However, it pulled the plug on the project in 2008 and apart from a small number of telematics insurance products the market had been relatively quiet.

That was until a flurry of new products started appearing on the market and London played host to the first European-wide insurance telematics event.

Zurich launched its Fleet Intelligence product by teaming up with a number of telematics providers, including Trimble (Fleet News, March 17).

Meanwhile, Ctrack has launched a telematics solution in the past few days for vehicle insurers in the UK to rate how, when, where and by whom a vehicle is driven.

And, while Aviva is not embracing the pay-as-you-drive model, Quartix, which supplies pay per mile for young drivers to insurers, believes it will become the norm for fleets.

“Pay per mile will be the future for fleet insurance,” said Andy Kirk, Quartix director. “Insurers are talking to us about our young driver insurance product. It will probably be 18 months or so before it becomes commonplace as a product offering and 12 months after that we will see fleets introducing it. If you have the box in the car, premiums will go down – it will be a big driver for telematics.”

The value of data
Aviva may well have chosen not to go down the data heavy route this time around, but its value to the insurance industry cannot be underestimated.

Martin Otter, who was head of operations for Norwich Union’s pay-as-you-drive proposition, now works with Trimble – one of Zurich’s partners in its telematics insurance scheme.

He told delegates at Insurance Telematics Europe 2011 that, while there was a risk of information overload, telematics allows insurers to “identify different niches, different segments of risk and protect themselves against the competition”.

“More data also gives better rating,” said Otter.

Future vision offers complete solution
A ‘multi-service’ project platform based in Finland gives an insight into how the future of insurance telematics may look.

Not only is telematics being used to drive down insurance costs by capturing driving style and distances, but it also facilitates road pricing and vehicle taxation.

Users are also able to download a CO2 report based on their vehicle’s use, while a range of other ‘value added’ services are expected to drive further users towards telematics insurance product.

“For example, appointments in your desktop calendar will be automatically transferred to your sat nav before you start your working day from your smart phone,” explained Sampo Hietanen, CEO of Helpten, one of the partner’s in the project.

“Then at the end of the day through the ‘drive-o-metre’, a report giving business mileage, a CO2 report and your driving habits can be downloaded for expenses and environmental performance.”

Hietanen told delegates at Insurance Telematics Europe 2011 that further fleet services could be added to the platform including service maintenance repair.

“The system takes away all the paperwork associated with driving for work, while ensuring accurate up to date records and an improved level of visibility,” he said.

The Panda project was initiated in 2007 with 100 users and is aiming to have 10,000 users by 2012.