PIA Connection Online

For many consumers, telematics still feels a little too much like Big Brother. The technology has been around for years, promising to monitor driving habits and reward safe behavior. Yet adoption has often fallen short of expectations. Many drivers remain reluctant to share their driving behavior with insurance carriers, fearing the data could ultimately be used to increase premiums.

But what if telematics wasn’t primarily about pricing? What if it was one of the most effective risk management tools available to families and businesses? That’s the approach independent agents can be taking with their clients.

Insurance carriers don’t have to be the only organizations using telematics. Today, agents can offer solutions that allow both personal and commercial clients to monitor driving behavior, identify potential risks, and encourage safer habits behind the wheel. Rather than serving solely as a pricing tool, telematics becomes another resource agents can use to help families and businesses prevent accidents before they happen.

Recognizing the opportunity for agents to play a more proactive role in risk management, PIA has launched a new member program with Ensure Analytics. The Telematics-Enabled Fleet Safety Services program helps agencies provide commercial clients with telematics, AI-powered safety cameras, GPS tracking, maintenance monitoring, fleet analytics, and driver safety insights through a single platform.

The solution is designed to improve driver accountability, reduce accident frequency, strengthen underwriting discussions, and demonstrate active loss-control efforts. It also provides agencies with another way to deliver value beyond the insurance policy itself.

Jared Morgan, Managing Partner of Paducah Insurance in Kentucky, has long been an advocate for telematics. Not only does he offer the Ensure Analytics platform to clients, but as a co-owner of a construction and excavation company, he also uses it to monitor the driving behavior of his employees. He even uses the platform to assess the driving behavior of his family.

Morgan took a particular interest in telematics when his children became old enough to drive. “I got the call every parent of a teen driver hates to receive,” Morgan said. “My son called and said he got pulled over for speeding.” After that incident, Morgan became interested in solutions that could help monitor his children’s driving habits so he could make them safer.

Morgan added, “I wasn’t concerned about handing my kid’s driving record to my insurance company. I was concerned about my kid getting in a really bad accident with his friends in the car and killing somebody.”

Ensure Analytics measures factors such as speeding, hard acceleration, hard braking, aggressive cornering, and, in some cases, phone use. The resulting data provides an objective picture of how someone is driving and where improvement may be needed.

The information is presented in a simple, easy-to-understand format. Drivers receive reports that include a score similar to a FICO credit score, allowing them to see how their driving habits compare over time. The reports can pinpoint exactly when and where risky behaviors occurred, giving parents, business owners, and drivers concrete feedback rather than relying on assumptions. “We all assume we’re great drivers,” Morgan said. “But the objective measurement tells us whether that’s true.”

While this information is valuable for families, particularly those with teenage drivers, it can be even more impactful for commercial clients that operate vehicle fleets. Commercial auto rates have risen significantly in recent years, and many business owners are struggling with escalating insurance costs. Fleet operators often know their vehicles are one of their largest exposures but lack visibility into which drivers are creating the greatest risk.

“As agents, we know what factors indicate drivers at high risk of accidents,” Morgan said. “Speeding, hard cornering, hard accelerations, hard brakes, and phone use. If we have a way to objectively measure that, it doesn’t have to go to the insurance company. It goes to the business owner, and they can take action.”

That action can include training, accountability programs, and incentives that reward safer driving habits. The goal is simple: reduce accidents before they occur.

Morgan walks the talk when it comes to telematics. He utilizes the same advice he shares with clients and applies it to the construction and excavation company that he is part owner of. That business has a fleet of more than 50 vehicles. Today, the company uses telematics to monitor driver behavior across its fleet, particularly among employees driving pickup trucks.

“The value goes beyond tracking vehicles,” Morgan said. “The technology provides visibility into the behaviors that contribute to accidents, allowing our leaders to identify issues early, coach drivers, and create a safer culture throughout the business.”

Beyond improving driver safety, telematics also has the potential to strengthen an agent’s ability to advocate for clients. As businesses use driving data to improve performance and reduce losses, agents gain objective evidence they can bring into underwriting and renewal discussions. Rather than simply telling a carrier a fleet is committed to safety, agencies can demonstrate it through measurable performance data and documented risk-management efforts.

According to Morgan, that advisory role is where agents can make the biggest impact, particularly for commercial clients. “I think what we’ve missed as an industry is the value of giving business owners more insight into their organization and how it impacts their insurance costs,” Morgan said. “Using telematics to produce driving scores, we can clearly show them which drivers are increasing their risk and what we need to do to reduce that exposure.”

Morgan believes the ability to document and demonstrate those improvements could become one of the most valuable long-term benefits of telematics. “At some point, we’ll be able to go to carriers and say this business has a telematics program in place, they’ve done a really good job of coaching drivers and improving safety, and their loss history reflects it,” he said. “That’s a much stronger story than simply saying they’re a good account.”

As insurance costs continue to rise, agents are increasingly looking for ways to help clients control the factors that drive claims. That’s where telematics may offer its greatest value. Rather than simply transferring risk after a loss occurs, it gives agents and clients a practical way to identify, manage, and reduce risk before an accident ever happens.

To learn more about the PIA/Ensure Analytics Telematics-Enabled Fleet Safety Services program, click here.