Zenith has announced that it has teamed up with telematics firm Wunelli, to begin offering a bespoke telematics package to brokers around the country, with a new policy called Brightbox. Before being rolled out nationwide, the new system will be trialled with Markerstudy Group’s retail brand The Insurance Factory in the latter quarter of this year.
According to InsuranceAge, this is the first broker specific insurance telematics package out there, or at least, that is how Zenith is selling it.
The Brightbox package is quite similar to some of the US based telematics insurance policies we’ve seen, being essentially “usage based insurance,” or UBI, which boils down to costing as much as the person chooses to drive. The original premium is based around the number of miles the person is expected to drive over a set period. If those miles are reached and exceeded, then the premium cost rises. If they stay under, or drive safely, they could earn more miles for free.
The policy is specifically designed to target those with very low mileage each year, as well as young drivers who might struggle to pay for or be accepted for a standard policy.
Gary Humphreys, group underwriting director for Markerstudy said: “Wunelli has made our idea to give our brokers a robust telematics private motor policy a reality.
“The benefits of usage-based insurance to policyholders in terms of choice, safety and cost-effectiveness are numerous. While telematics policies currently represent a fraction of the total private car insurance market, there’s a huge potential for growth, and we’re keen to be a part of the action.”
Wunelli was also pretty keen about the new company offering, with Penny Searles, managing directo adding: “Zenith has really put its weight behind this exciting new telematics proposition and isn’t afraid to challenge the existing concepts to bring brokers something fresh that will allow opportunity for interaction with policyholders during the life of the policy.”
What’s interesting about this policy is its similarity to American telematics insurance packages. However in the UK, mileage based options haven’t been as popular, as simply threatening the young with a clause in their contract that says that if they drive dangerously, their policy could be cancelled. There are some companies offering UBI policies, but not many.
It will be interesting to see whether Zenith and Wunelli’s partnership and subsequent policy offerings, change the landscape of British telematics.
What do you guys think?
