If you’re over the age of 65, it turns out you’re more likely to be interested in telematics hardware according to a new survey. Ultimately the older a driver is, the more likely they are to be drawn in by the savings available to those using telematics hardware.
The survey was conducted by software provider SSP, which listed the over 65 market as being 4.5 million drivers strong and with over 62 per cent of those quizzed saying they’d be willing to take on the technology to save a further £50 a year, that’s a lot of potential customers for telematics businesses.
Other age groups were questions as well, with the lower age groups being far less interested. The 25-34 age group said that they’d need to see reductions over at least a hundred pounds in order to consider it. The average interest across all 1,800 quizzed individuals, was 26.3 per cent in favour of taking on telematics hardware in exchange for a small discount.
While younger drivers were mostly interested in cutting back on their premiums, which are much higher than they were a decade ago, older drivers said other benefits of telematics were just as attractive. For example, some liked the idea of it being linked with breakdown cover, so that as soon as a major fault was found with a car, the telematics system could send out a breakdown service to assist them.
Adrian Coupland, head of data strategy at SSP, said that as costs come with telematics, the technology will see increased adoption: “Telematics based solutions present the insurance market with a real opportunity to tackle a number of market challenges, from accurate risk based pricing, fraud detection through to claims control and a platform for communication with their customers,” he said (via Post).
“If traditional insurers do not seize the opportunity that telematics presents, the level of market disruption from out of market businesses will be significant,” he warned, suggesting that they get on the bandwagon before there’s no room left.
SSP also recently released a video with, insurance director David Waring, discussing some of the merits of telematics beyond simply cutting back on insurance premiums. In it he talked about tracking cars after theft, or providing vital information to emergency services and insurers during the event of an accident. Not only can telematics help decide who was at fault, but it can give important details on what injuries might have been sustained, if the “jaws of life,” will be required to cut someone from a vehicle, etc.
http://youtu.be/Hl3tJclWHs0
Ultimately he said, the technology is in a place where it can be affordable adopted by many organisations, companies and individuals. At the very low end, there’s the capability to deliver basic telematics function through a simplistic smartphone app, meaning anyone can get onboard for almost no monetary outlay at all.
