The Hartford Enters Usage-Based Insurance Fray

The Hartford announced a usage-based insurance program at its investor meeting Thursday, according to a Marketwatch article and confirmed by viewing an archive of the meeting.

Called TrueLane, the program will begin in pilot form at the outset of 2012, Andy Napoli, the president of Hartford's consumer markets division, said at the meeting.

TrueLane will use an onboard device to gather driving data. Napoli said The Hartford's goal is to be on the leading edge of new pricing strategies so that it is not "subject to adverse selection" in a quickly growing usage-based insurance market.

[Read what Progressive's GM of usage-based insurance, told us about the Snapshot model earlier this year.]

At I&T, we see 2012 as a potential bellwether year for pay-as-you-drive programs. Robin Harbage, a director in Towers Watson's risk and financial services business segment, agrees with Napoli's assessment that it's now or never for insurers to get into the game. Because of the time required to develop the device, refine the models and gain a user base, "it takes sometimes upwards of two years to have an effective program," Harbage told me.

"In that time, the large players in this market are going to write millions of insureds into it," he adds. "It's moving fast and you can be locked out if you're a late adopter."

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio