Usage-based insurance market to account for 21.7 million policyholders worldwide in 2015: report

The automotive usage-based insurance (UBI) market will account for 21.7 million policyholders worldwide in 2015, says a recent report from visiongain, a London, United Kingdom-based business intelligence provider.

According to Automotive Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) Market Report 2015-2025: Insurance Telematics and the Connected Car, the policyholders projected for this year represent a “significant increase” over the 12.2 million policyholders accounted for in 2014.

The author of the report predicted in a statement last week that the adoption of UBI “will increase rapidly over the next ten years, as consumer awareness is boosted by the rapidly forming synergies and partnership between telematics service providers, insurers and automotive OEMs. An increasingly diverse UBI market will be seen over coming years, with smartphone and hybrid solutions playing an increasingly influential role.”

UBI, also known as telematics-based insurance, is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon, visiongain added in a release on Tuesday. Already commonplace in Italy, the United States and the U.K., a number of new markets have recently experienced a growth in the adoption of UBI, including Japan, South Africa, and Brazil.

“In many countries across the world, UBI will be used as an effective method of breaking against established players within the global motor insurance market,” the statement said. “It will be a substantial recruitment tool with the potential to win profitable customers, as we forecast that over US$60 billion of automotive premiums will be generated by the usage-based insurance market by 2020.”

The 228-page report includes 213 tables and figures and provides detailed profiles of 16 companies operating within the automotive UBI market, including 11 auto insurance providers and five telematics service providers. The report also reveals where (including Canada) and how companies are investing in UBI.

The report includes an introduction to the automotive UBI market, market forecasts for 2015-2025, expert opinions and leading companies in the market, among other topics.

It also answers the following questions:

• How is the automotive UBI market evolving, and what is the penetration of UBI in 2015?

• What is driving and restraining the automotive UBI market dynamics? Is UBI a model that all automobile insurers should follow?

• What are the key challenges to expect when building a UBI program, and what actions must be taken to face them?

• How can customer acceptance for usage-based insurance increase, depending on segments and geographies?

• What is the business case for the mass introduction of PHYD / PAYD insurance policies?

• What are the market shares of the four UBI Implementation submarkets of the overall automotive UBI market in 2015?

• How will each of the four automotive UBI submarket segments grow over the forecast period and how many policyholders will these submarkets account for in 2025?

• How will the market shares for each automotive UBI submarket develop from 2015-2025? and

• Which individual technologies will prevail and how will these shifts be responded to?