Automakers, Insurers Clash On New Safety Technology
Automakers are accelerating the rollout of technology designed to avoid crashes, but insurance companies are waving a caution flag at consumers eyeing discounts for buying collision-avoiding brakes or automated cruise control, according to a new article in Automotive News.
It is estimated that more than $67 billion will be spent on advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) by 2025. Systems are being developed to automate, adapt and enhance vehicle systems for safety, by minimizing possible human error. Features may include adaptive cruise control, collision-avoiding automatic break systems, automatic lane centering and more.
With governmental safety mandates coming into play and the belief that consumers won’t mind paying extra for the new technology, automakers are moving rapidly to get the new features on the market.
However, the insurance industry has a different viewpoint. Many of the largest U.S. insurers say they don’t see the evidence to prove the claims made by the auto industry about the success of these systems. With safety features come more sensors and cameras — all of which will make repairs more costly. Insurers are not planning to offer discounts for vehicles with these advanced safety features just yet.
Another big issue for insurers as these ADAS features begin rolling out is data. Because the majority of these features are sold as optional equipment, it is hard to validate which features are on any individual car. Also, names and specific attributes of each safety feature differ across manufacturers, and even by model, making exact comparisons difficult.
That’s where we can help.
StudyPRICE
Autodata Solutions’ StudyPRICE solution allows carriers to study their historical auto claims in order to find the vehicle features that impact the frequency or severity of loss so auto policies can be priced more competitively. In addition to robust vehicle descriptions, StudyPRICE discovers all active and passive safety features, all vehicle features deemed to be expensive to replace or repair after an accident, as well as, theft-preventative features.
Simply uploading the vehicle VINs from their portfolio of historical auto claims and StudyPRICE will return the actual vehicle features for each VIN—all ready for predicative analysis by the carrier’s data analysts. Once features that correlate with reducing the frequency or severity of loss are identified, the carrier can integrate StudyPRICE directly into all auto pricing and quoting algorithms. This will enable automatic discounts for the applicable features.
Learn more about StudyPRICE or call 1-866-430-8524.
