(Image source: Ford.)
Verisk (Jersey City, N.J.), a provider of data analytics to the insurance industry, has announced that that Ford Motor Company (Dearborn, Mich.) has joined the Verisk Data Exchange. As a result, owners of eligible Ford and Lincoln vehicles will soon have easy access to usage-based insurance programs from the many U.S. auto insurers that connect to the Exchange—including three of the ten largest U.S. carriers, according to a Verisk statement.
Alex Purdy, Director of Business Operations, Enterprise Connectivity, Ford Motor Company.
Benefits of usage-based insurance (UBI) include giving drivers greater transparency and control over their insurance costs, the Verisk statement notes. UBI programs typically offer personalized safe driving discounts that can help consumers save money and promote road safety. The automobile manufacturer’s integration with Verisk will make it simple and convenient for consenting drivers of connected Ford vehicles to securely share their driving data to unlock these offers and benefits—no additional hardware or apps required, Verisk says.
“Ford is committed to connecting our customers to valuable services that can help them reduce their total cost of ownership and get more out of their Ford vehicle—usage-based insurance is a great opportunity to do that,” comments Alex Purdy, director of business operations, enterprise connectivity, Ford Motor Company. “Verisk’s ability to ingest Ford vehicle data and provide insurance-ready information offers insurance providers access to usage-based insurance products without the need to manage any additional vehicle hardware.”
The Verisk Data Exchange is designed to make it easy for insurers to access driving data from connected Ford vehicles to help them develop, launch, and grow telematics-based insurance programs and reward qualifying drivers with insurance discounts. The Exchange employs what Verisk characterizes as advanced, proprietary analytics to refine driving telemetry from connected Ford vehicles into normalized, insurance-ready information, including Verisk’s rating and scoring solutions.
As a result of the collaboration between Verisk and Ford, with the driver’s consent, insurers can access the telematics data they need from Ford vehicles to generate an accurate UBI discount in one of two ways. Through a Verisk Driving Data API, insurers with their own UBI scoring models can receive driving behavior data that has been custom-tailored to meet their algorithm’s specifications. Insurers can also use Ford data with the Verisk Driving Score, a proprietary loss model and rating rule that is filed and available in 43 states, as a turnkey way to quickly enter the UBI market. Both products can streamline the UBI experience for consumers.
Karthik Balakrishnan, General Manager IoT/Telematics, Verisk.
Making it Easier to Benefit from UBI
“The addition of Ford to the Verisk Data Exchange will help the growing number of insurers looking to expand their UBI programs with connected cars,” says Karthik Balakrishnan, general manager, telematics business, Verisk telematics business. “We’re excited to connect Ford drivers with these insurers and, most importantly, make it easier for everyone to benefit from UBI.”
The vendor describes Verisk Data Exchange as an Internet of Things (IoT) and telematics platform, helping personal and commercial lines insurers to harness the power of data from the connected world. The Exchange works with numerous automotive and property-based data sources, applying artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to generate insights that enable superior decision-making across the life cycle of insurers’ telematics programs, according to Verisk. The Exchange currently has 6.6 million vehicles and 175 billion miles of driving data, and continues to grow by over 200,000 new vehicles every month, the vendor reports.
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