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Pay-As-You-Drive: Interest, Support, Collateral Grow

If attendance at conferences and expansion of collateral and support material are any guide, movement toward Pay-As-You-Drive (PAYD), also known as Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) is gaining momentum.

In early September, a two-day conference entitled ‘The Future for Insurance Telematics: Smart Vehicle Technology’ attracted over 400 attendees (‘Telematics‘ is the technology behind tracking vehicle usage).  According to conference organizers, over a quarter of the attendees represented insurers in the US and Canada.  Over two thirds of attendees were senior managers or officers in their organization.  (An anonymized list of attendees by company and title can be found on the conference site.)

 

Insurance Telematics Conference Attendees by Job Title

 

A key element in moving PAYD forward is the ability to link to technology that will in fact track vehicle usage.  There have been some disconnects in the past.  However, several supplier organizations are now targeting insurers.  Telematics Updates has published a report on touchpoints between automotive technology suppliers and the insurance industry and its requirements.  A short podcast with the report’s author, David McNamara provides an overview.

Use of technology to monitor vehicle usage is still in the early days for the insurance industry.  However, as we have noted elsewhere, some pioneers are seeing significant opportunities.  Also, we have noted that ramping up to take advantage of the amount of additional data provided is a non-trivial task.  For those with an interest, the growth of collateral and support should be encouraging.