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Canadian Telematics Poll: Impact Expected to be Positive; Awareness and Interest High

A recent article on Telematics in PropertyCasualty360 began: “There is a conversation being held around telematics at almost every level of the insurance industry these days.”  Results of a recent Insurance-Canada.ca poll bear that out, and indicate people are not tired of the topic, even though they are not yet heavily involved.  Are you one of those?  If so, let us know what you want to know.

Early this year, Insurance-Canada.ca conducted a poll on the use of  Telematics in insurance (discussion in our February 15 post).   Insurance-Canada.ca has just completed a follow up poll.  While neither poll would be considered scientific, we think it reflects a sentiment within the Canadian community (over 95% or respondents were Canadian).  We’ll cover some points here.  Additional detail on the survey can be found on in the Survey Section of the Insurance-Canada.ca site.

There were several questions that were common to both polls.  In several areas, respondents showed almost identical response rates in both polls.

Some Things Haven’t Changed

There is low level of actual activity evidenced or anticipated.  Less than half of the respondents in each survey felt that a majority of Canadian insurance underwriting companies would be using Telematics for rating and underwriting within 5 years.  The second poll went further and asked if participants were engaged in work on Telematics.  The majority – 60% – indicated little or no involvement.

When asked what the barriers were to implementation, the two factors cited most often were identical in response rates in both polls: consumer acceptance (44%) and insurer appetite and initiative (33%).

But Some Things Do Change

It seems that awareness is higher now than 6 months ago, with 53% of respondents in the recent poll having a ‘good idea’ of what Telematics is and how it could add value in the insurance industry.  In January, only 37% of respondents had the same response.

The most recent poll went into a few new areas.  Respondents were asked how positively or negatively various groups – consumers, insurers, brokers, and technology suppliers – would be impacted by the implementation of Telematics for insurance.

As the accompanying chart shows, respondents felt Telematics implementation would impact most participating groups positively.  Respondents felt that technology suppliers would be the biggest winners (86% of respondents felt suppliers would be impacted positively), followed by insurers (60% positive); and consumers (60%).   In regards to brokers, most respondents felt the impact would be neutral or slightly positive.

In terms of interest in the issue generally, there seems to be a continuing appetite.  Eighty-five percent  85% of respondents are interested in knowing more about Telematics.

Some of the respondents were seeking more information out at the Insurance Telematics USA Conference  in Chicago next week.  We understand there are a few registrations still available, but you should hurry in you’re interested as uptake has been strong.   Insurance-Canada.ca will be there and taking notes as well.

What can we do to help?  Leave a note on what you would like to see in terms of additional information.  And how you would like to see it – blog posts, white papers from suppliers, etc.  If you have additional information you would like to share, let us know that as well.

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