Driver Safety Tips, News & Technology: SambaSafety Blog

2024 Insurance Trends Recap for Auto Carriers

Written by SambaSafety | Dec 19, 2024 10:01:28 PM

As 2024 comes to a close, we at SambaSafety are proud to reflect on a year defined by growth, innovation and impactful partnerships. None of this would be possible without the trust and collaboration of our valued customers and partners, who share our commitment to reducing risk, improving safety and driving measurable results. 

This year, we’ve expanded our capabilities, delivered powerful insights and reached new milestones that further position us to help insurers, brokers and businesses achieve their goals. Here are some of the highlights we’re celebrating as we head into the new year. 

Risk Cloud: Turning Data into Actionable Insights 

At the heart of SambaSafety’s success is our ability to transform vast amounts of data into meaningful outcomes. In 2024, the SambaSafety Risk Cloud delivered unparalleled insights across the commercial auto space, helping insurers and brokers reduce claims and improve profitability. The Risk Index, now available to all customers, provides visibility into which activities contribute to a driver’s score and delivers a simple way to track and benchmark risk.

Telematics Expansion: Supporting Over 60% of Connected Vehicles

This year marked significant progress in our telematics footprint. SambaSafety now supports over 60% of connected commercial vehicles in the market, enabling insurers to easily launch telematics programs, regardless of telematics provider or industry.

Through expanded partnerships and innovation, we’ve harmonized telematics, electronic logging device (ELD) and camera data. This helps our customers enhance traditional rating factors, set and track client risk goals and validate driving details like mileage and area of operation during the policy lifecycle.

Global Expansion: UK and Canada 

This year, SambaSafety made strategic moves into new markets, expanding our proven risk management solutions into the UK and Canada. As part of this expansion, we introduced localized driver training content tailored to regional needs, including UK-specific training programs and French-Canadian content. 

We’re excited to help organizations in these markets leverage the same tools and strategies that have made a measurable difference in safety and risk outcomes across the US.

Insights from the 2024 Driver Risk Report 

SambaSafety’s 2024 Driver Risk Report highlights the critical role of targeted driver training and proactive monitoring in addressing emerging risks and improving safety outcomes. By analyzing over 40 million motor vehicle records (MVRs), the report identifies key trends that insurers and brokers can use to reduce claims and improve underwriting outcomes. 

Speeding is a major predictor of crashes. Speeding violations made up the largest proportion of all violations and have increased year over year since 2020. Depending on severity, speeding raises the probability of a crash within 12 months by up to 82%. This is particularly alarming, given that nearly one-third of all traffic fatalities are speed-related. 

Training combined with monitoring delivers measurable results. SambaSafety’s efficacy study highlights the benefits of pairing driver training with continuous monitoring. Over 12 months:

  • Monitoring alone reduced violations by 32%.
  • Combining monitoring with training led to a 77% reduction in violations. 

License monitoring plays a critical role in improving safety. Drivers with invalid licenses were responsible for 18.5% of fatal crashes in 2021. License monitoring solutions effectively reduce this risk, lowering the percentage of unlicensed drivers by 4.4 percentage points for personal licenses and 5.7 percentage points for commercial drivers (CDLs). 

These findings emphasize the importance of continuous monitoring, targeted interventions and training programs that address risky behaviors. By acting on these insights right away, policyholders can better manage risk and improve their risk profiles. 

Insights from the 2024 Telematics Report 

Our 2024 Telematics Report explored how insurers, brokers and fleets are using telematics – and where opportunities for growth remain. 

Fleets are embracing telematics. 80% of fleet respondents report monitoring a large portion of their vehicles. Safety is a driving factor, with over 90% of fleets saying telematics is important to their safety strategies.

Our report also uncovered a disconnect in data sharing. While 75% of insurers and brokers see fleet data sharing as the biggest challenge for leveraging telematics, 74% of fleets that don’t share data said it’s because they were never asked. Brokers play a pivotal role in bridging this gap to ensure telematics insights are fully utilized. 

Telematics and training improves outcomes. By combining telematics with targeted driver training, 72% of fleets report reductions in crashes and claims. Fleets that use telematics data to identify risky driving behaviors can provide personalized training that addresses specific learning opportunities, further improving safety and reducing risk.

Our recent webinar panel highlights the opportunity and provides tips for effective use of telematics data.  

Honors and Recognition: A Shared Success 

We were humbled and honored to be recognized for our work this year. SambaSafety was named a 2024 PC360 Risk Management Innovations Luminary for our efforts in reducing road risk. Additionally, we were thrilled to be named Samsara’s Safety Partner of the Year, in recognition of our shared mission to advance driver safety through connected solutions. 

These honors reflect the collective achievements of our team, customers and partners who trust us to deliver results year after year.  

Looking Ahead to 2025 

As we look to the year ahead, we’re committed to helping insurers and brokers improve combined ratios and tackle market pressures with strategic, data-driven tools and insights. In 2025, we’re excited to:

  • Continue expanding our telematics footprint to unlock even greater insights for insurers and fleets.
  • Deliver deeper, more actionable insights through our Risk Cloud.
  • Continue to invest in capabilities for our valued customers, while strengthening our international offering. 
  • And more! 

Thank You to Our Customers and Partners 

We’re incredibly grateful to the insurers, brokers and businesses who have chosen to partner with SambaSafety this year. Your trust and collaboration inspires us to keep raising the bar. Thank you for being part of our journey in 2024. We look forward to achieving even greater success together! 

Here’s to a safe, productive and impactful year ahead.

Access Free Resources for Insurers

Looking to get more out of your telematics data in 2025? Our Insurance Resources Hub is your go-to destination for actionable insights and downloadable tools to navigate this evolving industry. Visit the link below to access this free resource center now! 

 

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