Old habits needn't die hard

Did you resolve to embrace insurtech this year, to reap the benefits of improved customer experience, get your products to market more quickly or simply resolve to be more efficient?

With January fast coming to a close, have you forgotten or are you ignoring those resolutions that you made at New Year? You’re not alone, research shows that 63% of Britons have failed to keep a resolution and 66% of these didn’t manage to keep them for a whole month.

As the year progresses it becomes harder to keep our new habits; the same research shows that less than 14% permanently adopt their resolutions. The majority of us drift back in to our old comfortable ways and find ourselves making the same resolutions for next year.

It doesn’t have to be like this, you don’t have to work alone, you can partner with RDT. Using our expertise in technology and insurance we can help you to achieve your goals.

We can help you revolutionise your customer onboarding by using external data enrichment to minimise the questions and time required for your customers to get a fully underwritten quote.

Our suite of products cover all parts of the insurance chain allowing you to realise efficiencies across distribution, underwriting and claims settlement.

Contact us to find out how we can help you

Further rises in motor insurance premiums, and increased gender gap

The latest confused.com car insurance price index, in association with Willis Towers Watson, has revealed that in Q4 2016 comprehensive car insurance premiums were 14 per cent more than in the same period the year before.

The price data was based on almost two million customer quotes and compares to a 6.9 per cent increase for the same period in 2015.  An average comprehensive car insurance premium is now £767.

It has been suggested that the increase in premiums is down to a number of factors including the rise in IPT, increased repair bills as cars get more sophisticated, and “ambulance chasing” lawyers.  A spokesman from Willis Towers Watson said there could be “an underlying slowdown in the rate of premium increases”, which would be welcome news to motorists.

Employee Spotlight - Justin Cordingley

Hi, I’m Justin Cordingley and I’m head of delivery at RDT Ltd. After getting my degree in civil engineering I began working as a structural engineer – there are a number of commercial developments in London that are seated on my designs and calculations. But then I was enticed by the excitement and pace of the IT industry and decided to leave structural engineering and try a new career as a software engineer.

I gained experience in this field in marketing, trade associations and financial services before moving into insurance when I joined RDT nine years ago. I’ve had great opportunities to progress here, working my way through to my current role where I’m responsible for the performance of our delivery teams and the release of all of RDT's products.

Quick Risk Score

Just over a year ago one of our clients asked us to create a tool that would enable them to make rapid decisions about the acceptability of specific risks. This led to us developing a new module of our rating platform Equator, which we called Quick Risk Score.

Our client has been using QRS for more than a year to help then make decisions about risks as niche cars and drivers with endorsements or restrictions. The benefits of the module, for both the brokers and the insurer, have proved to be huge. QRS eliminates the time-consuming elements of trying to place niche business and provides a very accurate picture of the risk, further improving the profitability of our client’s underwriting.

You can read more information about Quick Risk Score in our most recent edition of Prism, our technology newsletter.

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Driverless cars: pain before gain

Driverless cars could make traffic congestion worse before they make it better, a study by the DfT has revealed. This is because the cars won’t be able to perform at their best until they begin to outnumber traditional cars – and until that day comes they’re likely to drive slowly and over-cautiously.

The performance of driverless cars relies on the way vehicles around them behave, meaning that many advantages of AV technology won’t be felt for years, the report says.

Is Flood RE enough? – what more needs to be done?

Flood Re will have been in place for a year this April, guaranteeing affordable insurance for all households that are at risk of flooding. Last November’s half per cent rise in insurance premium tax was implemented to raise money to spend on flood defences.

But is enough being done to stop homes flooding?

The ABI has once again criticised planning chiefs for approving the building of thousands of houses on land which is at risk of flooding. The Environment Agency also objected to the building projects and had provided flood risk advice which was overruled or partially overruled.

Insurance requirements for automated vehicles

The DfT has proposed amendments for the motor insurance framework to include automated vehicles. The amendments will require changes to legislation, however the government says it will change as little as possible in order to enable the market to develop the appropriate products for AVs.

The proposal is that an insurance company will cover both a driver’s use of a vehicle and the car’s AV technology. Having appropriate insurance will still be compulsory and the insurance would cover times when motorists are in control and when cars are in automated driving mode.