If you’re looking around for the best insurance policy for your car, then it’s likely you’ve come across telematics insurance.
However, this advanced type of insurance policy can seem complicated at a first glance, as there are many different aspects to how it works.
That being said, we’ve put together this article to give you a deeper insight into what telematics insurance is, how it works, and what the technology analyzes in your driving.
Read on to learn more.
Table of Contents
What is telematics insurance?
Telematics insurance is a policy that uses advanced technology to assess your abilities as a driver and gives you adjusted premiums to reflect the data.
This insurance provides the most accurate picture of your driving safety, so insurance providers can see how likely you are to be involved in an accident – and as a result, charge you with premiums that align with the findings.
If you’re interested in securing your quote for car insurance that prices your policy based on how much and how well you drive, explore more on how telematics works at Lemonade Car.
How does telematics insurance work?
Telematics insurance works through a unique type of technology that needs to be installed in your car. To begin, this is either done as a special chip in your windshield, or through an app on your phone.
This technology will then use telecommunications (phone lines, cables, cellular networks) and informatics (computer systems) to transmit data from your car to your insurance provider.
If you’re using a chip, this will come with a variety of motion sensors, and global positioning system (GPS) tracking. This is so the technology can pick up even the slightest movement of your car, and know your vehicle’s exact location at all times.
If you’re using your phone, the app will use your phone’s in-built motion sensors and its location services – it’s important to keep this on permanently, even when not driving.
This will allow it to gather the most accurate data from your driving, as well as gain insights into whether it’s actually you who’s driving.
Once this data is sent to your insurer, they can review it, and charge you a more accurate price for your premiums, which fairly reflects how safely you’re driving.
What does telematics insurance analyze?
In order to give your insurer the most complete and precise picture of your driving safety, telematics insurance will analyze a variety of things, including:
- How safely you stop – This will analyze how well you stop the car, such as whether you brake gradually in good time, or you harshly slam the brakes at the last minute.
- Your driving speeds – This measures how fast you’re driving and compares it to the speed limits of the road you’re on, to see if your speed is legal.
- How well you maneuver – The technology also analyzes how well you maneuver the car. This can be things such as executing turns in a slow and steady manner and parking the car without any collisions or bumps.
- The times of day you drive – It’s often more dangerous to drive the car in the later times of the day when it’s darker. Therefore, your telematics will register the times of day you’re driving the car, to see how safe your regular journeys are.
- Whether you use any devices – One of the most dangerous things to do when driving is to get distracted on your phone. Therefore, your telematics app will register whether at any point you use your phone whilst on the move – even if just to scroll through a text.
Once all this data is gathered and transmitted to your insurer, they can begin adjusting your premiums to suit your driving behavior.
