Fleet managers could save up to 20% on premiums at renewal using Zego’s behaviour-driven insurance product, the insurtech says

Commercial motor insurer and insurtech Zego has today (19 January 2022) revealed its European expansion plans - this includes launching in the Netherlands, as well as ramping up its operations in France.

Despite already having a presence across six countries, Zego will also scope out additional territories throughout 2022 to support its expansion bid.

The insurtech further plans to target the European commercial fleet insurance market, which it calculates is worth around £20bn. Zego hopes to achieve this by offering a behaviour-driven insurance product where fleet managers can save up to 20% on premiums at renewal using proactive risk management.

The insurtech claims this approach could cut fleet companies’ claims by up to 10%.

Sten Saar, Zego’s chief executive, said: “Commercial vehicles now account for over 13% of the vehicles on our roads, the highest proportion ever recorded, and this number is rising as technology continues to decentralise our shopping and travel habits.

“For the people and businesses managing these fleets, flexibility and control are both highly sought after, but driver behaviour remains a huge variable that is notoriously difficult to influence.”

The firm’s European expansion ambition follows Zego achieving unicorn status last year. It has also grown its headcount from around 300 in January 2020 to 637 currently.

Halo effects

Zego aims to take advantage of a diminishing Dutch insurance market - it noted a 9% reduction of insurers in this market between 2019 and 2020. 

The insurtech also hopes to use its model to address worldwide issues within the motor sector, including increasing operating costs around fuel, wages and maintenance.

Plus, it believes that by aligning insurance premiums to the driving behaviour of fleets, road collisions involving commercial vehicles could dramatically drop.

Saar added: “Telematics and data science have proven that they can improve driving behaviour and when combined with a financial incentive, they have great potential to make fleets safer and cheaper to run.

“At Zego we are using this data to understand risk better than traditional insurers and other insurtechs, so we can offer more accurate pricing and more control, both of which have halo effects that improve life for everyone.”

Zego’s fleet portal additionally aims to save fleet customers up to 40% on administration time, improve route efficiency, minimise vehicle and driver downtime, reduce fuel costs, decrease wear and tear, slash maintenance bills and ease road congestion.