Ensure your drive

A couple of years ago I worked with the idea for Ensure, a pay as you go automotive insurance product with mobile app and in vehicle telemetry. Still think there is a huge market for this however the actuaries that needed to underwrite the product could not get their head around something this forward thinking. It was a mixture of excitement and disappoint to see a part of this promoted by the NRMA on media this week, the focus being driver safety moreso than insurance, however the tech and the ideas are somewhat similar.

So what was “Ensure” : An aftermarket in-vehicle solution designed to introduce customers to a new form of Automotive Insurance which makes use of Telematics and smartphone technology, and leverage’s Telematics to better define risk. Ensrure could be utilised to profitably offer more competitive pricing to lower risk drivers. A smartphone Application would provide a unique customer experience available 24/7 so policyholders can check and request a change to cover.

Deployed together with Telematics and Smartphone technology, Ensure would open up many other possibilities which will move Automotive Insurance from a Grudge purchase to a product that creates real value for consumers and is recommended to friends.

The Core Ensure Offering : an Aftermarket in Vehicle device which captures and makes available Telemetry and video from inside and external to the vehicle. A smart phone application makes this information available to the vehicle owner. By installing the device owners can access discounts and Automotive Insurance tailored to meet their needs.

Extended Offering : The core Ensure product can be extended to include other services that will move automotive insurance from a Grudge purchase to a product that delivers real value to consumers at the same time as increasing the total value of the customer to the underwriter.

Since developing this concept we have seen automotive manufacturers looking to improve telemetry and utilise the blockchain to securely make this information available to consumers and other authorised / interested parties.

I still think there is a huge opportunity for more dynamic insurance policies that offer consumers the flexibility to tailor insurance to meet their needs.