IMS, a subsidiary of Trak Global Group (TGG), one of the world’s top three providers of connected car data solutions to insurers, mobility operators and governments, is pleased to announce the availability in North America of the UBI (usage-based insurance) platform on which the award-winning Carrot Insurance (Carrot) program is built.
Using this platform, IMS will enable U.S. and Canadian insurers to rapidly scale next-generation UBI programs that go beyond the common approach of offering motorists discounts in exchange for sharing limited driving data. Partners will also have full access to eight years of in-market experience, insights, and validated learnings in driver scoring (informed by real-world claims data), engagement, and reward, as well as the effective use of telematics data within claims.
The highly configurable, modular platform is compatible with telematics data across all device types, from plug-in hardware to mobile apps and embedded telemetry within vehicles. In addition to underpinning Carrot, the platform has been adopted by numerous insurers, such as RSA, Zurich, and Aviva, and auto manufacturers, including Volkswagen and Fiat.
IMS is led in North America by insurance telematics pioneer Nino Tarantino, who joined the company from Octo Telematics North America shortly after it was acquired by UK-based TGG in December 2018.
“The auto insurance market in North America is very competitive, and UBI has provided an opportunity for insurers to differentiate, while enabling improved risk selection,” said Nino Tarantino, CEO of IMS (Americas). “Insurers must now begin to focus on using telematics data to effect positive behaviour change, drive down accident frequency, improve loss ratios and generate ROI from their programs. By giving our partners access to the full breadth of our insights harvested from Carrot and providing them the same tools that helped deliver an accident frequency reduction of over 40 per cent in other geographical markets, we believe it is possible for our insurer partners to see double-digit improvements to their combined operating ratios. No other solution provider in the market has access to the leverage that IMS’s Carrot experience provides.”
In addition to the engagement and reward system at the heart of the platform, which has traditionally delivered increased customer interaction and driver safety – with more than half of policyholders checking driving feedback daily – North American insurers can also benefit from IMS’s expertise using telematics data to improve the claims process. The tools and expertise embodied within IMS’s Claims as a Service (CaaS) offering have already seen global composite insurers, like Zurich, achieve as much as a 10-point improvement in combined operating ratio (COR) through more efficient claims resolution.
“UBI provides insurers with more detailed information about their customers than ever before and will allow for rating systems to accurately reflect customers’ driving ability over time while providing a positive customer experience through increased engagement and reward programs,” said Greg Donaldson, senior analyst at Aite Group. “The race for effective UBI offerings in North America has started and insurers ignoring this trend stand to fall behind as the competition forges ahead. Insurers will need to find experienced partners to help them develop and integrate the right plan to ensure success.”
For U.S. and Canadian-based insurers seeking additional detail, please contact IMS at: https://www.intellimec.com/contact-us
About IMS
IMS is a leading connected car solutions provider delivering services and analytics to insurers, governments and mobility operators. IMS is the developer of the cloud-based DriveSync connected car platform which has received industry acclaim for its ability to offer customers a data source-agnostic, multi-device strategy for service provision versus a single focused technology approach. IMS is part of Trak Global Group, an international connected solutions provider with technology deployed in over a dozen territories, and its own in-house telematics insurance business, Carrot Insurance.
About Carrot Insurance
Carrot Insurance, part of Trak Global Group, is a UK-based, award-winning telematics insurance business. In 2015, Carrot received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its work in reducing driver accident frequency, and launched Better Driver, one of the first app-based connected auto insurance products in the world. Carrot offers both hardware and app-based solutions to its policyholders, and has won multiple awards, including ‘Claims Partner of the Year’ in 2017 and ‘Best Consumer App” at the Insurance Times Tech & Innovation Awards in October 2019.
