More than 75% of drivers would be willing to pilot telematics schemes in order to save money on their insurance, Towers Watson research has revealed.
According to the study, more than two-thirds of UK drivers aged over 35 would consider having a device fitted in their car.
Installing a telematics device came in second to ‘shopping around’ as a way of saving money on car insurance, with 48% selecting it as an option, in preference to reducing the level of cover or increasing the voluntary excess on a policy.
The research also revealed that consumer interest in telematics is tempered by concerns over data privacy.
The length of time that an insurance company was permitted to hold data may have a big impact on acceptance levels. If data were to be held for five years, only 11% of respondents said they would be interested in a policy and 55% said they would not.
However, if this retention period was reduced to a month, 23% said they would potentially buy a policy and only 26% would still reject the idea.
The research was conducted in the wake of the recent ruling by the European Court of Justice that it will be illegal to use gender as a basis for pricing insurance and pension products from December 2012.
As a result of the ruling, a large majority of respondents to the survey said they expected car insurance prices for women to rise significantly.
Peter Lee, who is leading the global telematics initiative within Towers Watson said: “The broad assumption has been made that because the gender ruling is likely to have the greatest impact on young women drivers, they will be an obvious customer group for telematics. This research shows that drivers of other ages, both men and women, are open to the idea.”
He added: “The findings show that many people are prepared to adjust their driving behaviour in particular to potentially save money by adopting the new telematics device technology.
“The challenge for insurers is to be creative as to how individual driving activity will translate into risk assessment measures and aligning these with the consumer proposition.”
Source: Postonline
