TomTom, the Belgium satnav company, has joined the insurance industry by partnering with broker Motaquote.
The GPS innovating company is branching out to the insurance sector to provide the technology behind a new insurance product which bases premium prices on driver behaviour rather than demographic information, much like telematics technology.
The need for such technology is becoming more and more obvious, with an UE gender equality law making it illegal to base the price on premiums on gender statistics.
Motaquote and TomTom’s answer to this problem is their new product Fair Play Insurance, where they “reward ‘good’ drivers with lower premiums”.
“Our entry in the insurance market with our proven fleet management technology puts us at the forefront of a move that could help to revolutionise the motor insurance industry,” said Thomas Schmidt, Managing Director TomTom Business Solutions.
“We offer a unique combination of navigation, traffic information and telematics which opens up great opportunities for insurance companies to promote greener, safer driving and create a ground breaking portfolio of new insurance products.”
“We are delighted Motaquote have recognised this potential in the launch of such an innovative product.”
Fair Pay Insurance gives drivers control over their own policy by using driving ability and behaviour to allocate premiums, rather than so-called risk factors such as postcode, gender, and age or vehicle type.
“We’ve dispensed with generalisations and said to our customers, if you believe you’re a good driver, we’ll believe you and we’ll even give you the benefit up front,” said Nigel Lombard, Managing Director of Fair Pay Insurance.
“This is unlike some other telematics-based schemes where you may have to prove your ability over a number of months. So if you think of your insurance as your car’s MPG – the better you drive, the longer your fuel will last. It’s the same with Fair Pay Insurance, good drivers get more for their money and in that sense they will pay ultimately less.”
