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Keeping an eye on
the road Using telematics in conjunction with in-car cameras is a growing trend. But experts have queried just how much the claims market could benefit from such joined-up thinking both from a practical and cost perspective
T
elematics has been threatening to alter the motor insurance claims landscape for a while now with its sophisticated black box driver monitoring technology. Some market analysts have become so intoxicated by telematics' potential
that they have begun speaking about its future in sci-fi terms. News coming out of a consumer telematics show in Las Vegas in early January included a prediction from IT research company Gartner that cars would become the first robot that most people use and that by the end of the decade they would be communicating with other vehicles and taking over from drivers if needed. But before we all get to re-live our childhoods and pretend we're Michael Knight
again, insurers have been busy trying to enhance what black boxes can offer at present, by encouraging the use of them in conjunction with in-car cameras. This merging of the two devices has caught on in the haulage and taxi industries in
particular, in an attempt to stem long-term insurance cost rises and tackle sophisticated fraudsters who target commercial vehicles as potential victims of staged crashes. In September last year, C&D taxis, a North East taxi company, installed cameras inside
and outside its cars to help protect against forced accidents and to deter physical assaults against both drivers and passengers. The company said that not only would the cameras (which recorded images elsewhere in a vehicle should a camera be damaged) help save on their insurance premiums, but that they would also attract new business by making customers feel safer. In-cab CCTV cameras have been employed by the emergency services for many years,
and are hugely popular abroad, most notably in Russia with its problems with police corruption and far-reaching fraud. But could they become a regular fixture on dashboards in the UK? Smart Witness, one vehicle camera manufacturer, has teamed up with insurance group
Markerstudy to provide camera technology as part of some of its insurance packages. The company says that the camera can help mitigate personal injury claims because the camera automatically records the impact force in the event of an accident. Thanks to its 170-degree lens on its cameras, Smart Witness says that they can overcome conflicting reports of actual events and lack of witnesses in court.
Claims Magazine/Issue 11/ 51
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