How to Drive Down Fleet Insurance with Telematics

Fleet operators are well aware of the need for fleet insurance, and equally aware of the massive expense it represents. 

Fleet insurance premiums are among the biggest expenditures trucking companies have to account for in their operations, sometimes totaling as much as $10,000.

The good news is that data-rich telematics can help your fleet find insurance rates that are transparent, equitable, and might even save your organization money in the short and long-term.

Explaining Telematics

Fleet telematics is a type of technology used for monitoring mobile vehicles over long distances. Many fleet-based companies use it to keep tabs on vehicle location, driving behaviour, and road conditions.

This data is collected and transmitted back to a central cloud-based system where it can be acquired, analyzed and used to improve operations.

In short, telematics provides fleet managers with a real-time window into how their fleet is performing.

How Telematics Can Help Lower Your Fleet Insurance Costs

Because of the data offered by telematics, it’s not a stretch to consider how it might be applied to your fleet insurance premiums.

The following are just some of the ways that implementing a telematics system can help you save on premiums.

Fewer Accidents

Thanks to its diagnostic abilities and comprehensive analytics systems, telematics can identify, correct and prevent issues with your vehicles before they become full-blown problems.

Telematics can also help you create regular, preventative maintenance schedules to keep your fleet safer on the road.

When connected to a dash cam system, telematics can also identify risky driving behaviours, such as rapid acceleration, harsh braking, or distracted driving.

These events can trigger an alert to both the driver and the fleet manager, so that corrective measures can be taken in real-time.

More Insight for Customized Fleet Insurance

Increasingly, fleet companies are asking for insurance packages tailored to their specific needs, specifically when they have access to telematics-based data that can prove, without a doubt, how often their vehicles are on the road.

Usage-based (or “pay-as-you-drive”) fleet insurance rates are based on how much a vehicle is driven. The logic behind it is that the less a car is on the road, the less likely it is to be involved in an accident.

More often than not, this is how insurance companies charge their clients for premiums.

Telematics systems can provide opportunities for more intuitive, individualized fleet insurance policies that could save fleets money in the long run by proving they are low-risk. 

With the increasing adoption of telematics solutions in fleets, it is possible that insurance companies will do away with generic, one-size-fits-all policies in the very near future.

Discounts for Good Drivers

A telematics-based insurance solution can help lower your fleet insurance costs by qualifying your drivers for discounts. Many insurers offer lower rates to fleets that can prove their drivers are safe and responsible on the road.

By monitoring factors such as speeding, harsh braking, rapid acceleration and more, drivers who avoid these risky behaviours can be flagged as safe and may qualify for lower insurance rates.

More Context

Hearing a driver’s first-hand account of an accident is one thing, but having a combination of video footage and telematics data can drastically change the outcome. This is where telematics systems can really help to lower insurance costs.

In the event of an accident, a telematics system can provide detailed data that can help to prove what really happened.

This data can be used to support a driver’s account of events, potentially exonerate them, and keep your insurance premiums from skyrocketing. 

The Bottom Line

From reducing accidents to providing detailed data in the event of a claim, telematics technology can be a valuable asset for any fleet.

Contact us at ZenduiT, ask about our telematics solutions and how they can help keep your fleet insurance premiums at bay.