New environmentally friendly motor insurer launched

A new environmentally friendly mobile app based motor insurer has been launched this morning (3 October 2022).

The new company – named Zixty – was announced by chief executive Andy James and will be launching a short-term car insurance policy with free carbon offsetting this month.

James was previously chief executive at First Central between 2013 and 2019 and was more recently chief commercial officer at Kingfisher Insurance between 2019 and 2021. He also sits on the Biba Motor Committee.

Aimed at occasional and short term drivers who want to minimise the environmental impact of their driving, Zixty will offer cover for period ranging from 60 minutes to 28 days to cater for a growing number of drivers who don’t own a vehicle.

The app based insurer has also developed a mobile app that is used to collect driving data around distance travelled and acceleration, which is then used to calculate an average carbon emission rate that is offset by Zixty via a partnership with Eden Reforestation through tree planting.

The cost of carbon offsetting will be provided at no extra cost to consumers. Zixty is planning to absorb the cost of this offsetting into its business model and is aiming to not be “a more expensive provider”.

James explained: “We will generate an eco driving score for the customer – which is available on the app with some hints and tips in terms of how to improve their driving behaviour to be a bit more eco – and that will allow us to calculate a carbon footprint over the course of a journey.

“Once the customer’s short-term policy expires, we will then offset the average emissions that would have been generated by that vehicle while the policy was in force.”

The driving score means that customers who have driven in an eco-friendly way – and thus achieve a good driving score – will be carbon negative in their driving, because the average driver’s emissions are offset.

A customer with a bad driving score will still have an average driver’s emissions offset by Zixty, although they will be offered advice on how to drive in a more eco-friendly way.

James explained: “We’re hoping to prove a corollary between the environmentally conscious driving behaviour and underlying risk factors.

“If we can get customers to moderate their behaviour to make sure they’re driving in a way that’s more environmentally sensible, then potentially that could have an impact on the underlying risk profile of the drivers too.”

Zixty has also achieved Green Mark accreditation to demonstrate that the organisation is environmentally responsible and is targeting B-Corp status.

Targeting growth

Zixty’s launch today is supported by an intention to grow the business strongly through 2023, James told Insurance Times.

This growth will focus on the development of short-term car insurance and other products.

James added that the short-term motor market is currently worth a total of £150m gross written premium per year and that Zixty expected to take 10% of this market share in three years.

He explained: “Clearly, I would like to be one of the larger players – a lot of it is going to come down to what the demand is for an environmentally conscious product.

“At the moment, we’re not looking to go into standard annual car insurance, we’re looking at being more niche.

“As we identify more opportunities that we can bring our environmentally conscious element into, then potentially we could explore that, although this will probably be constrained to a motor proposition.”

Zixty has been fully funded internally by its founders, although James said that it would potentially be looking for external funding next year as the business scales up.