Insurance is one of life’s pesky necessities – you often think you don’t really need it… until you do really need it.
Car insurance falls under this umbrella, and if you’re looking for a way to make sure your car is insured, without having to pay an arm and a leg for it, read on.
The global insurance industry, just like many industries, is undergoing a huge range of technological advancements, and Down Under we’re already seeing this play out in the car insurance industry.
According to KMPG, over 180 partnerships between insurance and tech companies were made across the globe between 2017 and 2019. Safe to say, insurtech is big business.
A popular insurance technology that is only now being fully realised in Australia is telematics. Not only does this piece of insurtech have the ability to save lives, it can also save you a decent amount of money.
How Telematics Can Affect Your Car Insurance Premium?
While not currently widespread in Australia, it’s only a matter of time before car insurance companies begin adopting telematics technology with their car insurance policies. Using telematics gives you a broad range of data about your driving behaviour, meaning insurance companies get a much better idea of your driving skills and therefore can tailor your car insurance premium.
Some car insurance benefits could include:
- Usage-based car insurance: pay only for the kilometres you drive
- Savings for driving at safer times: lower premiums for driving during the day
- Savings for good driving habits: Never speeding and not braking suddenly could provide premium savings
But let’s back up – what exactly is telematics, who uses it, what are its benefits and how a fuel card telematics integration can save you even more money on the road?
What is Telematics?
Telematics is the technology that enables long-distance communication of information.
OK, so how does this relate to your car?
It’s highly likely you already have telematics technology built into your car to make it smarter and easier to drive (GPS, hands-free mobile and automatic driving systems are some basic examples).
Any device that collects data and instantly transports it over long distances is essentially telematics technology.
Telematics devices use on-board diagnostics (OBD) to plot your car’s movement on a map and gather valuable data like:
- Vehicle speed
- Journey distance/time
- Harsh braking
- Fuel consumption
- Battery voltage and engine data
- Vehicle faults
You can use telematics software to remind you about scheduled services, keep an eye on warranty expiry dates, easily review each vehicle’s repair history and more. Your fleet – and your business – will operate more smoothly as a result
Telematics is also a great way to monitor driver behaviour, and that’s where good driving behaviour, coupled with telematics, could save you big bucks on your car insurance premiums.
Telematics Insurance Explained
Telematics-based insurance uses data from telematics devices to make informed decisions about a driver’s level of risk based on a driver’s behaviour on the road. Telematics boxes can show insurance companies how safe a driver is on the road, which can help insurance companies come up with a fair figure for the cost of insurance.
Basically – if you’re a safe driver which has been proven through telematics devices data, you may be compensated with a cheaper premium by your car insurance provider.
Benefits of Telematics for Car Insurance
Telematics has a range of great benefits for everyone involved in the car industry, from individual drivers to fleet managers, and car insurance companies.
Driver Benefits
Whether you’re driving for business or leisure, telematics can help make the journey smoother and safer. From letting you know the best route to alerts when your car needs servicing, telematics is a handy tool for all drivers.
When it comes to insurance, telematics encourages better driver safety and caution, making roads safer too. A good track record on your telematics device can also show your insurer that you’re a low-risk customer, which you may be compensated for with a lower premium.
And, if an accident does occur on the road, a telematics device can help provide answers on the cause of the incident for a faster resolution.
Fleet Manager Benefits
There are countless telematics benefits for fleet managers. The data collected from telematics devices can help you fix any issues with cars in your fleet faster, encourage more efficient journeys and fuel consumption, and overall save you money on both fuel and maintenance issues.
When it comes to car insurance for a large fleet, telematics can help save money by monitoring performance. Not only can telematics identify safe drivers, it can also identify those who need to improve, which you as a fleet manager can take action on.
With comprehensive fleet data and good driver behaviour, your company and fleet may benefit from lower insurance premiums.
Fuel Cards & Telematics Benefits
Telematics software and fuel cards go hand in hand. Many fuel card providers offer a range of telematics trackers to suit different fleet vehicles. From asset trackers to hardwired and plug-in trackers, if you’re with a fuel card provider, ask them about their telematics solutions
These telematics devices will help improve the safety of your fleet and save you money by:
- Monitor your fuel budget: The fuel purchase report highlights fuel transactions for each vehicle, which can serve as a baseline for fuel usage improvements and accountability.
- Identify inefficient drivers and vehicles: The fuel efficiency report will highlight idling, poor driving and speeding. This information is vital in helping improve vehicle safety, and efficiency and reduce MPGs (miles per gallon) used.
- Identify fuel card abuse: The lost fuel report will show you incidents where a vehicle was not actually at the fuel pump when its assigned card was used. It also identifies when the amount pumped exceeded the fuel tank size of the assigned vehicle.
- Decrease your environmental impact: The carbon footprint report calculates the carbon footprint of each vehicle and fleet, which can help you reduce your carbon footprint and run a more sustainable fleet.
Choosing the Best Technology for Your Business
We’re living in an increasingly teched-out world. There are countless technology tools to help propel your business forward by taking care of the admin burden of your fleet, while also optimising its operations. With so many solutions, it can be hard to know which is the perfect one for your business.
However, if your business isn’t quite ready for telematics, there is another solution that can reduce the operating costs of your fleet and increase the overall productivity of your business.
Enter: Fuel Cards
Fleet management software like fuel cards is like a database to store all the information about your vehicles in one place, helping you keep track of maintenance schedules, fuel costs and more.
Fuel cards offer a good chunk of the same benefits as a telematics solution, with the added benefit of lower fuel costs.
From centralising the accounting of your fuel expenses to tools for managing your fleet to giving you more visibility and control over fuel expenditure via online reporting tools, to helping keep track of vehicle usage via odometer readings at every fill, and signing up to receive alerts about unusual activity, there are countless benefits for using a fuel card.
Benefits of the Shell Card Fuel Card
Shell Card is a fuel card provider with a range of benefits that’ll not only improve the operations of your business’s fleet, but also help enhance overall business productivity and improve your bottom line.
Shell Card makes paying for fuel easy; all your purchases appear on a single tax invoice and statement, ready for tax time; you can manage your cards online; you can set usage controls and have peace of mind with in-built fraud protection.
You can also set up smart alerts to proactively monitor your vehicles and how employees use their cards by setting up specific card limits. For example, you can set card limits based on the number of transactions an employee makes with the Shell Card at any given timeframe and a limit to the fuel volume purchased.
PROPEL YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
Find the right fuel card for your business with our dedicated Fuel Card Explorer.
Enquire to save
Enquire to save
READ MORE
