Opinion: Harnessing technology for safer roads and smarter insurance

By Mark Costello, co-founder & CEO of Taveo

Roughly 30% of UK road fatalities and 21% of all incidents of accident-related harm occur in driving-for-work collisions.

A 2017 study saw that HGVs accounted for 12% of vehicles on the road, yet were involved in 41% of fatal accidents.

Considering the 500,000 HGV vehicles on UK roads today - the majority of which are vital to the day-to-day functioning of our economy - lowering risk and financially protecting couriers, haulage companies, and other road users must be a priority.

While it’s a complex issue with no singular entity to ‘blame’, it’s true to say that a portion of this responsibility falls on the insurer.

As things stand, the haulage insurance sector has a key set of practices not best suited to risk reduction and appropriate cover.

The status quo of haulage insurance

Correctly insuring haulage fleets is a complex challenge. But, in line with the age-old adages “nothing worth having comes easy” and “anything worth doing is worth doing right” we need to strive to offer full cover with opportunities to lower risk. If we can do so with excellent customer service, well, that’s an added bonus.

Poor customer service is most obvious when insurers often rely on business owners to provide an overview of the insurance they think they need.

This process should never have been a practice in our industry, least of all these days when insurers have a wealth of technology at their disposal.

Relying on a business owner who is not equipped with the technology, knowledge or expertise to provide accurate data insights can, and should, be considered worst practice. Insurers simply aren’t getting the information they need to provide effective insurance.

Consequently, haulage fleets are repeatedly underinsured, bringing huge risks to companies vital to the smooth running of the UK economy.

It’s important to note the majority of insurers will try to provide as accurate a quote as possible, but they're encumbered by reliance on outdated manual processes that direct resources toward menial, time-intensive admin and away from efficient, accurate, tech-enabled services.

Let’s use an example here. A haulage company’s vehicles must turn down one of the most accident-prone roads in the UK to get their journeys underway.

Does the business owner know the road is dangerous? Most likely.

Do they know the annual frequency, severity, or types of accidents or breakdowns that occur on this stretch of likely pothole-covered road? Unlikely.

The insurer must be privy to these details. Without them, misguided, miscalculated, or plain erroneous insurance is more likely.

How to drive reduced risk and better insurance

By leveraging emerging technologies in the right way and across various stages of the customer journey, we can provide a service that helps business owners understand the risks they face and better understand them as risks they can then work to mitigate.

At the same time, data-enabled, tailored advice offers peace of mind that their business is fully protected.

The onus should never be on the customer to provide insurance-specific details to their provider. Instead, AI, automation, and machine learning should be used by brokers to do the heavy lifting.

Implemented correctly, insurers can prompt AI to instantly garner information about square footage, nature risks, road quality, and accident frequency, measuring these against comparable companies and the prices they were quoted.

With all of these insights provided to the customer in mere moments, brokers can confidently provide a full-cover insurance package that thoroughly understands the individual needs of the customer and their business.

Equally, automation frees up time-poor brokers, meaning they can in turn service their customers better, retain them and lower costs for them in the future.

It’s true that in-person assessments may still be required, but geospatial data and high-grade satellite imagery can provide increased accuracy in most cases.

Ultimately, technology can be used to provide a far quicker, more efficient and more accurate insurance package to a sector that is filled with risk, but hugely important to our economy.