‘Blackbox’ keeps you safe and helps you save

Insurance is largely about providing a safety net for risk. Of course, riskier behavior and/or subjects are more likely to actually need insurance — and should, of course, require heftier premiums. In the case of motorists, the risk varies as widely as the driving styles. You know that, right? Still, there has been no easy, quantitative way to ascertain if someone is a menace or blessing behind the wheel so that safe drivers can be rewarded with lower rates.

Until now, that is. UCPB General Insurance Company, Inc. (or UCPB GEN) brings in a pioneering car insurance product. The “Blackbox,” which essentially brings the service into the digital present, leverages big data analytics. In a nutshell, the new product is predicated on a small GPS tracker with advanced telematics that “records important data about the car and driver’s driving behavior.” In a release, UCPB GEN says the device, which is installed in a few minutes by simply connecting it to the vehicle’s battery terminals, “detects (the) car’s vital signs — distance traveled, time of day, speed, acceleration, and even the location. It also has a crash sensor to alert… real-time in case of accidents and detect other vehicle movements such as swerving or (turning).” While affording the car owner a quantitative peek into his (or driver’s) driving style, the Blackbox allows the registered vehicle’s position to be monitored at all times via a free-to-download app or a website. Additional vehicles may be registered and monitored by one app. The product, developed and refined over the course of two years according to VTEL CEO Dong Yu, can also prove invaluable in locating a stolen vehicle.

Of course, in this privacy-conscious age when the security of personal data has been seriously (and repeatedly) compromised, we need to raise concerns about just what is relayed to whom. Replying to a question from STAR Motoring, UPCB Gen vice president for technical services Mary Liao said that, for starters, the data are stored in the cloud and encrypted — accessible only to the user. However, in the event of an emergency such as a crash, the device will transmit to the data/call center (called kaLAKBAY Plus) the exact location of the vehicle, along with accident details. A 24-hour emergency response team will then be mobilized to go to the site. The event also triggers an alert transmittal to the app’s other registered users.

So at all other times, the call center — and anyone else not logged in to the unique account on the Blackbox Insurance app — cannot access location information. But for purposes of figuring out driver habits, with a view on substantiating or providing justification for premium discounts, UCPB GEN can check out the telematics report coming out of the vehicle’s Blackbox.

Again, the tiny, durable device ideally installed with double-sided tape atop the car battery, can detect braking, acceleration, and even provide needed insight in the (hopefully) unlikely event of a crash. It wouldn’t make the filing of a police report irrelevant, but it can surely speed up the process for making claims, said UCPB GEN SVP Edgardo Rosario, because the Blackbox basically transmits to the company a picture of what happened.

Owing to its capabilities, Blackbox also opens up insurance possibilities to what was previously unfathomable. As it now more accurately determines driving style, UCPB GEN can confidently reward good driving habits with a discount (up to 20 percent off) on the next insurance cycle.

Blackbox has two package plans, Pay How You Drive (annual insurance cover) and Pay As You Drive (insurance on demand). The VTEL device itself costs P15,000 if you purchase it outright, but with the first plan it comes for free, along with the GPS subscription. Meanwhile, Pay As You Drive is a highly customizable sachet insurance product that can be based on days (from five to 180) or per-kilometer coverage (from 500 kilometers up). Both packages feature UCPB GEN’s auto personal accident, bodily injuries/physical damage, and acts of nature insurance. UCPB GEN’s also boasts a Gawa Agad speedy claims processing system.

The Metro Manila Development Authority reports that 280 road accidents happen in a day — if you count culpability, there are 540 sides to those incidents. We need all the help we can to protect ourselves, while getting the story straight as well.