Liberty Videocon installs tracking devices in 1,000 cars

The device will assess driving habits of the driver, which will help insurer better price the car-insurance product

Liberty Videocon General Insurance has tied up with a car dealer to run a pilot project on “Telematics”. Here, they plan to install an electronic Telematics device in about 1,000 cars which will help the insurer know and assess the driving habits of the car driver.

Roopam Asthana, Chief Executive Officer at Liberty Videocon says, "This will help us price the car insurance product in a rational manner linking it more closely with the risks involved. We are in the process of collecting relevant data, and will be able use it to price the motor insurance product only after a wider data set is built."

The installed device will help insurer in getting data on the number of kilometers the car runs on a given day, the time it runs for, average speed, geographies it covers and so on. A combination of this information will help the company assess the driver's risk and thus price that driver's car insurance premium accordingly.

This move will benefit careful drivers, as their auto premiums will comparatively be lower than those who are risky drivers.

The insurer has started this pilot project in cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The device will also protect the car owner by helping in locating stolen cars, Geo-Fencing, remote immobilization and sending out emergency SMSs.  

He further said that, "These devices will be installed only in cars where the owner agrees to do so. For this, the owner of the car will have to install a GSM chip which will support the device for which he/she will have to shell out Rs. 1,500 to 2,200 annually," adds Asthana.