Six years after the EU Gender Directive was introduced in December 2012, the research has highlighted how the insurance sector has an opportunity to create appeal for telematics insurance outside of the young driver market by focusing on benefits that are shown to be most attractive to each gender.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions found that men are more motivated to take up telematics insurance as a means to link their driving style to a fairer premium with 44% ranking this first in importance. Whilst this also ranks highest in importance for women (38%), more women than men see the safety benefits of telematics in terms of helping them become safer drivers, crash/collision detection and helping them educate their children to be better drivers (43%).
When it came to the comfort factor around telematics, 39% of males and 36% of females are comfortable with telematics insurance as a whole. Drilling down to the specific areas on which drivers can be measured, more women are comfortable with the time of day they travel being used whilst marginally more men are happy for mobile phone use to be a factor in how they are scored. For both sexes, speeding is ranked lowest for comfort in respect of its use in scoring – for females this equalled mobile phone use.
In women and men who were 65+, the survey found there was a perception that telematics is for young drivers only. While women 65+ express interest in the benefits of telematics for younger family members, they also place huge value on helping them continue to improve their own driving habits and the added benefit of driving aids that come along with the technology, such as maps and traffic alerts. Men in the same age category can also see the benefits for themselves, but want telematics to be more accessible for their age group and think more people should be using the technology.
David Lukens, Director, Telematics at LexisNexis Risk Solutions said: “Telematics insurance in the young driver market has helped reduce premiums for this high-risk group and lower claims costs for insurers whilst, perhaps most importantly, helping to save lives. As a result, adoption is at around 80%, leaving little room for growth. Insurance providers need to find ways to move beyond this niche market, particularly as the cost of offering telematics insurance has fallen by around 50% since 2013. This is precisely why we conducted this research to establish the barriers and receptiveness to telematics amongst the wider driving population.
“From our research, for telematics insurance to move to the mass market, the insurance sector needs to understand how the proposition appeals on different levels to men and women, and how this changes at different life stages. For example, we found that the appeal shifts for women as they mature with those in the 45-64 age bracket most concerned with the peace of mind telematics offers for both children and parents alike, versus men in the same age bracket.
“The inherent flexibility of telematics insurance today means that insurance providers can serve the mass market with products configured at a very personal level. In this way, the industry can address the variable needs of motorists as identified in our research.”
Fast Facts for Telematics Take-up – Male vs Female Drivers
• Women regard the crash notification/collision detection far more valuable than men
• Men are more comfortable with being monitored for use of mobile phone driving than women
• Little difference in the sexes of being tracked for their driving style
• Both sexes agree that being rewarded for safer driving is the best aspect of telematics
• Men are more comfortable with the technology tracking them and the vehicle than women
• Men prefer to share their driving score with friends
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