Mobility as a Service (MAAS) pits insurers against automakers over data

The shift away from personal vehicle ownership has been slowed owing to the pandemic as consumers seek a safe space.

So, while car-and ridesharing had seen tremendous adoption over recent years, new research from several sources shows a growing preference back towards car ownership. Regardless of how vehicle preferences continue to take shape, auto insurers will need to support a variety of transportation models going forward, offering new products and services to meet the changing demands of consumers.

“At play and related to COVID is that consumers have become more acutely aware of the price they pay for insurance, opening their eyes and minds to usage-based insurance (UBI) models,” said Susanna Gotsch, director, industry analyst at CCC Information Services. She explained that while these programs have been available for some time, with fewer miles driven in the last several months, consumers have been thinking about how to align their driving habits more closely with what they pay for insurance. “As preferences for personal vehicle ownership continue, UBI adoption will grow, a trend we at CCC are already seeing with our insurance clients,” Gotsch said.

Martin Rosell CEO of Wireless Car, said when it comes to MaaS and new types of ownership models, and how that affects insurance, depends in large part on how and when, the automakers themselves come to the table. “Automakers have a huge task to understand if they are selling a fleet car or a consumer car, because the entire way they sell cars is that you have one owner that you onboard and register and activate their connected services,” he said. “They have a big problem understanding how to do that in a fleet concept and activate services based on who is driving it.”

Rosell said while everyone is looking into new insurance models, he sees no market for it yet. “We have to wait for the number of car-sharing cars to rise,” he explained. “It is still such a niche market and, if you look at the car-sharing companies today, they manage their own insurance.”

Gotsch predicted mobility as a service would have a “significant impact” on auto insurance. “Most notably, with MaaS a foundational shift will occur where insurers will begin insuring the driver versus insuring the vehicle, which has been the case historically,” she said.

To read the complete article, visit TU-Automotive.