Lorie J. Phair appointed CEO of ingenie Canada

Ingenie, an auto insurance provider for young drivers aged 16-24, announced on Thursday that it has appointed Lorie Phair as the CEO of ingenie Canada.

“Traditionally, young drivers have been discriminated against and treated as a high risk by the insurance industry,” Phair said in a press release. “Our approach is to help young drivers develop good driving habits, then reward them for how they actually drive, rather than treating them as a statistic.”

Ingenie has been available to young drivers in Ontario since March and plans to expand to other Canadian provinces in the future.

Ingenie said in the release that Phair (pictured right) has previously held leadership and board positions both in the insurance industry and in the not-for-profit sector, including organizations such as the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario (RIBO), Insurance Brokers of Toronto Region, Toronto Crime Stoppers, Toronto’s Chief of Police Annual Gala, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences and The Insurance Institute of Canada (IIC), where she served as a member of the Board of Governors and chair of the academic council for six years. She currently holds an advisory council position with Magnet, a not-for-profit social initiative co-founded by Ryerson University and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

Ingenie is an “innovative young driver insurance brand that uses telematics technology to reward safe driving with savings,” the release explained. Young insured drivers are given a 10% up-front discount for installing a Smartbox in their car, which builds a picture of their driving style based on indicators such as speed, acceleration, braking and cornering.

Related: Ingenie rolls out telematics-based auto insurance to young drivers in Ontario

Customers receive feedback on their driving every 10 days through the ingenie app or online. The feedback includes a driving score out of 100, tips on how to improve their driving and the amount they are on track to save through their “Good Driving Discount.” Compared to traditional insurance models where drivers would have to wait until the end of the year to see a discount, with ingenie, young drivers can earn up to an extra 25% Good Driving Discount over the course of the year.

“This regular feedback and financial incentive can reduce insurance costs and is proven to help young drivers develop safe driving habits,” Phair said in the release. “In the U.K., where ingenie has been available since 2011, the approach has reduced young drivers’ risk of having an accident during the first six-months of driving by 40%,” she said, adding that 70% of ingenie drivers earn Good Driving Discounts.