Safely Insured announces switch to smartphone telematics

Safely Insured has revealed that it will be enhancing its product for the young driver market with a new smartphone telematics proposition.

In a statement released today (9 November 2023), the specialist schemes broker said it was scrapping its existing black box technology and had commissioned insurance technology company IMS to create a custom-configured app as a replacement.

This will be delivered via the IMS One app mobile telematics framework, enabling it to be paired with a self-install, IoT beacon that sits in the windscreen and tethers to the customer’s smartphone via bluetooth.

Jae Pearse, director of personal lines insurance at Safely Insured, said such a move would provide insurers with the data insights and underwriting protection “they require”.

“The quality of the IMS One app experience will provide our end users with a highly engaging product,” Pearse added.

“While a number of insurers have stepped away from young driver insurance in recent months, we remain fully committed to this market and are confident that our new approach will deliver measured, profitable growth at a time when this category of driver is under-served by our industry.”

Features

Safely Insured said it made the move as it wanted to secure the 10% of young drivers identified as “great risks” in its motor book.

To help young motorists improve their driving, the app will provide a mechanism to score, influence and change driver behaviour.

It will also allow the Safely Insured customer care team to engage with and actively manage customers.

The broker felt the right coaching and “occasional nudge” would help drivers improve and that the focus IMS had on engagement via its smartphone telematics technology “will greatly assist us in this respect”.

Steve Kerrigan, vice president of growth for the UK at IMS, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for IMS to work with one of the most progressive brokers in the market.

“Safely Insured has a reputation for looking after their customers and delivering great results for their insurer partners.

“Their move from black boxes to app-based telematics underlines their proactive approach, in particular their active management and analysis of the risk information and we’re really excited to be a part of their future focus on this market.

“They’re also going be exposed to new, critical insights – like smartphone distraction monitoring – that you simply can’t get from black box tech.”