Liberty Mutual Agency Markets Offers GPS-Powered Onboard Advisor for Fleet Customers

Liberty Mutual Agency Markets, a division of Liberty Mutual Group (Boston), has debuted Onboard Advisor, a fleet management application powered by GE Security technology that assigns safety scores to drivers, allowing fleet managers to monitor and coach drivers on any aggressive driving patterns.

Onboard Advisor combines GE Security's (Bradenton, Fla.) NavLogix GPS technology with data from an accelerometer to provide information on how a vehicle is responding to its driver, according to a Liberty Mutual Agency Markets source. The information is then recorded along with the vehicle location and event time. The solution's Performance Advisor component measures how frequently and severely a driver speeds, brakes and corners to calculate safety scores. Fleet managers using Onboard Advisor can replay driving events on Google street maps with second-by-second detail, according to the carrier source.

Onboard Advisor also provides the full range of more traditional GPS software features, allowing fleet managers to further minimize risk and costs, the insurer says. Real-time alerts can score drivers on fuel efficiency. Also, by monitoring the real-time locations of their vehicles, fleet managers can also dispatch vehicles more efficiently and make sure drivers are using the most cost-effective routes, Liberty Mutual Agency Markets claims.

"GE Security is committed to keeping people and property safe," says Jerry Rose, vice president, product management of GE Security. "This revolutionary system focuses on driver behavior which is something other systems can't do. The goal is to help improve driver safety by coaching performance at the driver level. Agency Markets' regional companies are the only ones with a program focused at this level."

Customers who insure their fleets through Golden Eagle Insurance, Liberty Northwest, and Ohio Casualty can install Onboard Advisor and realize savings on their commercial auto premium of up to 15 percent in the first year and up to 40 percent based on fleet performance upon coverage renewal.

Liberty Mutual Agency Markets says that customers can generate further savings with Fuel Advisor, a fuel card that saves up to three cents off each gallon of gas while monitoring usage and preventing unauthorized purchases.

"Onboard Advisor is the first GPS-based product to harness multiple technologies so companies can take an active and immediate role in risk management," asserts Thomas M. Troy, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Liberty Mutual Agency Markets' regional companies group. "It puts a fleet manager in the driver's seat of every vehicle with daily, bi-weekly, and monthly performance tracking. It's a great coaching tool for improving and rewarding safe driving."

Fleet customers can start saving in their very first month with Onboard Advisor. There are no up-front costs for the hardware or installation, and only a low monthly per-unit fee for this fleet management tool, according to Liberty Mutual Agency Markets.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio