance Group and Call Connection Limited.
Wunelli Ltd was established in 2008 as a research and data company to supply telematics
hardware, software and consultancy services to the insurance industry; firstly in the motor
insurance sector and later to other sectors both in the UK and internationally.
Johan Van Der Merwe - A founding director of Budget Insurance
Following a 4 year period of research into telematic insurance, DriveStyle is set to apply
its acquired telematic expertise in the UK market.
DriveStyle’s research was accomplished by launching a telematics insurance policy together
with a South African insurer. Additionally it worked with 5 of the largest device companies in
South Africa to model insurance and telematic integration. During this period an insurance rating
engine was built and successfully used.
Groupama, Markerstudy and Sabre behind AA scheme
Pay-How-You-Drive insurance is set to be the next big advance
in Australian motor underwriting, with some of Australia’s largest car insurers
known to be investigating the new pricing approach.
Wunelli Ltd, the ‘Telematics for Insurance’ specialist, has announced that The Co-operative
Insurance have chosen them to be the key supplier for their recently launched Young
Driver Motor Insurance product. Wunelli has provided the implementation service
for the design and launch and supplies the technology and analysis that reviews
and feeds back the driving behaviours for both the policyholder and the insurer,
which is expected to change the way motor insurance is provided in the future.
Sandy Dunn, Chairman of Wunelli commented;
‘We are extremely pleased to have been working with The Co-operative Insurance right
from the beginning on such an innovative product launch. The Co-operative Insurance
are embracing the use of telematics in their approach to insuring young drivers
that not only allows the insurer to rate the risk more effectively, but helps young
drivers to improve their driving skills to avoid accidents. It is exciting for Wunelli
that we have been instrumental in assisting The Co-operative Insurance in developing
this product, by providing the telematics services and our experience of how to
use the telematics data to change the way insurance companies assess and rate risk
in motor insurance.
Wunelli has operated its own telematics based policy via its own product, ‘Coverbox’,
which is supported by a panel of six insurers since January 2009 and was ideally
placed to offer the hands on experience, operational processes and telematics systems
necessary to help design and launch their own product. Wunelli has provided The
Co-operative Insurance with a full service comprising;
· Product and Process Design Recommendations
· Implementation Service
· Integrated hardware, services and data collection
· Partner administration and billing capability using telematics
· Personalised customer website for feedback
The Co-operative Insurance are also taking advantage of a key benefit that comes
with the Wunelli telematics offering; At installation, Wunelli will verify and scan
the customer licence, log book and NCD – so removing the ‘self certification’ nature
of many distribution channels used by insurers and customers.
Sandy Dunn added;
‘The House of Commons Transport Committee recently commented that ‘Insurers clearly
have a part to play in helping young drivers find affordable insurance’ and recommended
that the ‘Department for Transport facilitate investigation of effective means of
deploying and publicising new technology which can assess how cars are driven by
young drivers’ The Co-operative Insurance are clearly well ahead of the government
and the market in launching a young driver policy that achieves both of these recommendations’
The whispers of unease in the corridors of power grew a lot louder this week, for
UK Insurers, when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) overturned the UK’s opt out
on gender legislation. The change is effective from 21 December 2012 and it will
have major repercussions for the UK’s general and life assurance sectors. The ban
on a highly relevant rating factor such as gender will not be achieved without cost;
these costs can be significant and would ultimately be borne by consumers.
As a consequence of the change, the ABI believe that ‘motor insurance premiums for
young female drivers will increase (by up to 25% on average)’.
Sandy Dunn, Chairman of Wunelli believes that there is a viable alternative for
insurers;
‘Wunelli has spent the last two years researching driving behaviours using telematics
and having looked at over 40 million miles of driving data, have created a Driving
DNA™ scoring. This Driving DNA™ is gender neutral and focuses on how, where and
when a vehicle is driven. telematics is not influenced by gender in any way, however
when comparing the scoring of male and female drivers, there is a clear difference
in driving behaviours which supports why underwriters have historically used gender
to help determine premiums, particularly for high risk proposers such as young male
drivers. Wunelli’s unique DNA index ratifies insurers’ opinion, based on many years
of actuarial data, that gender is a valid discriminator of motor underwriting risk.
However, that is certainly not the case across all young or inexperienced male and
female drivers and it is simply unfair to brand all young drivers as high risk.
There are good and bad young and inexperienced drivers of both sexes and the good
risks should be rewarded by lower premiums, irrespective of gender and based purely
on how, where and when they drive their car.
