Mistake by Bloomberg on reporting iPhone as a tracking solution at Farmers'...

The article referred to in the previous post was an (interesting) mistake by Bloomberg.

The following is from Farmers':

"All - I wanted you to be aware of some misleading media coverage attached below that is being distributed today by the Bloomberg News Service. The Swiss-based Bloomberg reporter confusingly leaves readers with the impression in the headline and lead paragraph that Farmers is already using technology to track miles driven by auto insurance customers. She also confuses the "pay as you drive issue" with our recent announcement regarding claims reporting via an iphone application. While the headline and first graf are misleading, the quotes attributed to me in the body of the story explain Farmers' position on this issue and provide some clarity to the story. I am working personally with the reporter and her London-based editor for further clarification, but wanted you to be aware of this if you receive any questions from staff or the field. Bottom line is that we continue to consider the future use of these type of technologies that could help us even more accurately match risk with product prices etc. Let me know if you have any other questions.


Mark S. Toohey
Senior Vice President and
Head of Media and Public Relations, North America
(805) 907-2216
mark_toohey@farmersinsurance.com”

iPhone tracking for Pay As You Drive car insurance in California

Farmers' Group in California said yesterday that they will use iPhones and Blackberries to track cars under California's new Pay As You Drive car insurance regulations (Bloomberg). That is really fascinating. The iPhone has all kinds of technology in it that makes this an interesting proposition, at least in theory.

I would be quite keen to know how they are planning to solve the issue of the iPhone only running one application at a time. You can't expect customers to switch on the application that tracks them every time they get into the car.

At least one other iPhone application that have recently been published for insurance, by Nationwide. It deals with claims handling. It is basically an accident handling kit on your phone. Very cool. As per the website, the functions are:

• Calls emergency services
• Helps you collect and exchange accident info
• Stores your insurance and vehicle info for easy lookup
• Locates Nationwide agents near you
• Takes and stores accident photos
• Converts your iPhone into a handy flashlight
• Helps connect you with towing services*
• Helps you start the Nationwide claims process*
• Finds Nationwide Blue Ribbon^SM Repair Facilities*

If you know of any other iPhone apps for insurance, please let me know!

The iPhone tracking article is below for completeness, or can be found on this link.

Zurich Financial’s Farmers Unit to Track U.S. Drivers

By Carolyn Bandel

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Farmers Group Inc., the U.S. unit of Zurich Financial Services AG that bought AIG’s auto-insurance business in April, plans to lower premiums by charging drivers for coverage by the mile, measuring car usage by iPhone and BlackBerry.

The insurer wants to base insurance costs on miles driven to “charge the right premium for the right risk” and keep premiums low, Mark Toohey, a spokesman for Farmers, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles on Sept. 22. The company is considering offering a tracking product using mobile-phone technology at the end of this year or early in 2010.

Voluntary “pay-as-you-drive” regulations that allow insurers to base premiums on actual miles driven were announced Sept. 3 by the commissioner of the state of California Department of Insurance, Steve Poizner, who is responsible for enforcing insurance-related laws and previously founded SnapTrack Inc., which pioneered technology that put GPS receivers into mobile phones.

“We see some potential in California for using this type of technology because of California’s unique auto-rating regulations, which focus heavily on miles driven,” said Toohey. “Farmers doesn’t support the use of any technology which would require a customer to be tracked.” The company said the option to be tracked would be made available to customers and only used with their agreement. U.S. insurers are regulated separately in each state.

Insurers have been testing technology to offer pay-as-you- drive insurance in countries including the U.K., the U.S. and the Netherlands. So far, such insurance lets motorists prepay for the miles they expect to drive during the term of coverage, as with Polis Direct in the Netherlands, which is part of the Dutch automotive trade association BOVAG.

‘Very Costly’

Aviva Plc, the U.K.’s second-biggest insurer by market value, offered a policy that fitted a blackbox tracker device into cars using so-called telematics technology to record journeys. The insurer stopped offering the product last year because it “had to bear the cost of the box and the operating model was very costly for Aviva,” Erik Nelson, a Norwich, U.K.- based spokesman, said in a telephone interview today.

“We’re looking at various technologies and have set for ourselves an internal deadline for going to market with a usage- based rating option for our customers,” Toohey said. “Voluntary tracking measures and technologies may have as much relation or even more relation to accident risk as miles driven. Examples of these risk measures would be car speed, hours of day a customer drives or driving in congested areas.”

Separately, the Los Angeles-based Farmers launched last week an iClaims application for customers who used iPhones or iTouch. The application allows Farmers customer to immediately file an insurance claim.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carolyn Bandel in Zurich at cbandel@bloomberg.net

New Californian Regs published. PAYD called green.

Californian Insurance Commissioner has published the insurance regulations allowing insurance companies to do Pay As You Drive insurance. The regulations are partly based on Real Insurance's product in Australia. There is also a push for more "Green Insurance".

It is fascinating how insurance products are likely to become transformation tools for the way in which we look after the environment.

Original article here.

California Bill Calls for Green Insurance

By Timothy F. Kirn
September 4, 2009

A bill just introduced in California could encourage more ecologically friendly insurance policy products, putting the state again at the fore of pushing, and leading, for greener public policies.
The bill, which has been titled the California Green Insurance Act of 2010, could affect a broad range of insurance products, from automobile coverage, to property/casualty policies, to workers' compensation plans.
Insurance would seem a good way to bridge over a wide range of different and varied endeavors that have a significant ecological impact, in one fell swoop. But, the legislation's sponsor, Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) said only that the inspiration for the legislation came to him because he thinks a lot about insurance as chair of the Assembly's health care committee, and because he wants to make a contribution to the environment.
The bill was introduced eight days before the California Legislature adjourns for the year. Jones said that was not done as an attempt to ram the bill through before opposition could mobilize. Rather, it was so the legislation would be on the agenda, and interested parties—including insurance companies--could begin to discuss and hone the measure.
Jones said he has had no input from anyone in the insurance industry yet.
Green insurance is not without precedent in California. The state Department of Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has called pay-as-you-drive automobile insurance, an option being considered in the state, a "green" insurance because it would encourage less driving.
Moreover, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, for one, offers green replacement property insurance as standard for some of their policies. It first offered green commercial policies in 2006. It also has green homeowner policies.
Buildings, with their energy use, contribute more carbon emissions to the atmosphere than cars and there is a real push in the real estate industry to make buildings more energy efficient and less polluting, so it makes sense to offer insurance that recognizes that consciousness, said Janet Ruiz, a spokesperson for Fireman's Fund, Novato, Calif.
"We know that it is very popular for buildings to be more energy efficient and use less water," Ruiz said.
Jones' proposal would, among other things:
--Require the state insurance commissioner to hold hearings and gather information contrasting the risk, costs, and claims of low-emission vehicles compared with non-low-emission vehicles.
--Require property insurance companies to offer green replacement coverage and to offer coverage for solar and wind distributed generation as part of a homeowner's insurance policy.
--Require the insurance commissioner to hold hearings and gather information on the risk, costs, and claims associated with green buildings.
--Require the insurance commissioner to conduct hearings regarding the health impacts on workers in green buildings, and use in the information in establishing the Workers' Compensation Claims Cost Benchmark.
--Offer state tax credits to insurance companies that invest in financial institutions that provide products and services designed to protect the environment and support renewable energy projects.

The Geek says this is the scariest thing you have ever seen

A geeky guy (he says he is a science teacher) made a compelling short video. Watch it. It is humble, compelling, contains very little hot air (except when he explodes gas in a bottle), and makes you think.


Your thoughts?