DTRIC Insurance Launches Usage-Based Auto Insurance in Hawaii

DTRIC Insurance will begin offering Akamai Rater, Hawaii’s first program that aligns individual driver behavior with auto insurance rates.

DTRIC’s Akamai Rater uses a small, in-vehicle telecommunications device to capture information on a number of driving variables, including aggressive driving, time of day, excessive speeding, and hard braking. This information allows a customer’s insurance rates to better correlate with his or her actual driving behavior.

The Akamai Rater device plugs into a vehicle’s on-board diagnostics port (standard in most vehicles sold in the U.S. from 1996 on) and begins capturing driving behavior data. That driving data is downloaded and posted to an online dashboard, allowing a driver to regularly track and improve upon his or her own driving behaviors based on the information that is presented.

Although DTRIC is the first carrier to offer this type of product in Hawaii, usage-based insurance (UBI) is a clear industry trend both domestically and globally. According to a February 2012 survey conducted by Towers Watson, a global professional services company, 89 percent of personal lines insurers surveyed in the U.S. and Canada have implemented or plan to use UBI technology in their insurance rating. UBI technology is already widely used in Europe, where some European vehicle models are being manufactured with the telecommunications devices built-in.

DTRIC’s Akamai Rater program was developed exclusively for Hawaii drivers and is powered by Octo Telematics North America, an insurance telematics technology company.

DTRIC Insurance Group is a Hawaii-based insurer of personal automobile, homeowners, renters, umbrella, worker’s compensation and general casualty insurance.

Topics Auto New Markets Hawaii