Paul Stacy from Wunelli commented that, ‘Using data from roughly 20,000 GPS telematics
devices over the last 2 years and actual claims data, our team have created algorithms
to calculate a Driving DNA™ Score. The Driving DNA™ Score is a safety index between
0 and 100 where 0 is extremely unsafe driving and 100 is extremely safe driving.
Driving DNA™ is made up of parameters such as:
- Night Time Driving
- Extreme Speeding
- Driving in Congestion
- Smooth Driving (excessive and unsafe braking)
- Excessive Short Journeys
Sandy Dunn added, ‘Wunelli’s telematics technology allows insurers to rate the risk
according to driving behaviour irrespective of gender for certain markets, but will
still allow them to individualise the premium for each risk. In addition, those
young male drivers that drive safely will no longer be penalised and should see
a reduction in their premiums and good female drivers should be able to benefit
from the lower premiums that they’ve enjoyed in the past.
The DNA index can provide a better assessment of risk than traditional motor underwriting
factors and it gives real time data and the technology allows for feedback to the
driver via their own secure web portal to help educate and improve driving behaviours,
benefiting road safety and helping the driver to lower their insurance costs.
Using telematics also provides Insurers with additional benefits;
- At installation of the telematics device, Wunelli verify and scan in the customer
licence, log book and NCD – removing the self certification element and some distribution
channel challenges of not being able to verify some data provided by customers.
- Theft Tracking – retrieving the vehicle if it is stolen.
- Verification of mileage and confirmation of the address at which the vehicle is
parked overnight on an ongoing basis.
Wunelli is already working with several leading insurers on telematics based policies
rewarding driving behaviours that are planned to launch in the early part of 2011.
These insurers are embracing innovative ways to improve the rating factors and risk
pricing and will be one step ahead should the ban on using gender as a rating factor
take place.’
15,000 telematics systems to be installed in first 12 months.
Quartix has signed a contract to supply its latest generation vehicle tracking systems
for Coverbox – Europe’s leading Pay as You Drive insurance brand. Coverbox is owned
and operated by Wunelli Ltd, whose goal is to become Europe’s leading provider of
floating vehicle data for insurance purposes. Since product launch last year, Coverbox
has rapidly taken leadership of the UK market for telematics-based insurance, with
20,000 units already installed. Quartix will be installing approximately 1200 units
per month, starting from November 2010.
The Coverbox system
Customers are charged a rate for their mileage, dependant on the time of day that
they drive. This type of Insurance is only possible through the advent of telematics
designed to be deployed for Insurance purposes. telematics is a way of monitoring
the location, movements, status and behaviour of a vehicle or fleet of vehicles.
Data delivered by the telematics systems is provided in the form of web-based “dashboard”
reports for end customers, who can check their usage, driving patterns and billing
online.
Supplier selection and launch
Following an extensive review of the market, Wunelli’s decision to select Quartix
as a partner was based on its telematics product and design capability, but also
on its expertise and compatibility with Wunelli in its database and systems design
capabilities.
Development partnership
Launch of the Quartix telematics systems for Coverbox went ahead at the start of
October, following a pilot project which concluded in late September. The companies
had co-operated in all aspects of system specification and design since early summer
to achieve these goals. Senior developers from both companies worked together with
Wunelli’s other data partners to achieve automation and integration of all processes
from order acceptance through to delivery of trip data.
Operational integration
Quartix’s involvement begins as soon as the customer places an order for insurance
on the web – either directly on the Coverbox site or through price comparison sites
such as gocompare.com. The customer’s details and chosen installation time and date
are supplied to Quartix by XML file exchange, following which Quartix contacts the
customer to arrange installation. Once installation is completed, Quartix registers
the device with Wunelli in order that trip data can be correctly processed and summarised
for both the customer and the insurer. Trip data is transmitted through a direct
feed from the Quartix databases to Wunelli.
Customer support and theft recovery
Quartix has invested in additional office space and staff to provide direct support
to Coverbox customers for anything ranging from installation appointments to queries
on the user’s dashboard. Quartix also provides a 24-hour monitoring service for
customers in case of vehicle theft – in order that the vehicle can be quickly recovered
using data from the tracking system. Normally such a service would cost the user
several hundred pounds a year on its own – so the fact that this comes as an integral
part of the Coverbox service is a great advantage for customers.
