Italian ICMIF member Unipol Group, through its direct insurance brand Linear Assicurazioni, has partnered with smartphone telematics provider Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) to launch the first “Try-Before-You-Buy” programme for Italian drivers.
Since starting the first telematics programme in 2005, Unipol has become the world’s largest provider of telematics-based insurance policies, with more than four million usage-based insurance (UBI) customers today.
Linear Assicurazioni, Unipol’s subsidiary company that specialises in the sale of insurance products over the phone and online, announced the launch of “Linear Drive&Save”, a mobile-only programme that invites drivers of all ages to demonstrate how safely they drive and receive up to a 15% discount on their car’s insurance policy.
The “Linear Drive&Save” app uses CMT’s DriveWell mobile sensing technology; it is easy to use and runs in the background after initial setup. The app collects driving behavior for five weeks, identifying and measuring risky events like speeding, hard braking, rapid acceleration and phone distraction. With the most accurate data, the DriveWell platform measures distraction and other dangerous driving behaviours using a phone’s sensors.
The project has been developed with the technical support of Leithà, Unipol’s solution factory that specialises in data science and computer science. Leithà is focused on maximising the value of the vast quantity of data held by the Unipol Group, in order to gain and maintain a competitive advantage over competitors and keep up with a continuing changing market.
Leveraging Unipol’s expertise in telematics insurance, Leithà analyses this smartphone data and builds a unique risk profile for each driver. After the assessment period, drivers receive a discount to buy a new Linear car policy, based on how safely they drive.
“We are delighted to work with CMT, their expertise and technical capabilities demonstrates mobile telematics is a promising solution for the Italian insurance market”, says Andrea Rapetti, CEO of Linear Assicurazioni. “The Linear Drive&Save app enables good drivers to demonstrate they deserve to pay less for their car insurance.”
We are excited to partner with Unipol’s Linear to create Italy’s first behaviour-based discount program,” said William Powers, founder and CEO of CMT. “Unipol is a trailblazer in connected insurance and CMT is the perfect partner due to our history of pioneering innovations, decade-long experience, and large scale.”
The new Drive&Save app is available now and can be downloaded on iOS or Android by any driver in Italy.
Since launching the first black box on a motor vehicle, Unipol has been a pioneer in the development of telematics in the insurance sector. It continues to invest in innovation and has firmly maintained the market leadership for these kind of devices in Italy, where the company holds approximately a 50% market share of telematics insurance, and also at European level.
Unipol is one of the biggest insurance groups in Europe and the leading company in Italy in the non-life insurance sector, especially in motor vehicle (with over 9 million motor vehicle policies) and health businesses. Unipol writes total premiums of approximately EUR 12.2 billion, of which EUR 7.9 billion in non-life and EUR 4.3 billion in life (2020 figures).
