The way insurance brokers help firms risk manage their motor fleets is changing. A slowly increasing number of fleets are swapping combustion engines for electric vehicles but an equally radical shift is the adoption of cost saving, driver improving digital tools like telematics.
Brokers are part of this move towards more proactive motor fleet risk management that, stakeholders say, can dramatically increase driver safety and reduce insurance claims numbers.
Simon Donovan said brokers are moving away from focusing on the claims history of their fleet clients. Instead, the executive general manager of underwriting firm DKG Insurance Group, said brokers are looking more at people and culture to deal with the underlying causes of many motor accident claims, like fatigue and stress.
Donovan was moderating a recent webinar looking at how to improve fleet safety and the role of insurance brokers. One major industry challenge that involves brokers – with significant implications for the number of motor insurance claims – is how to improve drivers’ road safety.
“Driving for work is the most dangerous work-related activity, the data is clear for that,” said Jerome Carslake, director of Monash University’s National Road Safety Partnership Program.
However, he said work related driving is “out of sight and out of mind” for many firms.
Together with Tanwir Dadarkar, director of Drivetec Solutions, he offered insights that could help brokers improve the safety culture and driving behaviour of their clients.
Carslake said there are two big issues that brokers can help solve: the complacency of firms around driving safety issues and the overconfidence of many drivers. He said there are major obstacles in the way of improving motor fleet safety cultures across the country.
Dadarkar said improving driver safety and reducing motor accidents has to start with this safety culture.
He said telematics and dashcams can pick up issues like problems with driver behaviour, stress and fatigue. By showing patterns and measuring differences in the speed of a driver, the frequency of braking and the rate of acceleration telematics data can be used to identify when a good drivers consistent driving behaviour could be changing because of stress or fatigue.
But while this technology will provide actionable insights it won’t solve the safety issues if the motor fleet firm’s safety culture and leadership aren’t going to act on them.
The webinar experts discussed driving safety areas that brokers would be able to convert into “quick wins” for their motor clients that would also help change this culture.
Dadarkar suggested that brokers can play an important role educating their clients. He said it was important for brokers to raise their clients’ awareness of the data coming in from sources like telematics.
“One of the biggest risks is that you have a lot of technology in place and the data is being collected but no-one is doing anything about it,” he said. “We see that a lot.”
Carslake suggested that it was important for brokers to help their motor fleet clients engage their workers so these drivers feel supported rather than surveilled and spied on by the technology.
“I’d say the big thing is engage your workers,” said Carslake. “Get them to give you the feedback.”
Another danger for fleet drivers – that brokers could help alert management to – is performance indicators that always make drivers feel like they are running behind schedule. Carslake said these indicators can be the cause of unsafe driving.
Brokers could also help motor fleet clients establish driver safety policies. Donovan said his underwriting firm doesn’t actually see many companies with driver safety policies in place.
This raises challenges, he suggested, when firms need to deal with drivers who repeatedly have car accidents.
“This isn’t necessarily flagged by the broker and then we go back with the question, ‘talk to me about the risk management on that one driver’,” said Donovan.
Carslake said driver safety policies are very useful for holding drivers accountable and setting expectations.
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