Installation and customer validation
Most insurance companies never get to see either the vehicle or the driver that
they are insuring, and the installation process therefore offers an excellent opportunity
to check out a few key facts and documents, helping to prevent the most common forms
of vehicle insurance fraud. Firstly the installer verifies that the vehicle is as
described on the application, without significant modification or damage, and secondly
that the insured is also the registered keeper of the vehicle. Copies of the driver’s
licence and registration documents are made and transmitted to Coverbox via a mobile
application, using either a smart phone or portable windows device.
Many of Quartix’s 64 installers also took part in field testing of the new TCSV09
telematics platform prior to launch, and they form an integral part of this partnership.
Telematics functionality and data supply
Data quality and integrity are essential to the effectiveness of telematics-based
insurance, and Quartix’s new TCSV09 system is key in this regard. Already well advanced
in development at the time of the Coverbox project, the TCSV09 is Quartix’s 5th
generation of telematics system. It is one of the most integrated tracking systems
available currently, incorporating a comprehensive range of features in a package
which is slightly larger than a matchbox, and which weighs less than 80gm:
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Ø Real-time GPS tracking with 10s updates and 1s resolution
Ø Automated firmware and configuration update by GPRS
Ø Crash-detection “black box”, to alert insurance company or fleet owner of accident,
with detailed storage of vehicle movement prior to crash
Ø Tri-axis accelerometer used in conjunction with GPS data to monitor acceleration,
braking and cornering
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Ø Battery-backed tamper and theft detection facilities
Ø Full communication redundancy using two GPRS APNs and dual server locations.
Ø Latest Mediatek GPS chipset for ultimate accuracy in all areas
Ø Serial, digital and analog inputs
Ø 1-wire bus for driver identification
Ø Alternator voltage sense for 2-wire installation.
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Quartix will begin using the TCSV09 for all fleet tracking applications from early
December.
Driver behaviour monitoring
Coverbox is a “smart” insurance product based on the use of telematics and data
analysis. By monitoring driving habits and behaviour and verifying the information
supplied by customers on their application forms, Wunelli aims to help its insurers
reduce loss ratios and claim frequencies. The Quartix telematics system monitors
acceleration, braking, cornering and speeding through a combination of data provided
by the GPS receiver and the integrated tri-axis accelerometer. Speeding is monitored
against a road speed limit database for the UK. This data will ultimately be used
to assess the accident risk level posed by an individual’s driving behaviour.
The “black-box” function keeps a detailed, rolling 30 second log of vehicle activity
(in terms of speed, acceleration/braking), direction, location etc., in order that
this information may be used in case of an accident. On sensing a g-force level
that would indicate an accident has happened, this information is transmitted to
Quartix’s servers and an alert sent to Wunelli.
Direct insurance products
Wunelli has pioneered Pay as You Drive insurance and was the first company to launch
a product based on a panel of insurance companies. It has a proven supply chain
for Insurers to enable them to launch a telematics based insurance using tried and
tested hardware, data collection and billing / administration processes. This means
that Insurers can move quickly to market and can provide a more tailored insurance
product to the policyholder, but most importantly provides Insurers with an abundance
of data in order to price the risk more effectively whilst giving customers a premium
which truly reflects their individual risk profile. The data available is also vital
in helping with claims management and improving customer service.
Wunelli is working with a number of leading insurers to develop their own telematics
based products and the first of these is planned for a launch in early 2011.
Applications in fleet management
Although Coverbox is primarily targeted at the young-driver and high-risk market
for the moment, it is almost certain that the use of telematics data in the assessment
of risk will migrate to the fleet sector over time. Fleet managers are already using
telematics systems to modify driver behaviour in order to reduce health and safety
risks and fuel costs – it’s a relatively small development from that to get to the
point of sharing that information with insurers in order to reduce premium costs.
Quartix has already proposed some of the advanced hardware and software features
of this system to some major clients, who have recognised the clear benefits that
this information would provide.
Quotes from Andy Walters, managing director of Quartix:
Working with Wunelli on this project has been a real pleasure, as their business
ethos is similar to ours: they have a high degree of customer focus which is backed
by efficient use of automation and data management throughout the organisation.
Both companies’ systems are heavily based on SQL databases. Forging the necessary
links between them to make this partnership work was made much simpler by the help
and advice their technologists were able to provide. Our understanding of the telematics
needs of the insurance sector accelerated rapidly as a consequence. We look forward
to developing further opportunities with Wunelli in the future.