Despite the telematics industry growing at a feverish pace around the world, with many different companies using it in a number of new and exciting ways, apparently a lot of people still don’t know much about it. An even larger group of those who are most likely to take advantage of the technology, van drivers, haven’t got it installed in their vehicles. In fact, as few as three per cent of all van drivers have telematics.
Direct Line’s research paints a different picture of the near future of telematics, which while bright, is certainly not the roaring flame that some describe it to be. While uptake is continuing at a steady pace, at the moment, the adoption numbers are still relatively low.
Of course, it’s understandable why around 40 per cent of those asked wouldn’t have telematics, as they said that they weren’t familiar with telematics technology or the benefits it can bring. However, in other cases it’s less excusable. For example, 55 per cent of drivers that said they didn’t have telematics, said that the main reason was because their insurer hadn’t offered it to them. That seems like a bad idea on the insurers’ parts, as just offering the package could net them new customers, as well as help bring down the risk profiles for existing consumers and therefore allow their premiums to be lowered.
Even the police are benefiting from being tracked
When asked more about telematics technology by Direct Line, 49 per cent said that they thought telematics were a good example of the industry using technology to help benefit consumers, with a slightly smaller number of them expressing pleasure at the fact that they liked the idea of black box technology because it tracked real driving data.
“Whether plumbers, bakers or road trippers, we understand that running a van can be an expensive operation. Telematics provides a great opportunity for van drivers to save money on insurance and maintenance costs through promoting responsible driving,” said Jazz Gakhal, head of Direct Line for Business (via BusinessCar).
He’s not wrong either, as many of our examples of telematics benefits over the past year have shown. We’ve seen everything from companies improving fuel efficiency through cutting back on dangerous driving practices and vehicle idling, as well as improving security through tracking expensive assets like farm vehicles. Telematics have also become the saving grace for many fleet managers around the world, who are finding that they can complete their job when all the data about where the vehicles are is in front of them, far, far easier.
Image sources: Elliot Brown, Jason Lawrence
