Within the early days of video telematics, one selling point was the potential for lower insurance costs for the fleet. As cameras have change into more common, just showing that a fleet installed the technology may not be enough to get a reduction.
Today, insurers need to know what happens after the system identifies an issue. Which means a brand new set of tasks for the fleet manager: defining who reviews the alert, how quickly the motive force is coached, how recurring behaviors are documented and addressed, and whether the fleet can show measurable improvement.
“There was a cut-off date when carriers might need asked, ‘Do you have got telematics?’ and that was a checkbox on the complement,” said Michael Kiris, vice chairman of fleet transportation and risk at Keystone, an insurance agency network. “But now it’s: What are you doing with it?”
Initially, insurance pricing depends upon a fleet’s loss history, claim frequency and severity, kind of operation, driver records, and broader market conditions. Lots of those aspects are beyond the fleet’s immediate control.
Camera and telematics programs are inside the fleet’s control and help to show to the insurer that the fleet understands its risks and actively manages them.
“We will’t guarantee that if you happen to do that, a certain consequence will occur along with your premium,” said Marcus Raspberry, risk and business manager for fleet programs at Amerisure. “But by having these technologies in your vehicles, we would like to cut back the losses that occur. We wish to see lower claim activity, frequency and severity.”
It’s All In regards to the Story
So how do fleets show positive trends? It’s about turning raw data reports into something the underwriter can digest.
One of the best submission to the underwriter explains where the fleet began, which risks it identified, what management did in response, and whether driver behavior or loss performance improved.
Kiris said Keystone develops a narrative that presents the client in probably the most favorable light, with telematics data a key part.
“If we are able to show a real story with a downward trend — where they were and the way a lot better they became over time — and tell the way it happened through telematics, coaching and driver training, that tells a much different story than simply cab reports, CSA scores, and MVRs,” he said.
In a single example, a camera telematics customer improved its average driver rating from 850 to 950 over three months. That change followed an energetic technique of reviewing events, coaching drivers, and conducting training.
One other report covering the identical three-month period showed 3,000 hours of driving, with only 11 minutes of speeding. “Put yourself within the underwriter’s shoes,” Kiris said. “That appears excellent to me. And that’s not fluff. That’s true data.”
For a fleet preparing for renewal, the info is more meaningful when it connects results to specific actions and translates safety data into evidence of managed risk. That features changes in speeding and distracted-driving events, driver-score trends, coaching activity, repeated behaviors, preventable collisions, and claim frequency or severity.
Renewal Prep Checklist
Identical to waiting to review for a test the night before, a fleet’s improvement story can’t be assembled just before an insurance submission is due — fleets need time to determine a baseline and document trends.
That makes camera and telematics management a year-round insurance activity. Before renewal, the fleet must answer:
- Who’s accountable for reviewing alerts and video?
- Which behaviors trigger coaching or retraining?
- How is the intervention documented?
- What happens when the behavior continues?
- Have driver scores or dangerous events improved?
- Has the footage helped resolve claims or establish liability?
- Can the fleet show that its process is consistent across drivers and locations?
First, confer along with your broker. What information is most useful during underwriting?
The bottom line is to not overwhelm the underwriter with every metric. As a substitute, discover the info that best shows how the fleet manages risk.
Claims Results Strengthen the Insurance Story
Camera footage may also help control the severity of individual claims, including cases by which the fleet driver bears some responsibility.
Raspberry recalled an incident by which an insured driver was backing out of a automobile parking space. The motive force looked in each directions and started moving at only one to 2 mph when a pickup entered the vehicle’s blind spot. The fleet vehicle tapped the pickup, leaving what Raspberry described as a tennis-ball-sized dent in its bumper.
The demand that followed was $500,000.
The fleet vehicle had multiple outward-facing cameras and a driver-facing camera. The footage showed the circumstances and severity of the contact. After the claimant’s attorney reviewed it, the matter got here all the way down to repairing $500 in vehicle damage.
“Without the camera footage, we probably would have paid greater than $500,” Raspberry said. “The cameras help us mitigate claims even when the motive force could also be unsuitable. We all know learn how to manage the claim and the way much to place in reserves based on what occurred.”
In one other case, video helped a driver successfully challenge a citation that might have affected the fleet’s compliance record:
The motive force was stopped for speeding and likewise cited for failing to wear corrective lenses as required by his license. When the video was reviewed, it showed he wore his glasses throughout the trip. He removed them only after parking to retrieve paperwork for the officer.
The motive force challenged the violation, and it was dismissed.
These examples can support the fleet’s renewal narrative. They show not only that cameras are installed, but that the footage is getting used to determine facts and protect the corporate’s risk profile.
Data Requires Management and Accountability
A camera system may alert a driver within the cab when it detects speeding and unsafe behaviors. That immediate intervention has value, however it doesn’t eliminate the necessity for management oversight.
Someone on the fleet team must still review events, discover patterns, coach drivers, and determine what happens when the identical behavior continues.
“Managing the system might be crucial thing you may do,” Kiris said. “We have now to be reviewing the camera footage, reviewing the telematics data and training. Without those things, there’s just about no reason to have the telematics.”
Raspberry repeatedly emphasized management accountability. If a system shows that a driver has been trending toward excessive speed, hard acceleration or distracted driving, the fleet mustn’t wait until a collision occurs to analyze the record.
“We don’t wish to use these technologies from a reactive stance,” he said. “We wish to make use of them proactively to retrain drivers and understand what they’re seeing on the road.”
That distinction also matters in an insurance review. A report crammed with recurring alerts doesn’t show a robust safety program. The fleet must show what it did about them.
For smaller fleets with out a dedicated safety manager, responsibility may fall to someone in operations or one other management role. A broker, insurer, or outside risk partner might also help review data and discover trends. No matter who performs the work, someone must own the method.
Bring a Risk Record to Renewal
Fleets cannot control every factor affecting premiums. They will control how quickly they discover unsafe behavior, how consistently they respond, and the way clearly they document the consequence.
An underwriter is unlikely to be persuaded by the variety of cameras installed alone. Evidence that speeding declined, driver scores improved, coaching occurred, and claims were resolved using video presents a more meaningful case.
The camera captures the event. The fleet’s response determines whether that event becomes one other data point or evidence that the organization can higher manage risk.
This Article First Appeared At www.automotive-fleet.com
